The Doubt & Assurance of Things - Updated

[ForsakenMage]

For your convenience, I've provided direct links to the posts of where each chapter is located within the thread.

 

Prologue

Chapter 1 - The Phenomenon

Chapter 2 - The Data

Chapter 3 - The Hypothesis

Chapter 4 - The Theory

Chapter 5 - The Conclusion

 

:arrow: Note:

All characters, places, and events in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarities to real persons (alive or dead), places, and events are purely coincidental, apart from otherwise specified.

 

:arrow: Updates:

23 August 2009 - Chapter 2 is currently being worked on on paper. Depending on how much time I have between uni and work, I may have Chapter 2 up as early as Wednesday if possible. Watch this space!

 

05 July 2009 - After a year hiatus, I've finally gotten around to finishing up Chapter 1. Feel free to post any comments you may have for the story. The Library doesn't have thread necromancy rules, so don't worry. :P Thank you for your patience and support.

 

12 December 2008 - Life caught up with me and drove me near mad. Will be posting Chapter 1 before the end of the year. Thank you for your patience and support.

 

18 June 2008 - This is a re-post of the post after the slight rollback. Some areas have been edited for spelling, grammatical, and story outline purposes. The prologue, small character summaries, and chapter one are completed, but may require more finishing work. I will be posting Chapter 1 sometime this week. Thank you for your patience and support.

 

 

 

:arrow: Cast of Characters

 

Humans

• Josh
  Troubled academically, financially, and socially, this young man seeks relief through the "patch." It's his escape from reality: the pains of dealing with the grueling exams the University prepares for all students wishing to become a part of the Cavalry; the pains of dealing with a world run by the supernatural. He has dreams of not joining the Cavalry, but to simply enjoy life without Daemons, and, most of all, magic.
   
  Seren
  Part of the higher social class among the sorority sisters, hated by almost all those outside of her small circle of friends, this young woman is oblivious to almost everything but herself and her closest sisters. While not an avid user of the "patch," she still has her own ways of escape.
   
  Katelynn
  Also a part of the higher social class among the sorority sisters, this young woman made her way to the top thanks to her "big sister," Seren. It's said that perhaps one day she would be just like her. Truth be told, so long as she continues to use the "patch," her future would lead her onto a path entirely different from that of Seren's.
   
  Diotima
  Part of the top ten percent of her class and a senior resident, this young woman strives to honor the mission of the University Housing Staff while hoping to some day become part of the Cavalry's highest ranked Daemon investigation team. Her life before the University was one filled with doubt despite her successes academically, and while her success continues through her later years, she still feels awkward.
   
  Vincent
  Praised more for his talents in seducing women into his bed than his athletic accomplishments on the football field, this young man would be considered a security and health hazard to have in the House. With no actual proof of him endangering the residents of the House, the senior residents have no choice but to let him get way with breaking the hearts of their female residents.
   
  Alexander
  His heart usually in the right place, this young man would often jump to the defense of his fraternity brothers and teammates given the chance. On the field, he is a fullback and has allowed no goals in all the games he's played in the last two years he's played for the University. If his fraternity brothers ever got into trouble, he'd take the fall for them. The senior residents regard him as used, seeing how much of the blame he's taken for himself and knowing he was incapable of creating the havoc they've seen.
   
  Perdita
  Immoral and perhaps worthless to society according to the University faculty, this young woman baffles some of the brightest professors with her dark speeches and frightens the bravest senior residents willing to talk to her. She only got into the University after her parents pulled a few strings to motivate her to clean up and start her life over. Unable, or unwilling, to focus on her studies, she instead turns to the risqué social life, although even that isn't enough to satisfy her thirst for something more.
   
  The Cavalry
  Varying from combat to medical services, this group of individuals help the City with anything in relation to the Daemons.

Daemons

• The Grey
  Mistaken for thick fog or smoke, this Daemon's main purpose of existence is to feed upon the mental capacities of humans. While not the most threatening of Daemon's in the world due to their inability to defend themselves against most attacks, those who are not trained against its attacks will quickly find themselves in a numbed state mentally and physically as they are drained

:arrow: Locations

 

• The University
  The City's place of higher education, the University hopes to further its students' abilities in magic on top of the normal areas of study. Most of their students move on to join the Cavalry, while others move onto other career paths.

