RuneScape Forums

Welcome to my newest story.

~Contents~
1. Introduction
2. Past Stories/Story Stats/Reviews and Rates
3-100. Story
350-380. Story
460-490. Story

Greetings to anyone who has clicked on this thread, be you friend, fan or stranger I thank you for looking here.

As of the display name change update, I have gone from Carrotman714 to General ACE and now to Infinity A8. If you want, you may still call me A, Ace (that's pronounced Ay-See by the way), Infinity or Alex. I've been playing Runescape for around three years now, but developed a passion for writing pieces of fiction long before that. Yet when I first became a member and discovered the Runescape Stories forum, I immediately set about fueling that passion and writing stories for the world of Gielnor to read. Some day I hope to write a story for the whole world to read.

This is my fifth story on the Runescape Forums and my third to still be alive. My first story was an epic failure and my second wasn't all too good either. My third story, Nightmare I considered to be my greatest piece of writing talent to date, scoring above seventy-five percent with each review I requested. Then I wrote my fourth work, The Fatal Glitch and was amazed by the amount of people who read and commented on it. Initially, I imagined that I hadn't written the story nearly as well as I had Nightmare, but as the comments keep growing The Fatal Glitch remains my most popular story to date.

This is my most recent story: Agony. Like with Nightmare, this story will be a tale of horror and as such, will contain violence, gore and scenes not suitable for small children. Read at your own discretion.

Horror stories have always been my favourite to write and I am quite enthusiastic about this piece. I aim to imbue this tale with all my talent and ability to deliver you, the reader, a story you'll love and remember.

So put on your reading specs, get comfy and if you can't get to sleep at night it's not my fault, okay?

~Other Threads by me~

Name: Nightmare
Genre: Horror
Length: 80 story posts, 25 chapters
Quickfind Code: 49-50-327-56159462

Name: The Fatal Glitch
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Length: 96 story posts, 25 chapters
Quickfind Code: 49-50-702-56883030

-Infinity Manor-
Quick find code: 49-50-294-59760787

~Story Stats~

Story Posts: 127
Chapters: 28
Status: Unfinished
Reviews: 3

~Reviews and Rates~

-140/150, 93%, Full Circle Reviews (First three chapters only)

-78/100, 78%, Elfie's Reviews Inc. (First nine chapters only)

-375/520, 72.1%, Yrolg's Reviews (First ten chapters only)

~Awards~
Oº°‘¨••• |-| € Å V € /\/ |_ ¥ • § Þ |-| € R € •••¨‘°ºO
ºO”˜`”"°"”°" ••• Full Circle Reviews ••• ”°""”˜`”°Oº

~Prologue~

A deafening crash woke the people of Edgeville from their sleep. In the dead of night, the sky concealed under a billowing veil of clouds, they scrambled out of their sleeping quarters and to their windows to investigate the cause of the sound.

Lanterns were held and worried murmurs heard among the ears of the town's children as the adults scampered around their houses, befuddled and afraid. As if like a disease, the fear and worry spread, causing the children to remain in their rooms, curled up into balls and shivering wildly.

They had no idea what was going on, neither did anyone else.

Before long, people left their houses, scurrying about the streets in search of others to consult with. They abandoned their young ones in their search, leaving them isolated and alone inside the dark, dreary houses.

"Mummy...?" one child cried out, disturbed by his parents' disappearance.

But the child's cries were unheard, as the adults had united outside in the cold; lanterns and torches alight and far too engaged in their frantic discussion to hear anything but their own theories and plans.

A small girl, barely eleven years of age, crept silently out of her house and towards the group of adults like a mouse slipping out of its hole for a crumb of cheese.

Her house was tiny, located east over the hill between Edgeville and the Monastery. She tiptoed past the few other homes in the area with ease, her parents unable to scold or hinder her for leaving the house as they were conferring with the other adults of the town. The group had formed around the well, not far from the bank, their speech hushed and quick, fearing for their own safety. As the little girl snuck closer, she managed to hear their words.

"Look, I'm telling you it isn't anything to worry about...!"

"We live on the borders of the Wilderness! Of course it's something to fear!"

"Calm yourselves! We must take action, I want us to spread out and search the town for any sort of disturbance."

With a soft bout of agreement from the meagre crowd, the adults divided into even smaller groups and prepared to explore.

"He-hello...?" the petite girl squeaked, her tiny voice barely gaining attention of those around her. "What...what's going on...?"

The adult's eyes spun around to her as she spoke, now aware of her small presence and how much she shouldn't be here.

