Cyclopean's Story

Something extraordinary must have been in the ground because Tallyho raised her eyebrows as soon as she set her sights on the miserable plot. She then took a single step back, turned around and offered an even gaze to the others. Long waves of locks swept and looped across her neck. “If I were you, I would go away now,” she said.
She stood in front to the plot, blocking the view from the others, but she cringed internally. There was a hand that she saw. A thin, black, reptilian hand twisting its way to the surface—and it was still coming. Why, if it wanted to, it could grab Tallyho right by her ankles.
“If I were you, I would go away now,” she repeated systematically. She was like a solider on post, really. She told the people just what the commander—her instincts, told her to say. He even told her to run away herself, but something else at the back of her head told her that these people had no idea about dealing with such creatures. How could she leave them?

Autumn had no problem with going away. Except that she couldn't move. No matter what she tried she just couldn't do it. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. That girls tone made it obvious. Of course, Autumn had no idea if the girl was warning others or was about to attack. She took a large gulp, taking the butter knife out of her purse. She was trembling like a leaf in the wind, her legs seeming like they would give away at any moment. Somehow though, she managed to stay standing.

The worst part was that she didn't even know why she was afraid. She just was. Though the piercing cold of topaz against her skin wasn't helping in the slightest. Each breath came out shaky and her heart felt like it was beating a thousand miles a second. That girl. Autumn focused her pale blue eyes on her, studying her movements. Honestly, she didn't know what she was looking for. Maybe some subtle cue that the girl wouldn't attack? Well, she didn't seem aggressive. Really, she seemed scared herself. Just what was going on?

“Don’t just stand there, go away!” Tallyho called. It was amazing how rapidly the creature was rising. By then its bulbous head was crowning from the dirt.
Tallyho didn’t notice. She was more concerned about the others. Why wouldn’t they leave? Why were they just gawking at her like sheep? She began to wonder if New York was a colony shipped away by the king because they weren’t quite sharp enough to function in the working world, because they were rather dull and a danger to themselves.
By that time the cyclopean was up to his chest. Both of its scrawny arms pressed from the ground like a growing plant, and it placed each palm against the surface. Its movement— a series of other worldly snapping motions.
Tallyho grunted and turned back only to see that the cyclopean had finally pushed from of the ground. He was a bit taller than the average man, and his teeth snapped repeatedly at the teen. Or perhaps he was just trying to test his jaw before he really began to feast?
The blonde took a step back and kept her eyes closely focused on the threat.
“I told you to run,” she muttered.

The onyx beast let out quite the screech. It wasn’t too deep or too high, but somewhere in the middle and rather uneven. Almost like its voice box danced on the ridges of ripped paper, and the threads of torn cloth. Tallyho held her breath as she took a few steps back.
She too had taken a spoonful of that fear the others had. The one that kept its victim from lifting her legs to move. The cyclopean’s mossy teeth clicked, and its backward knees cracked as it shifted its weight, stretching from its time tightly enclosed in the ground.
Then, without warning the pitch of its screech grew higher as it bashed a clawed fist into the ground, barely missing the blonde’s toes.
“Will you run now?” The girl hissed. Her cool demeanor had finally begun to melt.

It was easy enough to pretend that this was just New York, weird things happening there day by day, but then again-... Falke felt his hackles raising up as if he were a feral dog ready to fight or flee, whichever seemed productive in the situation at hand. He could tell something just wasn't right, and couldn't be explained just as simple weirdness. And his hand felt oddly warm, a soft heat searing from the metal coils wrapped around his finger and the jewel, a star-shaped sapphire, lay transfixed within. But he didn't pay it any more mind, save for noting it was a odd annoyance and occurrence in the beginning of a bitter fall season in the city around him, considering the situation at hand. What was going on, seriously?