Edited December 28, 2009 by ForsakenMage
Major coding issues that resulted in badly spaced formatting throughout all posts. >_<

[ForsakenMage]

At the start of the new university term, he already had so many issues on his back. For one thing, his grades weren't what the university recruited him for to begin with. His brain was mush by the time he applied and arrived at the university with straight full marks. For another thing, financial aid wasn't doing too much to help him pull through the bills that were mounting against his temperamental parents. The first quarter wasn't so bad, he thought, until the grades came out and the bill for the second term came a lot earlier than expected.

 

"Yea Mum, it's another… I know, but they… Maybe, but I'm already busy enough with class… Yea, okay. Love you too. Bye." The student sighed, sinking back against his chair. He stared at his mobile phone for a few more seconds, idly flipping it between his fingers before setting it down on the desk. His fingers brushed across a used adhesive patch. His ear twitched a little in anticipation, but he ignored it.

 

That was another issue. The monthly allowance that his parents gave him normally went more towards "stress-relief" than practical items like food and toiletries. He figured that with all the studying he had been doing for years to get to where he was now, he deserved it. Besides, he was a Major, and he was allowed to do more things that he did when he was still a Minor. Becoming of age at the start of his university studies was probably the best send off one could hope for. It meant more access to popular clubs, less restrictions on what weapons he was allowed to use and buy, and less restrictions on magic.

 

Magic. He hated the word. While it came in handy, he could never grasp enough of it to get a decent spell going on the first try. He avoided it as much as he could to save himself the humiliation. It disgusted him to see how much people relied on magic at the university to do every day tasks like putting in the laundry and cleaning up their dormitories. It disgusted him how people used it harm others in the most unimaginable ways that one couldn't possibly do with just their own hands and weapons. It disgusted him more how people used it to change themselves to create a better sense of intimacy.

 

The twitch in his ear came back. He sighed again, sitting up to throw away the old patch. He rummaged through his pockets. His fingers found two unused patches. He'll have to buy some more once his monthly allowance came again. He tore the protective sheet off one of them before placing it behind his ear. Immediately a smell much like a mixture of camphor and menthol rushed to his nose and he fell back against the chair again. A soft chime entered his ears as he breathed quietly, eyes closed to enjoy the calming sensation of the patch as it soothed his senses, from smell to hearing, to touch and sight as his mind gave him a journey through a chaotic but pleasant mixture of colors. It was one of those "stress-relief" items he had access to, and he needed now more than ever.

 

Somewhere down the hall, someone else was using the patch after a long day of research. She lay in bed, seemingly asleep while her roommate was engaged with her own tasks for the evening. If anything of significance could be said of them, it was that they were sorority sisters, the kind that few loved and many hated. One introduced the patch to the other, and while one eventually quit it and moved on to other "stress-relief" items, the other remained in the euphoric sensations going through their body.

 

"Hey Katelynn?"

 

"Hmm…?"

 

"I'm gonna head out to the Tower, okay?"

 

"Mm…" the girl on the bed opened her eyes a little, brushing back her auburn hair slightly. "Gonna meet up with Josh?"

 

"Just a few of the older sisters. Planning to hide in the Majori-only section this time. You wanna come?"

 

"No thanks, Seren… I don't want to waste this patch…" Katelynn slurred, the patch starting to take full effect now.

 

"All right. I'll see you later, sis."

 

"Bye… bye…" Katelynn closed her eyes again, letting the mixtures of sound and color take over her mind.

 

It was Josh, who lived just down the hall from them, who first introduced Seren to the patch, who then introduced it to her. Josh was still on it, but not as much as she was, as far as she knew. It wasn't something you could just cold turkey. You either let yourself scream from the withdrawal in the next five or so years, or take a mixture of potions like most did when they could no longer afford to keep the habit. The potions weren't cheap. So why even start on the patch if it costs so much to quit, you may wonder. Why not, the Major would say. The sensations were worth it.

 

Katelynn looked up drowsily when she heard her mobile phone chirp. Her arm lazily arched over towards the nightstand, fumbling for it, only to let it clatter to the floor. With a frustrated sigh, she pushed herself up to try to get it, only to fall onto the floor as well. A crunch made her wince and she knew she had just accidentally crushed her phone. She pulled herself up and ruefully surveyed the damage. The screen was cracked and she could barely make out the message on it amid the colors still going through her mind. With a groan she slumped onto the ground, too completely absorbed in the patch to entirely care for her loss and to get back up onto the bed.

 

~

 

The senior resident ran through the hallway, pounding frantically at the doors of her residents. The alarm blared loudly as she yelled at them to get out. She gasped as she felt the building shake. Some confused and frightened residents in their night clothes ran past her down the hall to the emergency exit.