"You should be asleep little one..." one of the elder members of the townsfolk mumbled.

The girl seemed to diminish in size and stature, her fear increasing with each passing second she stood in the dim light of the lanterns.

"But...I'm scared..." she trembled, her eyes closed and fragile hands clutched close to her chest.

"Now now Veronica..." a young man, the girl's father called to her whilst stroking her hair in a calming manner. "It's best you return to your sleep. If it makes you feel better I'll get Mummy to take you back home and wait for you to doze off once more."

"But...Jaden's out here..." Veronica murmured, indicating towards another small child, the same age as Veronica, mingling in with the party of people and lazily holding onto a woman's leg.

"Jaden shouldn't be here either..." the same elderly man from before muttered grumpily. "But his mother insisted he join us beca-."

"MUMMY!" a child cried fiercly from inside one of the houses south of the bank, breaking the bunch into a horrified frenzy and bringing the topic of Veronica's presence to a halt. Mad dashes towards the house were made and Veronica and Jaden were protectively swept up in their parents arms.

Upon bursting through the front door of the house, frightened parents began screaming their child's name receiving an equally loud and terror-stricken yell.

Veronica and Jaden were left at the front of the house, alone.

"What's happening...?" Veronica whispered to her companion, the sounds of the adults becoming distant as they ventured to the edge of the house.

"I've no idea. They said there was a loud sound like thunder rolling. But there's no rain," Jaden explained calmly. "Right now I'd probably think it's a burglar."

Veronica 'eeked' at the notion of an armed attacker invading their town in the middle of the night to plunder their possessions and harm anyone who came in their way.

Suddenly a scream thundered throughout the walls, then erupted into a volley of terrified screeches. Veronica gasped and blocked her ears desperately with her cupped hands every time the scream would ring out.

"Come on!" Jaden beckoned, motioning for Veronica to follow him to the scene of the action.

Veronica trailed him hesitantly, heart thudding like a ticking clock, her hands still clasped around each side of her head.

They rushed through the house, eager to uncover the source of all this commotion, eager to learn the nature of that which has the power to create an uproar throughout a small town.

Jaden threw open the door and cast his gaze around the room. When he fixated his eyes on the back wall, he gasped, thrust his head to one side and struggled to keep his dinner from escaping his stomach.

Veronica fainted upon witnessing the sight, entering the room shortly after Jaden and scanning it as he did.

The first thing the two of them noticed was the window, smashed to pieces and in shards on the floor. The source of the disruptive sound. The adults had swept up the child and were fervently comforting him on the left of the room where the child's cot also lay.

Then there was the sight that had caused a small girl to faint.

Written on the wall below the window in blood was one word.

Agony.

And that's when it all began.

~Chapter I~

Since that day three years ago, Edgeville became a haunted town and it would only get worse.

Children would wake, screaming in the night as they discovered themselves staring into a pair of hollow, disembodied eye sockets which would immediately vanish the instant a parent arrived to inspect. Objects would seemingly disappear in the night, then return the next morning with curious yet eerie symbols etched into them.

But the happenings weren't always so bloodlessly spooky.

Sometimes people would be stirred out of their sleep by seemingly nothing, then find rough, jagged scratches down their bodies, sometimes they would be awake in the first place and then suddenly be struck down as if slugged by a powerful foe. Some folks would describe being held down and lacerated through the night, cut slowly and painfully, their screams muffled by a ghostly, icy hand.

At first the haunting weren't all too frequent, initially transpiring only once every fortnight or so and appearing notably tame. Yet as each month went by they increased in occurrence and violence to the point where one man woke with his arm snapped in two.

People began to flee the town, hastening away as rabbits do upon sighting a fox. As the third year commenced Edgeville had almost quite literally become a ghost town. In total, ten families continued to inhabit the small settlement, those living there unable to afford residence elsewhere.

Six of the ten families contained children. These children had lived in Edgeville for all their lives, witnessed and suffered from the events as much as anyone else had. All of them lived in the paltry cluster of houses to the west, bound by their shared living space and age group they formed the youngest members of Edgeville'* society.

Edgeville'* only other residents were parents of the underprivileged kids and the lone men and women who lived in Edgeville because nowhere else would accommodate them.

And they despised it. All of them.

As hellish as the situation was, everyone in the town went about daily life as normally as they could. So long as the sun shone, Edgeville was like any other lowly populated out-of-the-way town.

