Shadowveil - The Forgotten

Chapter 5: Grand Radiance

Just as Patrick opened his tired eyes he could feel a warm hand grabbing his arm and started pulling him. Through his blurry vision and strained breathing, he found himself being dragged away from the bell-ringing creature and towards the door of the Halehearty Burger restaurant. The beastly robed creature started moving slowly in an attempt to grab hold of Patrick. "What the hell is happening now?!" he thought in his disoriented state. The asphalt scraped up his pants and his leg as he was drawn into the restaurant foyer.

Whoever it was that had dragged him in abruptly let go of his arm and ran out through the open door with a metal bar in hand. He couldn't quite make out if it was a man or a woman, but he saw the individual starting to slash wildly against the monstrosity outside. Upon taking a few hits, the creature flinched as the strange bell fell from its grasp. A high-pitched ringing noise echoed throughout the vicinity when it hit the ground and cracked into tiny pieces. Having lost its bell, the malformed creature let out a blood-curdling shriek and immediately fled into the heavy darkness of the twisted city. The person who had helped Patrick ran back inside, slammed the door shut and locked it tightly.

*

The sound from the warped siren Patrick had heard in the diner earlier echoed in the distance once more but quieted down after a couple of seconds. The pain in his chest also abated and he could breathe easily once more. No more had he realized he was probably safe for now before a dazzling beam from a flashlight lit up the room. The radiance was the only thing he could see through the stirred-up clouds of dust that flew around in the damp foyer.

"Are you... are you all right?" asked a female voice. Through the powdery clouds, a hand suddenly reached out towards him. He grabbed hold of it and was helped up by a mysterious woman. He couldn't make out her facial features in the sharp light contrasting against the darkened room. She turned around and walked over to the windows and pulled forth a stained curtain to block the view. Patrick caught a small glimpse of the outside, and noticed that the dark and dreadful ambience in the streets of the deformed city had been replaced by a haunting and chilly atmosphere accompanied by the same fog as when he'd arrived here after the train incident. Upon looking around the foyer, an oil painting of the so-called Monument Hill outside of Cordale caught his attention. The painting confirmed his assumption despite all the crazy shit he'd seen after his tumultuous arrival. Somehow this truly was his former hometown of Cordale. And even though it felt like it, it didn't seem to be merely the work of some sick hallucinations of his mind. So this place too was surely the Halehearty Burger where he'd been with his friends when they were young. Whatever had happened to the place, he sure didn't remember the restaurant being this ramshackle in the past. Another thing that gave it away was the smell of frying fat that somehow still clung to the air.

"Well then, who are you?" the woman inquired with a British accent as she came closer to Patrick. He still couldn't make out her face clearly in the dim lighting. His experience from the last person who'd asked him that same question was less than pleasant, so he was more cautious this time around.

"I-I'm just someone passing through." Patrick tried to sound convincing.

"Mmhm, sure you are," the woman said snidely. "And I'm just a fair princess waiting for a white knight to rescue me."

"Whatever. You could be the president's wife for all I care. I'm just trying to get the heck out of here," Patrick continued, still trying to hide his identity. Without as much as another word, the woman suddenly left him in the Halehearty Burger and ran up the creaking stairs to the second floor.

*

The restaurant went eerily dim again when the flashlight she was holding disappeared together with her. Patrick swallowed an invisible lump in his throat and grew nervous being on his own in the depressing foyer. He peered into the left-side corridor, which grew darker the farther in it went. If he remembered correctly, that path led into the restaurant itself and the right one led into the renowned resting lounge, which had helped make Halehearty Burger a famous local gathering spot in its prime. Patrick wondered what the hell had happened to the place, and the entire city for that matter.