 

She reached Katelynn's room, pounding at the door. "Seren! Katelynn! Get up! We need to get out of here!" she yelled. No response. She quickly traced for their presence, finding only Katelynn. "Katelynn! Wake up!" Still no response. With a wince and a mental note she hurried down the hall, continuing to pound away at the doors.

 

Katelynn's head hurt from the alarm blaring inside her room and the strobe light flashing above her. She tried to get up, only to fall back to the ground. The patch's effects were stronger than last time, she thought, as she tried to crawl towards the door. Suddenly the alarm seemed to stop. She looked around in her stupor. Was the emergency over?

 

Something made her look up. She wished she didn't.

 

~

 

"Six people still inside my hall, sir! I have to go back and try again!"

 

"No! It's too dangerous! Wait until the Cavalry arrive to take out the Daemon!"

 

"By then it'd be too late for them!" She began to run back into the building despite the strange white mist that was slowly enveloping the building.

 

"Senior resident Diotima, come back!" The head resident watched in frustration as Diotima disappeared into the building. "Where the hell is the Cavalry?!" he yelled.

 

Diotima could vaguely hear the screaming and yelling outside as she ran up the stairs to see if the remaining residents were still inside. She got to Katelynn's door first. To her surprise and relief, the door was open, but it was short-lived when she found Katelynn still inside, seemingly unconscious.

 

"Katelynn! Wake up!" she said, shaking her resident by the shoulders. "We need to get out of here!"

 

"… Huh…?" Katelynn opened her eyes. Diotima tensed a little. The whites of Katelynn's eyes were covered with streaks of grey. "What happened…?"

 

"Start heading downstairs and get someone from sick bay to check up on you! I need to find the others!"

 

"I'll… go with you…"

 

"No! Get out, now!"

 

Katelynn slowly got up from the floor. "Just because… you're a senior… resident doesn't mean… you can boss me around! I'm still a Major compared to you, you… stupid Minor!"

 

"I don't have time to argue!" Diotima left Katelynn at her doorway, hoping the girl would come to her senses and head downstairs while she ran towards Josh's room.

 

"Josh! Josh, wake up!" she yelled. Still no response. Worried she forced the door open with a spell and found Josh sprawled on the floor, staring up at the ceiling in shock. "Josh?" she called hesitantly. A strange chill went up her spine.

 

"Eh… Ah…" Josh tried to speak, only to fail. Diotima went over to him and helped him up.

 

"Come on!" she muttered as she dragged him across the room. Down the hallway she went and found Katelynn still at her doorway. With a grunt she pulled Katelynn up as well and began to try to cast another spell. A shriek made her stop and turn around to see where it came from.

 

Grey.

Edited December 28, 2009 by ForsakenMage
Coding issues.

[Bluejayfan94]

Love it so far

 

Rating:

 

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: /5

[Celt23]

I love it so far!

 

The thing I liked the most was the suspense, which whether intended or not was very effective!

[Bluejayfan94]

I love it so far!

 

The thing I liked the most was the suspense, which whether intended or not was very effective!

 

 

 

I agree =P~

[Deathmath]

I'm not big into this kind of stuff, but nice...

[Bluejayfan94]

hey, even though you have a cool banner that i have never seen before [/drool], it is not right to bump a topic from June to now. Please be wary of this in the future. Thanks :)

[aeternitatis]

hey, even though you have a cool banner that i have never seen before [/drool], it is not right to bump a topic from June to now. Please be wary of this in the future. Thanks :)

 

 

 

Why do you want to me a moderator so badly?

[dragoncmd]

As for thread necromancy, I sincerely hope the rules on it don't apply in the liberary. Fabulous story, thats the first time I've thought the character explination at hte beginning actually enhanced a story rather than detracting from it. I hope you continue Forsaken!

[ForsakenMage]

One night can be all the time needed to change everything you knew about. We've all heard that before. The question is, are we able to recuperate in the end?

 

It's been over a month since the Grey attack. It sounds such a long time ago, but the memories are still there. The screaming and cold; it's all still in our heads, and embedded for who knows how long. Memories like these can't be magically erased. I'm sure the question, "What about medication?" lingers in your mind. The truth of the matter is nothing will erase them. It'll just be suppressed for however much time would allow us to hold that sense of security until something triggers us to remember again.

