NEWS    Current / Submit    Archive    HELP    Walkthrough    Cheats    Editing    COMMUNITY    Forums    Fan Fiction    Fan Art    Links    FILES    Game Demo    Patch    Editing Tools    Community maps    Movies    Music    Submit    UNDYING    Game Info    Features    Requirements    Screenshots    Characters    Enemies    NPCs    Weapons    Spells    Inventory    Macintosh    Playstation2    FAQ    JERICHO    Game Info    SITE    Site Info    Contact Email Eden's Sorrow: Prologue The following is based on the game Clive Barker's Undying, ©. 2001 Electronic Arts Inc. [O] Eden's Sorrow: Prologue Autumn, 1901 -1- Fifteen-year-old Jeremiah Covenant was beginning to wonder if they would ever reach the island. It felt as if he had been rowing for hours, and his arms were tired and sore, his hands raw.      He pushed forward on the oars and let them slip back into the gray water, his eyes trained on the small island that crept slowly towards them. Even at this distance he could clearly see the standing stones and his heart raced at the sight of them. He looked at Bethany, who sat with Ambrose at the front of the boat, and she met his gaze with a nervous smile. In her lap was the book Jeremiah had taken from the library that morning, bundled now in a canvas sheet to protect it from the wind and water. Jeremiah wondered if he had made the correct decision in entrusting his sister with the book while he manned the oars; her pale hands were shaking, as if she were restraining herself from tearing open the book and beginning the incantation before they reached the island. Perhaps he should have given it to Ambrose, who had shown little interest in the book's contents, and had only joined the excursion to the island because he had nothing else to do. But Ambrose was much too unpredictable; it would not be beyond him to throw the book overboard simply out of a desire to cause chaos. As for his other two siblings, Lizbeth and Aaron, sitting huddled in the middle of the boat, Jeremiah did not think it proper to let them near the book. He felt somewhat guilty at having brought them along-Lizbeth being so young at six, and Aaron being in poor health-but both had protested so bitterly when he informed them they were to remain at the estate that he'd finally relented. Besides, had he refused to let them accompany him Jeremiah knew they would have had their revenge by telling father everything. That was how brothers and sisters were, after all.      By the time the Covenant children reached the island the sun was low in the sky. With Ambrose's help Jeremiah pulled the boat ashore and helped the others onto the beach. They made their way up the grassy slope to the windswept plateau where the stones were, and the five of them stood around the small cairn that lay in the center of the ring of stones. Taking the book from Bethany, Jeremiah uncovered it and opened it to a page he had marked with a slip of paper. As he began to read aloud-the phrases were in Latin, and he repeated them slowly-a faint wind began to blow, ruffling the children's hair and whistling eerily around the great stones. Undaunted, Jeremiah continued to recite the incantation, raising his voice against the sound of the wind. He was aware of what was happening and wondered if it was simply coincidence or if the words he was uttering were indeed having an effect, as he had secretly hoped they would.      The first time he'd laid eyes on the book he'd known it contained mystical power, or at least provided access to such power. His father-who spent most of his days sequestered in the estate library, poring over rare volumes and ancient texts-had obviously felt the same way about the book, for why else had he gone out of his way to hide it? It did not take long for Jeremiah to locate the book's hiding place-a secret compartment tucked in behind a row of encyclopedias-but it was only three weeks later, this very morning, that he had been able to retrieve the book from the library without fear of being caught by his father, who had gone into town to conduct some business. Normally his father locked the library if he was going to be away from the estate for any period of time, but Jeremiah had managed to convince one of the servants to give him a key; he simply told the servant he needed to finish some research for a project his father had given him, which, of course, was nothing short of a complete lie.      With the book in his possession Jeremiah retreated to his bedchamber, where he studied the cryptic intricacies of the book's many pages in private. It did not take him long to realize that the book was a kind of key; throughout the pages there were many references to the opening of certain "gates" that the unnamed author had failed to identify. And there were warnings as well, of dire consequences that would befall those who tried to open these so-called "gates" without proper preparations. Although Jeremiah took note of these warnings, his caution was overshadowed by the thrill of coming across the textual heart of the book: a long incantation written entirely in Latin. Exulted by his find, Jeremiah knew there was only one thing for him to do, and that would be to perform the incantation and see what came of it. At first he thought of performing it alone in his room but it became obvious to him that such a performance required a more inspired setting, and one immediately came to mind: the Isle of the Standing Stones that he and his siblings often went to visit. An audience, too, would be needed for the performance, if only to act as witnesses should something out of the ordinary happen.      Barely able to contain his excitement, Jeremiah found his sister Bethany in the garden and told her about his plans. At first she was not very receptive, half-listening to him while she tended to some plants, but when he read some of the incantation to her she suddenly became more interested and agreed to accompany him that afternoon to the island. As they went in search of Ambrose she became more and more enthusiastic about their "little endeavor", as she called it, to the point that her enthusiasm seemed to eclipse Jeremiah's own. He didn't find this disconcerting, however; rather, he was glad for it, because it was this sudden eagerness on her part that helped persuade Ambrose to join them (although he had to admit that it was probably the fact Ambrose was completely bored that prompted his decision to tag along).      