Origin 8

Marcel found himself trapped in a dark, empty room. Shackles bound his wrists and ankles, preventing him from moving. He could hear the banging from the basement, and an evil whistling quickly followed. Fear gripped his heart, causing his knees to shake uncontrollably. Marcel wanted to escape, but his body refused to move.

Suddenly, he heard Mr. Watson's voice echoing in his head. "Marcel, grab the book! Save your family!" Mr. Watson pleaded.

Marcel's eyes darted around the room, trying to find the source of the voice. He couldn't see anyone, but he knew he had to act fast. The footsteps of the intruders were growing closer, and he needed to protect his family.

The book looked heavy and bound in black leather with strange markings on the cover. Marcel could feel the power emanating from the book, but he couldn't understand it. The pages seemed to be alive, moving, and pulsing with an energy that was both terrifying and exhilarating. The light from the book increased after Mr. Watson took the glass out of the way.

Mr. Watson looked at Marcel with a mix of fear and optimism in his eyes. "Do not be like me, do not be a coward. Trust me," Mr. Watson said sympathetically.

Marcel whimpered, "Why?"

Mr. Watson's eyes gleamed, "You are the only one who can save them, Marcel. The book has chosen you."

Marcel looked down at the book in his hands, and he could feel the energy building up inside of him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.

As the footsteps grew closer, Marcel could hear the voices of the people arguing inside his head. One voice whispered to him, "Grab the book, save your family." Another voice countered, "Don't do it, Marcel. Think of the innocent people you will be killing." The voices kept arguing, growing louder and more insistent with each passing moment.

The door to the basement burst open, and Marcel could hear the voices of the intruders. They were humans, proks, and robots all in one area, and they were armed to the teeth. Marcel could see the fear in his family's eyes as they backed away, trying to find a way to escape.

Marcel's mind was a blur, and he couldn't think straight. The book was taking control of him, and he knew that he was not going to be able to stop it.

With a sudden burst of courage, Marcel broke free of his shackles, he no longer had the restraints, he could finally break the shackles of his inner mind. He ran away, his hands bleeding and his body in overt pain but he did not care, he remembered his goal, remembered the suffering, his friend's deaths, his family's death, and the persecution of elves, he needed to fix this. To be a hero. He lunged towards the book, snatching it from its resting place just as the first of the intruders burst into the room.

As he held the book in his hands, Marcel felt a sense of power coursing through his body. The book was now his weapon, and he was going to use it to protect his family. Marcel was in the black room again, except it was black no longer. The book's yellow light illuminated the black room, pushing away his fears and his shackles, increasing his elven power.

As Marcel floated in the air he wondered what was going on, he did not understand anything but for one he felt free, he felt at peace.

The enemies and his family were shocked to see Marcel holding the book, and for a moment, they hesitated. Marcel took advantage of their confusion, striking out with a strength that he didn't know he possessed. He fought with a ferocity that surprised even him, using the power of the book to strike down his enemies one by one. Marcel stayed in the black room, with his light source as a rope in which marcel balanced, watching the fight go on from inside his head.

He chuckled as now the black room was all just a yellow wheat field. Marcel was alone, the book next to him where he could rest his head on a tree and take a nap. The sun beat on his body as he studied the healthy blue air and its magnificence. While he fought in the real world with the power of the book, he could enjoy the emptiness and freedom that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

As Marcel's body fought against the intruders, he could suddenly see another aura, a presence that shook Marcel's body, even with the book's unrelenting spirit, this aura still commanded attention, it was that of a dark coming inside the basement, it was Dynasty, his dark aura invading the room with its presence.

"Well I cannot believe this, the book really wants to challenge me," Dynasty said, revealing a hidden spear under his sleeve.

"Everyone, flank the book, the boy is not in control the book is, just keep attacking and it'll fall, watch," Dynasty said, smirking as he and his group ran towards Marcel.

Marcel turned his eyes away from the view inside the black room and suddenly as Marcel opened his eyes again the black room was blood red, and in front was an aura so despicable, it was worse than Dynasty itself Marcel peered through and tried to examine the aura, the realization shook him.

This aura, this spirit, Marcel could tell, it was the embodiment of the book, in which the power of the darkness that resided in the book was suddenly in front of him. Marcel looked at his body, he had minor armor and a sword, and suddenly the dark creature switched its focus to Marcel.

The creature rushed to Marcel but he quickly blocked its attack with all his might with his sword, his two palms pushing towards the creature as his started to get cut.

But as he fought, he could feel the book's power taking hold of him, consuming him. It was as though the book had a will of its own, and it was using Marcel as its vessel. He could feel himself losing control, his actions becoming more and more erratic in the real world while he was fighting this creature inside his mind. Suddenly he hit the floor once and was back in the real world with every crack he made.

The energy emanating from the book grew stronger and more intense, filling the room with a blinding light. Marcel could feel the book's power surging through his body, causing him to convulse and writhe in agony. He screamed out in pain, his voice echoing through the basement. As he had a moment of consciousness he was brought back inside to fight the creature again.

