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Raziel was being followed. He couldn’t explain it, he just had a feeling that he was being watched, although, the feeling was so intense that it couldn’t have been just him being paranoid. He definitely was being followed…
A sudden blast of cold air sent leaves dancing out in front of him, his cowl and ruined wings were pulled forward and ruffled in the breeze. Raziel shivered, rubbing his arms, not just from the cold, but from the chilling presence he felt. He looked up at the late, autumn sky, noting that gloomy, grey clouds were moving in and that the wind was starting to pick up even more now. The nearby trees shook their long, bear limbs in the wind, as if trying to warn him of the storm to come… or perhaps something even more ominous.
Raziel had nothing to fear from a simple storm, but being wet and cold weren’t exactly ideal travel conditions for him. He decided now would be a good time to take a trip to the spectral realm to restore his energy and maybe see if there were any new paths to be found that he hadn’t seen before. He hoped that once he shifted, he would lose whoever - or whatever - was following him. Somehow he highly doubted it, this presence felt so unnatural, he wondered if it were Elder God and his agents trailing him. There was only one way to find out and soon he had slipped into the spectral realm.
At first, everything seemed normal as he shifted. The world around him distorted, shapes and colours became blurry and twisted, nothing out of the ordinary, but then something completely different and entirely unnerving happened. The colours and landscape twisted into something he wasn’t at all use to. The colours, instead of having their usual green hue of the spectral realm to them, turned an off, bleak grey. The landscape around him became flattened and stretched out for what seemed like forever. There were some jagged rocks and hills sporting out here and there, but other than that, it was mostly just flat and spread out. It was also quite desolate, except for what looked to be a small patch of gnarled, black trees in the distance.
Raziel narrowed his eyes as he took in his surroundings. While a bit alarmed, he was mostly annoyed. He thought this was just some trick The Elder God was playing on him. Although, he would have never guessed the other could distort the appearance of the spectral realm like this.
Raziel narrowed his eyes further when he noticed something even more strange. It was like there was a sort of static in the air. Everything was fuzzy, like a television with a bad signal - not that Raziel knew what a television was, he didn’t even know how to explain what he was seeing in front of him.
Even more startling, he finally noticed that that presence he had sensed before now felt like it intensified tenfold, as if he was in the very belly of the beast . He didn’t like this feeling at all. His curiosity for this place was steadily welling up into dread and he knew he had to find a way out of here before whatever was stalking him found him.
Ignoring the ever-looming presence, he tried to see if he could sense the spiritual pull that meant there was a conduit back to the material realm nearby. He scanned the area and soon felt drawn toward that patch of wicked looking trees. At the same time, he got an instant gut reaction that told him he should stay far away from them, that they just didn‘t look right. Raziel didn’t have much a choice in the matter, though; if there was a conduit over there, then that’s where he needed to go to get out of this place. So cautiously, he ventured forth, all the while keeping an eye out for whatever was following him.
When he reached the small, wooded area, he tired to pick up where exactly he had sensed that conduit. His eyes immediately fell to a tree that looked quite different from the rest. It was where he sensed the ethereal energies alright, but he just did not trust the look of that tree. It was black and quite dead looking, like the rest of the trees, but it was incredibly thin and hunched in a way that just didn’t look natural. It had many limbs, at least six, all looking like long, slender arms, and all complete with their own equally long and slender fingers. It almost had a boogeyman quality to it….
It was about now that Raziel was feeling quite silly. It was just an ordinary, withered old tree, nothing to be afraid of, and he was staring at it like he expected it to do something.
It did do something.
At first, Raziel thought his eyes were just playing tricks on him, but no. Looking closely, he could see that the tree was indeed moving - or more like twitching, in this case. Ever so slightly, the tree was beginning to come to life.
It started to slowly uncurl itself from its hunched posture, its limbs twitching and starting to contort in very strange ways. Eventually all but two branches pulled themselves inward and disappeared.
Raziel stared in disbelief at what he was seeing. It didn’t take him long to realize that this was no ordinary tree he was dealing with, implying it was a tree at all…
The thing finally stood to its full height, and when it did, if lifted its head and Raziel could now finally see it for what it was. It was a figure -- of what he didn’t know, it looked like an unnaturally thin and tall man wearing what appeared to be a black suit. Raziel was looking at the back of its head at the moment, but when the creature turned to face him, Raziel felt his blood run cold and a very mortal chill ran over him.
