IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS
By; Speaker Gerald A. Polley
The Ancient One and his companions had been on the hunt all night. It was time for them to return home. It was already light where they were, and would soon be light where their bodies lay. But The Ancient One had to make one more stop. As they began to fly over the land beneath them it appeared to become darker and darker, though here it was well light, and a feeling of great depression fell on all three of the spiritual warriors.
"Yuck! What is this place?" The Ancient One's male companion asked.
"We're in Pakistan," The Ancient One answered, "near the Afghan border."
"What makes it so oppressive here?" his female companion asked.
"To put it bluntly," The Ancient One answered, "there's virtually no love here. The dark ones have created such an atmosphere of hate in this area that virtually every man, woman and child despise each other! Just about every man hates his wife, just about every wife despises her husband. Women are sickened by their children, and children despise their parents. They have so poisoned all the people in this region that though they put on the portent of caring for each other there is no real affection here, whatsoever. The dark ones created this place to protect their most treasured agents. You often ask me why we can't get into these places. This is why! This Darkness is why. You can feel how little power we have here."
"I sure can!" The Ancient One's male companion agreed. "How can people live in this despair? How can they even function?"
"Many of them don't," The Ancient One answered. "Very high suicide rate around here."
He landed and his companions followed. Suddenly the area around them seemed to brighten. An old man hobbled out of the darkness and approached The Ancient One.
"Glory be to Allah!" the man cried.
"Glory to The Light!" The Ancient One answered. "Have you been able to locate our quarry?"
The old man shook his head. "This one lives in such constant fear that you will find him," the old man answered, "that he hides himself in the bowels of the earth, and trusts no one. Only those closest to him are allowed to go where he is, and they take no one with them. Even those I use cannot get them to betray their trust. I know how much you want this one, but he just makes it too difficult."
"You know the signal if you have success," The Ancient One instructed. "But do not depend on me, alone. If the opportunity presents itself use somebody local, if I cannot be summoned in time."
The old man shook his head. "I will try!" he answered. "But there isn't much local of use to us, even with the American gold that is offered for this one."
"Gotta go!" The Ancient One remarked, "But keep hunting."
The old man nodded, turned, and disappeared back into the Darkness.
"Good Lords!" The Ancient One's female companion moaned, "How can anything of The Light function in that horrid place?"
The Ancient One smiled. "What gave you the idea that he was of The Light?" The Ancient One asked. "Up until recently he has been one of my greatest adversaries in this area! But unlike the other creatures of Darkness around here, he has no intention of committing suicide by eliminating his food supply, so he's been considerably helpful to us."
"Ow!" The Ancient One's female companion choked. "But he seemed...well, he seemed so nice!"
"They can seem very pleasant," The Ancient One answered, "when they want to. Well, come on! We've got work to do! Sooner or later the one we're hunting will make a mistake, they always do! Then we'll strike! All we have to do is be patient."
"Your patience," his male companion answered, "sometimes drives people to near insanity!"
"Gee!" The Ancient One muttered, 'I'm loosing my touch! I used to drive them completely insane with no effort at all!"
The Ancient One's companions roared with laughter.
"Be careful!" The Ancient One remarked, "You'll ruin my reputation. Come on! We can't find this prey, but there's others that can't make shields of Darkness around them. Fortunately there's only a few places like this."
"It would be very nice," his female companion remarked, "if there weren't any!"
"We're working on it!" The Ancient One answered, "Give us time! We're working on it!"
He spread his wings and soared away, and his companions quickly followed. His male companion looked back to the wall of Darkness behind him and shook his head.
"You can't believe it," he muttered, "unless you see it! A place totally without love! How can they exist in there, how?"
Then he returned his attentions to his companions who were altering their course towards The Light.
THE END