In Doom We Trust

Chapter 1

Lost in his own thoughts, Sebastian slumped along through the world, barely noticing the life around him. Consumed by his own mind he carried on, hands tucked dutifully into his pants pockets, moving forward, with no particular direction. The city was a dangerous place this time of night. With a string of kidnappings that baffled the police force, no place was especially safe anymore. Nonetheless, Sebastian carried on.
He’d wandered into one of the less favorable neighborhoods, some place where he stuck out like a sore thumb, with a giant target on his back. Trash littered the sidewalks, filth rolled the roads unimpeded, slowly taking over the area as if they owned it. The street lamps flickered on and off in the eerie silence. The people that lived here had long since retired to avoid any misfortune and only a few peeked out of their windows at the sound of a stranger shuffling his feet down their alleys.
Sebastian’s own sister, Meredith, had been a victim of the kidnappings. This being the second blow to his fragile family life had left him wondering why the world was so cruel and why he felt like they’d won the world’s worst lottery. But still, he trekked on, oblivious to the very world he questioned.
Digging in his pockets, he fondled a tiny medallion. This was the only heirloom from his father, whom had passed when he was still young. It was all he had to remember him by as the early memories became increasingly more and more faded with time. Then, he stopped.
Looking up for the first time in hours, he realized how far he’d actually come and tried to realize where he was. He could hear the distant wailing of sirens, no doubt someone else had gone missing.
“Well, this isn’t good.” He said.

Turning to start walking back the way he came, he saw a van’s headlights about a hundred feet away. A set of glasses peered at him in the dark cab. A sinking feeling started to come over him as he started walking home, then the screeching of tires behind him. Before Sebastian could turn around there was a sharp blow to his head and everything went dark.
When Sebastian came to, he was strung up by his arms and legs against a wall. A long lamp illuminated a short space around him. As his vision focused and the headache began to throb like strong pulse, he saw three pairs of glasses and smiles gazing at him.
“What should we do with him, brother?” One of them hissed.
“We give him the gift, of course. Just like the others.” The second one growled.
“This is an excellent idea, brothers! He may be the one we’ve been looking for. He certainly fits the bill.” The third one quipped. His voice was smooth and calm, despite his excitement.
“I think you’ve made some kind of mistake!” Sebastian coughed. He didn’t realize his voice would set off his headache. “I’m no one. You were looking for someone else, right?”
The three brothers closed in on Sebastian. He could feel their powerful auras as pressure against his skin. It made the tiny room feel even smaller.
“We don’t answer questions, boy.” The first one hissed, his warm breath invading Sebastian’s face, causing him to turn away.
“We’ve been looking for someone. And you happen to be it.” The second one whispered barely touching Sebastian’s ear.
“What do you wish for the most, Young One?” the third one asked Sebastian. The other two stepped back as the Third One remained.
He thought about his answer. Some visions came quicker than others, but Sebastian didn’t know which one to choose. The Third one sensed his hesitation and stepped in.
“Is it power?” he asked. “Money? Love? Courage? The answer is not hard. Surely you must have a wish in this world.”
Fleeting images of Sebastian’s sister came into view. What he needed to help her, he was unsure of, and continued to think.
“Ah! Is it… family?” The third one smiled and he seemed to have struck a nerve. Sebastian coiled at the thought of his broken family. The Third One stepped close and whispered in his ear, “So you shall get the gift and you will have what you require to satisfy your needs, as long as you help satisfy ours.” The Third One smiled; his teeth were the only thing that broke the darkness, almost blinding Sebastian.
The three brothers reached out a hand each and started to hum. An energy ball slowly grew from each of their hands, until they were the size of softballs. They swirled and pulsed with faint purple light and black streaks. Each second that they held them, they pulsed and grew even more in size until they had nearly doubled in size. Without warning, the three of them fused their orbs together and at the same time thrust it into the center of Sebastian’s chest.
The energy swallowed Sebastian whole. His body felt heavy. His arms and legs melted away from his chains, slipping deeper into the dark. Sebastian began to fall into the darkness. It seemed an eternity. Time slowed down.
“This is what death must be like.” Sebastian thought. His whole world had been turned upside down, color completely void from sight, with no way of knowing how far he had been and how much longer he had to go. His eyes felt burdened with lead and closed and let the flow of this new world take him.
In a giant white space below, where the walls and ground and sky were all the same, stretched for as far as the eye could see, a shadowy hand reached out from a solitary black puddle and cradled Sebastian to the ground, where he lay unconscious for some time. From the puddle, bore another arm, then a black horned head, adorned with gleaming yellow eyes. The figure lifted itself from the puddle, and as it rose higher, the puddle dwindled away into a form. A shadowy figure stood above Sebastian’s lifeless body, looking at him with curiosity. It then tapped Sebastian on the forehead three times. Tap, tap, and tap.
Sebastian, groggy and deluded from the fall, pried his heavy eyes open at last. His vision was fuzzy. The dark figure he saw standing over him wavered around in small circles until the view finally stabilized and came into focus. What he saw frightened him. A featureless face, only with gleaming yellow eyes, two horn-like appendages on its head, and the deepest black he had ever seen. Sebastian’s body in a jerk reaction sprang up and sprinted away until his breathing was hoarse and confident that he was safe.
Heaving and breathing heavily, Sebastian rested his hands on his knees and dared a look behind him. His shadow trailed back several yards, as if the sun were just a few feet away. The shadow, however, had not moved. Staring harder, Sebastian saw that his shadow connected to the figure. He stole a look around and saw the vast white room with no visible way out. When he turned back around, the figure was beside him again, causing Sebastian to leap and start to run again.
The figure grabbed Sebastian’s arm and made them look face to face.
“Trust. Doom.” It stated, plainly.
Sebastian fell on his back and started crawling back to put more distance between them.
“What are you? Don’t hurt me!” Sebastian stammered in fear.
“Trust. Doom.” It spoke again, reaching out its hand.

They stared at each other for a few moments. The room became impossibly tense, like a rubber band ready to snap. Yet, the shadow never wavered. Sebastian shakily reached out his arm and clasped hands with the shadow.
The instant their bodies touched, Sebastian’s body began to absorb the shadow. A protective casing veiled his legs, tendrils softly lulling about, continually licking the air and melting into the floor. It draped itself around his shoulders and came to razor sharp points just past Sebastian’s fingertips. And around his head, the horns perched just behind his ears and merged into a visor over his eyes. The eyes themselves now sparkled more vibrantly, as bright as the sun.
“Trust. Doom.” The shadow emitted.
“Okay, fine. We’ll have it your way.” Sebastian replied. “Where do we go now?”
“Down.” It replied.
The puddle that the shadow had emerged from quivered around Sebastian’s feet. It expanded suddenly and held its position. Slowly, Sebastian, and his shadow melted down and the puddle swallowed them whole.