He listened intently to what the stranger had to say, growing more uneasy. But his facial features remained carefully blank, thoughtful even. Generally when people began freaking out about something, and butter-knife, or knife in general, was involved, that didn't mean anything good was happening. Yes, it was likely a good idea to leave, especially before it got to out of hand, whatever was happening. Just as he decided he would turn and leave and walk another trail in the park far away from whatever was going on here today and thank the stranger for his answers as he went, he barely kept himself from nearly skittering sideways when sudden sound and movement close at hand crashed abruptly against his heightened and alerted senses. He tensed, strung up as tightly as a hunting bow. His nostrils flared as he snorted in surprise. Glancing vaguely in the direction of the sound at the bench, the other person, a little person at that, that had sat at the bench along with the stranger who had spoken with him and answered his questions had gotten up suddenly, he imagined he could smell the fear coming off her little shaking form. Okay. Nothing scary, more or less, here. But geez', he wasn't normally this easily jumpy. "Leaving seems rather logical." He hummed roughly in answer, finally. Just as a sudden explosion of sound ontop of what was already going on, clicking, crackling, and hissing, like some giant, monster bug-thing. He took a step back then, a thin line on his maw. Okay, yes, leaving sounded very good right now.

Dorian's cup of tea tumbled to the ground, the liquid spilling into the grass below. Monsters were not real. They did not knock over trees. They did not claw their way out of the ground. And, most importantly, they did not show up in Central Park. Except, apparently, they did. Only Dorian did not intend to stick around and see what else monsters could apparently do.
But he couldn't move for a moment, fear keeping his feet firmly planted to the ground. The monster in question was the most horrific thing Dorian had ever seen, its reptilian features belonged in the nightmares of a dark, disturbed mind, not standing in front of him.
The warmth on his right wrist was pulsing now as if trying to catch his attention. He spared it a glance, but could only see the ever present glint of silver from his bracelet and it really wasn't his problem right now.
But the warmth did serve the purpose of distracting him for just long enough to snap him out of the frozen state of fear and bring him back to the present. His hand shot out, wrapping itself solidly around the blind boy's wrist before he started to run, tugging the other boy along after him, barking out a short, "Come On!". There wasn't any time to explain what was happening, and he still had the presence of mind not to leave someone to die.

She could barley hear the barking of the strange girl telling then to run away, over the pulsing headache that ripped through after the sickening monsters screech. She had never seen anything like it before, how something like that could even be in front of her eyes astonished her. This isn't real, this has to be a dream. she thought in a scared whim, before she realized the pulsing warm diamond she still clutched in her hand.
Letting go on the heated diamond she grabbed the girls wrist once more and said "We need to move, now. Take your eyes off of it." Dragging her along with her in a run, she grabbed the wrist a little tighter, being more force full in snapping the girl out of it. It seemed the girl who was one tree knew what that twisted monster thing was, however so that thing was possibly real. "Whatever that darkness that creature is, now's not the time to free up alright? we have to keep going." She said to the girl she was still dragging along with her. She didn't even know this girls name, and it was a little weird how she had brought a butter knife with her to the park. But now wasn't the time to thin about little details, now wasn't the time to think about anything except getting out of the area.

Jasmine stood rooted to the spot "W-what?" She stuttered, un-able to believe her eyes.
"What is it?" She managed to force out as she looked upon the grotesque creature, she then looked over to the other girls - Seeing them retreat she willed her body to do the same but she found, she couldn't move.
"Oh God, oh God." She whispers, over and over again. Why did she choose NOW to be so afraid she was stuck.
It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream.. She told herself, trying to un-freeze just enough to at least pinch herself.
She turned her gaze over to the girl that was in the tree, She seemed to know what they were.
"Who are you?"

Jasmine took a large gulp of air as she looked at the massive creature before her.
Her feet were rooted to the ground as she looked into the monsters slits for eyes.
"Oh God, I'm going to die." She squeaked, her throat closing.
She knew it was sheer fear that kept her in the same spot, Jasmine looked over at the group retreating and closed her eyes for a minute.
"Okay." She said softly, taking a deep breath.
She opened her eyes and turned, sprinting away.
Jasmine could feel the heat of her bracelet on her wrist, but that wasn't important right now, she needed to get away - Why did she ever come to New York.
Catching up with the two boys she looked at them "You see it too right?" She asked, wondering whether she was going insane.