 

They had trained us, the senior residents, earlier in the year to prepare us for attacks. They thought we were ready for such attacks, and if not, the Cavalry would back us up. So much for that. Everyone in the building died that night. Well, no, not everyone. There were the six "patchers," and then me. How the hell six druggies and I survived, I don't know. Then there were those that evacuated; they're all okay, but no one really pays attention to them. It's always about the survivors that escaped certain peril.

 

I remember seeing the Grey just hovering over us, us being Josh, Katelynn, and myself. The Daemon really had no distinct features other than the typical mist they seem to go about as now-in-days. Not a lot of people could identify a Daemon just by looking it. Most of the time people mistaken them to be clouds or fog hovering over the world. The Grey was exactly that: just a big chunk of fog with a nasty energy signature. The three of us just stared at it, losing it as the world around us turned just as grey as it was. Those grey tendrils I saw in Katelynn's eyes were slowly enveloping her eyes entirely; the same was happening to Josh and me.

 

The shriek we had heard wasn't the Grey itself, but actually Seren. Somehow she got into the building and didn't even bother to think about the alarm blaring. That wasn't surprising. I've written her up before for disobeying evacuation orders, even during drills.

 

"Oh my god! Katelynn!"

 

The Grey tuned around and stared at Seren before floating towards her. Seren shrieked again, running towards the stairs at the other end of the hall with the Grey chasing after her. A bit of the grey in my eyes pulled back as the Grey moved away from us. I tried to stand up, trembling a little as I uttered a spell. The Daemon turned around, sensing the energy I was building up and lunged towards me. I tried to hold in the panic as I muttered faster before putting out one outstretched hand.

 

"Begone, Daemon!" A wave of energy surged down the hall, making a direct hit at the Grey. We shielded our eyes as the Grey howled and staggered back, shaking itself before letting out a shriek and began to head towards me again.

 

"Why didn't it disappear? Why didn't it disappear?!" Katelynn whimpered besides me. I tried to ignore her as I cast the spell again, but to no avail. It wasn't fazing the Grey at all as it approached us faster, intent on killing.

 

"MOVE!" I yelled at Katelynn and Josh. Katelynn scrambled up to her feet as well as she could and yanked Josh away just as the Grey slammed into me.

 

"OOF!" I tried to cross my arms over my head as I felt my body seemingly float in the air for a moment before being slammed into the other end of the hall. I heard something crack right before my body slid to the ground, battered, cut, but otherwise I was still alive. I lowered my arms, looking up at the Daemon. The Grey stared at me, and for some reason I could sense confusion in all its desire to kill me before it turned away to go after the others.

 

"No…" I could only say as I tried to reach out again with another spell. The last thing I heard were the shrieks of Seren and Katelynn as my world went dark.

 

It was maybe an hour or two later that the Cavalry finally arrived at our House. Whatever happened between when I passed out until they arrived, I don't know. All I remember was being pulled up and feeling numb when I came to as they put me on the gurney.

 

"Diotima! Are you all right?" I heard the head resident yell besides me. "Diotima!"

 

"It's all right, sir. We'll take care of her," one of the Cavalry medics said. "Just move out of the way and let us do our job."

 

"Diotima…" The head resident watched as I was pulled into an ambulance. I stared back, watching the rows of body bags pile up besides him, even as the medics closed the ambulance doors and we began to drive off to the hospital.

 

Six "patchers." Josh, Seren, Katelynn were with me. The other three were found a few doors down in two separate rooms. Two guys and a girl named Alexander, Vincent, and Perdita. Alexander was in his room studying while next door his fraternity brother Vincent was having a private moment with Perdita.

 

Josh was rushed to the hospital along with me while Seren and Katelynn were treated at the scene for minor cuts and bruises from the panic. Alexander, Vincent, and Perdita were hardly touched at all.

 

"Couple of broken ribs and a slight concussion, but otherwise you're lucky to be alive." The doctor checked the chart in his hand a few times. "How do you feel?"

 

"Like someone knocked me down one too many times on the football field, sir."

 

"Well, no football for you for at least a couple of weeks, Diotima." He set the chart down and started for the doorway.

 

"Doctor, what about Josh? Is he all right?"

 

"Mostly. He overdosed on the patch but that's probably what saved him."

 

Overdosed on the patch? Saved him? "What do you mean?" I asked, baffled.

 

"I mean the Grey didn't appear to have touched him at all."

 

"Are you trying to tell me that because he was using the patch that that's why the Grey didn't touch him?"