The intruders were taken aback by Marcel's sudden outburst of power. They hesitated, uncertain of what to do next. But as Marcel continued to writhe on the ground, the book's power growing stronger with each passing moment, they realized that they had to act fast.

They charged toward Marcel, their weapons drawn, but it was too late. Marcel's body was now completely consumed by the book's power, and he was no longer in control of his actions. He was too busy in his fight with the creature that it was too late when he noticed the creature was a distraction for what was to come.

He struck out at the intruders with a ferocity that was beyond human, his blows fueled by the book's dark energy. The creatures screamed in terror as Marcel began to annihilate them, tearing through their ranks like a force of nature.

As Marcel fought, he could feel the book's power growing stronger and more intense, its grip on him unyielding. He knew that he was no longer in control, that the book was using him as its pawn.

Dynasty watched with amusement as Marcel continued to fight, his aura suddenly overtaken by the book's power. He could see the book's dark energy surging through Marcel's body, its tendrils snaking around him like a living thing.

"You see," he said to his squad, "the book is not just a myth. It is very real, and it is finally being put to use."

"Should we fall back," One of the proks said, in the horror of the book's bloodshed.

Suddenly Dynasty's eyes flared straight into the soul of the prok as if he wanted to kill it.

"We finish the mission no matter what," Dynasty said, his spear still in hand.

The elves around him looked on in horror as Marcel continued to wreak havoc, his power growing stronger with each passing moment. They knew that they were no match for him, that they would be lucky to escape with their lives.

--

Marcel was lost in the book's power, consumed by its darkness. He could hear the screams of the creatures around him, but they sounded distant and far away, as though he was in a dream. He continued trying to slash and hack at the dark creature but his inexperience led to him getting the worst of the injuries.

The book's power surged through him like a raging inferno, filling him with an insatiable hunger for destruction. He knew that he had to stop, that he had to regain control, but he couldn't. He was trapped, a prisoner of the book's dark magic. This creature was trying to make him stick in there, in the bloodiest room Marcel had ever seen, a room that tortured his mind. The cost of his freedom had brought him to new lengths and rooms in his mind, things he had never seen before.

As he continued to fight, he could feel his strength waning. The book's power was draining him, sapping his life force with each passing moment. He knew that he was running out of time, that he had to do something before it was too late and before the book would consume him.

Suddenly Marcel looked at the ground, and in a final act of desperation to stop the book from wreaking more havoc he stabbed his sword into the ground. The creature realizing his action ran towards him to stop it. Marcel kept hacking toward the ground, and little by little more cracks were starting to form.

As Marcel's real-world body seemingly fell down, Dynasty smiled.

"See he did fall after all, now let me kill him with the spear and get it over with," Dynasty said, the children watching in horror as Dynasty himself ran towards Marcel, to do the finishing blow.

Marcel screamed as he finally started to break the floor and the cracks turned into a pithole, in which Marcel and the creature both fell in, eternally and back towards the black room

With a sudden burst of energy, he summoned the last of the book's power, causing a massive explosion that shook the entire basement. Dynasty's mistake was shown and an explosion hit his right arm and it was seemingly then blown off in the blast, leaving the creature stunned and vulnerable.

Marcel collapsed to the ground, his body spent from the effort. He could feel the book's power leaving him, its dark energy ebbing away into nothingness.

As he lay there, gasping for breath, he knew that he had been lucky. Lucky to survive, lucky to have regained control of himself before it was

As Marcel lost consciousness, and the people around him were on the ground, unconscious or dead Mr. Watson quickly grabbed the boy in his arms and ran towards a huge hole above the secret passage in which the elf safehouse escaped trough. Wasting no time for Dynasty to recover from his gruesome injury.

Mr. Watson looked at Dynasty with one of his arms lost and looked back, two of the younger elven girls had died from the blast Marcel had done, and the other two elf kids Mr. Watson carried with him, blood and dirt out all over their body from the explosion and specks of dust entering their mouths.

--

Marcel as he lost consciousness, carried by Mr. Watson, saw he ended up in the black room with no shackled and he was free to walk. Suddenly the woman's voice came inside Marcel's head again.

"You have done well, Marcel," the voice said. "You have tapped into the power of the book, and it has rewarded you with great strength. But there is more to come, so much more. Are you ready to accept the power that it offers?"

Marcel wanted to scream, to push the book away, but he couldn't seem to move. He was trapped in the void, with the voice echoing all around him.

"No," he said finally, his voice barely a whisper. "I am not ready."

As he spoke the words, Marcel could feel the book's power flooding through him once again. It was as though a dam had been opened, and the power that had been pent up inside him was now free to flow. The book was slowly releasing itself from Marcel and Marcel's shackles were slowly appearing once more.

"No Marcel, you will learn," the soft woman's voice said, "you will face the heavens of the world, you will be the angel of justice," the voice said before fading away. power seemed to take over completely. He could feel himself floating in a dark void, the weight of his family's bodies in his arms the only thing anchoring him to reality. He could hear a voice whispering in his ear, a voice that seemed to be coming from the consciousness of Marcel's mind itself.

Leaving Marcel alone, in the black room, with no shackles to make him stay but now, he was all alone.