The autumn winds whistled through the nigh deserted town, rattling the leaves of the yew trees. One particular leaf fluttered off the branch and drifted downwards, spiraling in its descent and landing upon the head of fourteen year old Veronica Belle.

Accompanying her scattered around the grand, old tree were her best and only friends. The seven of them were the only ones in the town under the age of thirty or even fifteen for that matter. When it came to friendships, fun and comfort, they only had each other.

Jaden Cole lay at the base of the trunk, hands behind his head and eyes closed drowsily. He was fourteen years old and the eldest of the group, surpassing Veronica in age by a mere three months. His hair was short, spiked and so dark a brown that it was virtually black in colour. Though short for his age, (which was still taller than Veronica) he was physically fit and able, athletic and strong for his diminutive size. Jaden always sustained a blank expression when talking, moving or just about doing anything, his eyelids constantly drooping over his brown eyes.

Veronica sat beside him, plucking the leaf from her well-combed and brown hair. It was rather lengthy, sweeping down from her scalp to the end of her thighs, a magnificent cape down her back. Her eyes were cyan, sparkling and as enticing as a resplendent diamond. Veronica was tiny, as petite as she was three years age.

The other five members of the group lounged around the base of the tree, save for Tristan and Edward Tele, who clambered up the sturdy wood, aiming for the greatest height achievable. The two were the youngest of the group, eleven and ten years of age respectively. Each of them had sandy blonde hair. Tristan's was long, sleek and dense, Ed's short and curly.

Natalie Hammond was twelve years old with strawberry-tinged hair. It was short and curly like Edward's. She had eyes the colour of a fresh leaf. She was etching shapes and figures into the supple earth with a decaying stick.

Peering over her shoulder, eager to study Natalie's artworks was Robert Windil, studious eyes brown and serious, his hair matching them in colour, falling down to his eyebrows. While a year behind Veronica and Jaden, Robert was considerably brighter than them and the other six, making him the most intellectual of the group.

The final member of the gang, her age equivalent to Robert's was Georgia, also known as the curious one. Presently, she was staring intently at the nettles behind the tree they had nestled into. Her eyes were huge, making them apt for observing and studying anything around her. Brown in colour, they never missed a thing. Her oddly coloured azure hair was tied into a pair of pigtails that trailed down to her waist.

All the members of the group were clothed uniquely, all favouring a different attire to each other. Veronica preferred dresses, the one she wore today being blue, short sleeved and decorated with a white flower imprinted in the centre of her chest. Jaden had a black T-shirt, matching denim trousers and a red cap adorning his head as his apparel.

Tristan was in a yellow, button up top and grey shorts, his brother in a pair of blue overalls and a striped red and white undershirt. Natalie was in a long sleeved, lime green, woolen jumper; an orange, knee length skirt warming her legs. She also bore blue rimmed spectacles that she lifted up whenever she was drawing. For some reason, she seemed to create superior artworks with her vision impaired as opposed to her glasses on.

Robert draped himself in an overly large gray jacket whose opening revealed the white button-up top he wore underneath, complete with a red tie, along with grey knee length shorts to suit his intelligent person.

Georgia dressed herself in clothes she'd decorated herself, taking an originally white shirt and shorts and splattering them with all the colours of the rainbow in random patterns, taking no care whatsoever in how they looked decoratively, but merely how happy and cheerful her clothing appeared.

The scenery depicted what seemed to be a peaceful autumn's day, a mess of children, lazing around a tree in the peaceful season's breeze, enjoying their time as they had it. But only while the sun was up they lived in peace. Each night they went to bed they'd do so shaking and quivering, some crying and begging their parents to stay with them 'till dawn broke.

As the dusk settled and the darkness swooped over the town, the calm of the day was replaced with the terror of the night. For something would lurk about the town, preying on the innocent, torturing and tormenting them with their wildest fears and anxieties. Come nightfall, the something would arrive and slurp up the people's happiness, breathing out anguish to those it chose to oppress.

Seven children were living a nightmare, living a life they shouldn't have to. They managed however, in as best a way they could.

"Ow!" Georgia cried, her high pitched voice gathering the attention of her circle of companions. "Ow ow ow! It stung me!"

"Even after staring at them for five minutes you didn't think they might be spiky?" Jaden stated in monotony, the noisy girl having disrupted his afternoon nap. Georgia stuck her finger into her mouth, sipping at her wound in a babyish manner, resulting in laughter from the group.

"Guys," called Tristan softly from atop the tree "The sun's setting."

The light hearted mood immediately shattered.