It had no face.
“Raziel”
It spoke. How it spoke without a mouth, Raziel hadn’t the faintest idea, but then again, he still wasn’t exactly sure how he himself could talk when he processed no lower jaw, tongue, or vocal cords. Regardless, it was like that thing’s voice was echoing inside his head.
Raziel took a small step back as he took a defensive stance. “How do you know my name?” Raziel’s defensive tone matched his posture.
He didn’t know how, the thing had no face, but at that point Raziel felt like it was amused. It proved its point when it let out a small laugh, like Raziel had just asked a silly question.
“Oh, Raziel, I know you -- I’ve watched you for a long time now, ever since you were picked up by that feeble parasite, The Elder God.” The creature replied.
Raziel narrowed his eyes, still very wary “I see… and just exactly who are you?” Raziel asked
The creature replied in a matter-of-fact manner “I have many names, mostly given to me by the humans.
“Takkenman, Fear Dubn, Der Grosse Mann, The Boogeyman -- but you can just call me Slender Man~” Raziel could sense it was smiling at him and it unnerved him, but he kept up a tough front.
Raziel crossed his arms in an unimpressed fashion as he looked over at the other “Well then, Slender man, you’re the Boogeyman, is that what you’re telling me?” He asked critically
“Yes” Slender Man answered.
Raziel’s brow furrowed. “And here I spent all those years not believing in you, how silly of me…” he said, mildly sarcastic.
The Slender Man seemed to wilt at the comment “Oh, you sadden my heart, Raziel” he mocked a hurt tone.
Raziel just rolled his eyes and shook his head. He had no patience for this silly thing, it had lost all credibility to him when it claimed to be the boogeyman. He was embarrassed of himself for breing afraid of it at first. He decided now was a good time to ask it how exactly to get out of this place, since the Slender Man didn’t seem to want to hurt him or anything.
“I apologize for that, then -- but may I ask you something? What exactly is this place? It can’t be the spectral realm, can it?”
The Slender Man seemed to smile “Ah, a clever one, aren’t you? Yes, you’re right, this isn’t the Spectral Realm. This is the gap between dimensions that I reside in when I’m not terrorizing humans. It lingers on the very edge of the human consciousness, somewhere between the mortal word and the spectral realm, a shadow world, if you will. This is my domain.” He explained almost ominously.
“Thank you for that wonderful explanation, now, if you would be so kind as to tell me how I would be able to leave this shadow world of yours, that would be most appreciated” Raziel said
The Slender Man now seemed surprised. “Leave? Oh no, you can’t do that -- at least not yet.”
Raziel’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And why not?” He asked, warning lights starting to go off in his head.
The Slender Man replied simply “After all the trouble I went to in plucking out you from that Elder God’s pathetic excuse for a reality and bringing you into mine, it wasn’t part of the plan to have you leave so suddenly, no. First we’re going to have a bit of fun, you and I.”
Raziel went on the defensive again, his white eyes blazing. “What do you want from me.” It was more of a demand that a question - Raziel demanding to know what the other wanted from him just so he could not give it to him.
There was that sensation again, Raziel felt as if the other was smiling at him. The Slender Man was indeed smiling, he was quite pleased with this little, feisty firecracker of his; Raziel was everything he had expected and hoped to be.
“Relax, Raziel, I’m not going to hurt you. Trust me, you’ll like what I have in store for you, given the chance if you would only let me show you.” Slender Man assured the other calmly, persuasively.
Raziel was having none of it. He still didn’t know what the other wanted from him, but he didn’t trust him or what he was saying in the least. The wraith blade came out.
“I honestly don’t know what you are and what your intentions are, but I really don’t care anymore. If I have to go through you to get out of this place, then so be it.” Raziel declared as he stared the other down.
Just how The Slender Man predicted… well, if this was what his little, blue firecracker wanted. “So be it.” He accepted Raziel’s challenge, literally with open arms, and no sooner had he done so, the other lunged at him.
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