Jackson had managed to ignore the odd group of girls hanging around and in a tree and finally finish his mystery book and even started on the second one he brought, but he couldn't ignore the big black dragon-bug and horrid screeching. He turned and growled both against the interruption and the headache it gave him.

He was still capable of thinking, though, especially thinking crazy thoughts like he was somehow actually IN the book, as it was about dragons. That was impossible though. He looked around and saw people either frozen or running around, away from the creature. Those people were not in his book. The girls were the same ones who gathered around the tree, unless they got somehow pulled into the book too. Even more impossible. The skinny teen was extremely confused right now but that confusion had yet to slip into fear.

He caught two boys older than him also running, two boys he hadn't thought were crazy. He finally and completely came back to Earth when he had a sudden cramp in his right hand. NOW he was scared. Was he having an attack? Dropping the book, he fumbled in his pocket for the phone his mom made him carry everywhere.

Maris still stood where she was, and she watched as the gentleman pulled the blind person along with him in his race to get out of here. She, herself, wanted to run, but her feet were positively glued to the sidewalk on which she stood. The young girl bit her lip to hold back the scream that rose up in her throat. She tried to move and follow the two men out of there, but she was panicking because she still couldn't move.

The sharp intensity of the heat on her left wrist, however, broke her trance. She gave her bracelet a quick glance before taking a breath and running after the blind man and the gentleman. Hopefully, Maris would make it far away from here and closer to home.

How many times was she going to be dragged along in one day? "I'm fine." Autumn replied quickly. "But-but I don't know how to use a knife!" That thing obviously wasn't going to let them get away. "And there's no way I'm going back there!" Autumn shook her head. It was stupid to even throw the thing in the first place. "Can't someone just use a stick or something?" She was trembling again, eyes focused on the monster that was growing ever closer.

“Well get something!” Tallyho hissed as she broke from the young man’s grip and veered off towards the right of the beast. The cyclopean wasn’t exactly paying attention to her, however. It kept its sights on the other two. Without sound, it broke into a manic dash towards the two, its teeth clicked rapidly.
Tallyho found that as her opportunity. She had to kill it right then and she wasn’t going to stop until it was dead. She was always taught that letting a cyclopean roam free was just like killing five people. The blonde hurried across the grass trying to make as little sound as possible as she went.
Once she got a hold of the knife she looked back to check how far the beast had gotten. Really, the cyclopean was very unorganized. It abandoned its quest for the two teens and went running after a group consisting of the other young people who had run off earlier.
“Hey! Come back.”

Both of Jackson's pale hands shook as he finally retrieved his phone and blindly punched in 911. His attack was getting worse, but he couldn't take his eyes away from the rampaging dragon-bug as it went after the other kids in the park today. Crap! Even if the emergency services could save him, what would happen to them? There's no way they'd believe a freaking giant bug was attacking people. They had to come if they heard the screaming, right? No matter what insanity they found. Well he would report it anyway. It was better to be crazy than dead.

The cyclopean kept going. It wasn’t until her third taunt that the creature turned to her. Tallyho gripped the knife and narrowed her eyes. The sun was setting and the light tore through them like a march of madmen. The silhouette of the cyclopean turned and finally, it came running. She locked her sights on its chest, where the heart was and held the lifted the knife. The dull, useless knife. She sprinted forward and prayed to feel the squishy bruised flesh protecting the heart’s cavity.
She didn’t even feel its breath on her neck. She took another step forward and squealed in pain. She stepped into a heaping pile of…black glass? She knelt down and took one of the shards, held it up to examine it in the light, but no light came through.
“Onyx…”
An odd sensation engulfed her. Her heart dropped and she felt like she was falling. She was positive that her eyes were open but all she could see was black.
Then she felt the ground beneath her. Laying face up she opened her eyes to see stars, bright white stars, long yellow streaks, and strawberry milk gas clouds. She stood up, dazzled and panicked. The floor was cold, almost marble like. It was a transparent pink but all she could see below her were lights and planets.
Then she scanned her general vicinity. Each of the young people from before were sprawled out on the dreamy pink path way. Even the ones who ran.
“Why… I’m not too sure what going on,” Tallyho mumbled. At least she meant to. Her voice was amplified, and echoed.