 

The doctor shut the door, sitting down on a chair nearby. "Well, it would seem that way. All the other residents that survived with you were all wearing patches at the time too."

 

"But Seren quit-"

 

"She had one on when the Calvary found her."

 

"But then that means I should be dead then, not alive."

 

"Supposedly yes, but you're not. It's a most curious thing. As far as we can tell, you don't even have any of the patch's chemicals in your system."

 

"So what saved me then?"

 

The doctor shrugged. "Consider yourself lucky. I'll check up on you in a few hours. For now, just try to get some rest."

 

"Thank you, Doctor." As the doctor left, I sank back down into the pillows and thought about what happened tonight. Why did the Grey let me live? Why did it attack me and then left me alone to go after the others?

 

Did being on the patch have anything to do with some of residents surviving the attack?

 

~

 

"The Calvary has captured another Grey last night after another attack on the City. At least twenty people are dead and two are in the hospital. The attack happened at one of the University's residence halls. A majority of the students were evacuated by their senior and head residents. Unfortunately, some ignored the alarms and efforts to evacuate. Of the students still inside the building, seven survived the attack, including the two in the hospital. A senior resident was one of the survivors. Their head resident explained that she, the senior resident, had run back inside to try to rescue the remaining students…"

 

The television broadcast droned on and on about the attack. I watched as my picture and Josh's flashed across the screen, followed by the faces of Katelynn, Seren, Vincent, Alexander, and Perdita. They called us the Grey survivors.

 

I turned my attention to the hallway, where the sound of excited news reporters and nurses seemed to grow louder. It's been like that for the past few days. Now and again, a reporter manages to sneak in somehow, but before they could ask any questions, a security guard or nurse would chase them out. I wondered if Josh was having the same problem.

 

"The Calvary Daemon Investigation Team, CDIT, have discovered something quite interesting from this recent attack. Six of the students that survived were found to have "patches" on and came out of the attacks with very minor injuries. It is too early to tell whether or not this could be the reason why the students have survived the attack, but experts in the field are saying that because the "patch" alters the state of mind for its users, the Grey is left confused in its attempts to feed."

 

Wait, what?

 

"The CDIT will release an official statement later this week once their tests are complete. The results may help the City find a way to defend itself against further Daemon attacks."

 

"Diotima?" I turned from the television and found the security guard peering into my room worriedly. "The CDIT wishes to speak with you, if you feel well enough."

 

I turned off the television, biting my lip a little. If I heard right, we were just told on national television that the "patch" was now a miracle life-saving defense mechanism against the Grey Daemon. Another reason to allow the "patch" on campus, and if found legitimate…

 

"Sure, let them in," I told the guard. He nodded and motioned to someone in the hallway. A woman dressed in the standard light blue uniform of the CDIT stepped into the room, regarding me quietly for a moment, then whispered something to the guard. The guard nodded again and stepped back into the hallway. I watched as the CDIT walked towards a chair and sat down, still watching me. Finally, after some more seconds of awkward silence, she spoke.

 

"Diotima, you're aware of what the CDIT's investigating right now according to the news?"

 

"The "patch" making its users immune to the Grey's attacks?"

 

"More or less. There's something we don't understand though. The Grey… It didn't feed on you?"

 

"No… It just left me alone after slamming me into a wall."

 

"Do you know why?"

 

"No… The doctors are just as confused."

 

"If you're willing, Diotima, we'd like for you to help us in this investigation."

 

I could see where this was going. "So you're going to have me poked and prodded at by one of the captured Grey's and figure out why they won't eat my brains?"

 

"No. That'd be unethical. All we need is a blood sample."

 

"Wait a moment, the doctor said there weren't any chemicals from the "patch" in my system."

 

"No, but perhaps there's something else in you that made the Grey step back."

 

"So now I'm some sort of freak. That I have some sort of genetic material that made me repulsive to the Grey."

 

"The CDIT isn't trying to call you a freak. But yes, there is a possibility that your genetic makeup may have something to do with the Grey not attempting to feed off of you."

 

I felt angry. I don't know why, but I did. "Get out."

 

"But-"

 

"I'll let my doctor know what I want to do. Now please, get out."

 

The CDIT agent looked at me, shaking her head. "I've read your profile, Diotima. You want to be a CDIT. You'd make a good one. This is your chance to prove how much potential you have." She left her card on the nightstand. "I look forward to speaking with you again."

Edited December 28, 2009 by ForsakenMage
Coding issues.