As the three of them left the manor they were spotted by Lizbeth and Aaron from one of the upper windows and within minutes the two uninvited siblings were running alongside them down to the dock, pleading to go with them to the island. Being the eldest of the Covenant children Jeremiah knew he should have been more responsible and insisted that they remain behind, but Lizbeth and Aaron were adamant, to the point of being outright defiant. Jeremiah had never seen them behave in such a manner; even though they had not been told why he and the others were going to the island, they seemed to sense that something out of the ordinary was planned, something they desperately wanted to be a part of. In the end Jeremiah let them onto the boat, much to Ambrose's chagrin, who chided his older brother's inability to exercise authority. Jeremiah ignored his brother and handed the book to Bethany, who accepted it in an almost reverential fashion. He pushed the boat away from the dock and put the oars into the dark water, his thoughts wandering ahead to the time when he would be standing among the strange monoliths, the book open before him as he read the incantation aloud, his mind soaring with possibilities... -2- When it was over Jeremiah found himself seated with the others in the long shadows of the five standing stones, shivering in the cold breeze that blew off the water. Evening had fallen and the vestiges of dusk glowed on the horizon. From where he sat he could see the distant lantern that hung at the end of the dock, its light like a ghostly beacon. No doubt the servants were combing the grounds of the estate in search of him and the others, worried sick at their absence. A cold dread lay coiled in Jeremiah's gut and he knew it was not simply from guilt, it was the fact that he had done something terrible and unpardonable by taking his siblings to the island and reading from the mysterious book.      He could not recall what had happened after reading the incantation. A strong wind had come out of nowhere and the sea suddenly churned as if countless fish thrashed beneath its surface. Had he lost consciousness after that? He had no idea. All that lingered in his memory was a series of inexplicable visions that left him wondering if he had left the realm of sanity. Absurd as it seemed, he had found himself transported to a distant point in time during the island's history, to witness the burial of an ancient Celtic warrior not more than ten feet from where he now sat. He knew it was the same island because the five stones had been present, looming behind the four robed figures lowering the fallen warrior into an open grave. And as he watched he noticed that the warrior, who was dressed in armor and wore a golden mask, was not actually dead, for he saw its head move and distinctly heard a muffled cry from beneath the mask. As suddenly as the vision had come to him it was gone and for an interminable while he floated in utter blackness, as if suspended over an infinite abyss. Then, in quick succession, he caught glimpses of his brothers and sisters, now much older and nearly unrecognizable-     -Lizbeth, very elegant and beautiful as she walked along a tree-lined path reading from a small book of poetry, a pair of suitors walking a few feet behind her.     -Aaron pacing to and fro in front of a large blank canvas mounted on a wall, his face contorted with despair, his red hair wild.     -Bethany standing in a greenhouse, tending to flowers and plants as a tall man in a black coat and hat looked on, stroking his beard.     -Ambrose on the deck of a ship, laughing like a madman as waves crashed over him and lightning forked across the roiling sky.      And then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed for the worse. It was as if he had been shown an illusion, a façade, and what he saw now was the hideous reality beneath it all. Lizbeth was no longer beautiful but a horrible creature of the night, her face twisted into a demonic visage, blood dripping from her mouth onto the remains of her dress. Then he saw a scarred and menacing Ambrose marching through the tunnel of a damp cave, a bloodied axe in one hand, a severed head in the other, with several strange-looking men following behind him. Bethany, too, had not escaped transformation, becoming nothing more than a withered shadow of her former self, wrapped in robes of crimson and black. Worst of all, though, was Aaron, hanging from chains like a slab of forgotten meat in an abattoir, his skin flayed completely from his body; someone had furthered the mutilation by ripping out his jaw, leaving him to suffer his torment in silence.      What did these terrible visions mean, and why had they come to him? As Jeremiah contemplated these questions his gaze fell on the cairn that lay in the middle of the ring of stones, and a cold dread fell over him. He knew now what he had done. He had opened a gate, a portal to another place, but he had done so without any regard for the consequences, and the like the warnings in the book had so clearly stated, he and his siblings would pay a terrible price for his actions. And yet what he had opened could surely be closed again? There had to be something, another incantation perhaps that would seal the gate and undo the calamity he had unknowingly set loose. Perhaps his father could help him, for if anyone knew of such things it would be him...      With this in mind Jeremiah gathered his brothers and sisters and went down to the boat. In the dying light they pushed the boat back into the water and within minutes were swallowed up by the descending darkness. This fan-fiction story © dr_coma 2003. The story continues in Chapter One...