Spectral Terrace

Howdy y'all. It has been extremely hard finding decent websites for people who like to write and that sort of environment. Hopefully, this site you got here will be more helpful then most of the other ones.

Anyways, this is the first episode of this new story I am currently working on and would greatly appreciate if you do some critiquing on it. Thanks and I hope I'm allowed to post something this long on here.

Spectral Terrace

Picture the world as if anew, now rural and unclear.
The once mysterious mist that enshrouded the planet has died.
The earth now has a lingering sense in the air,
as if there is an invisible extra layer,
hidden in our minds that our eyes cannot see.
--passage from Havilah


In all we are, in all we aim to be, there is always something more to find. Within each story there is mystery. Within each mystery there is a story. For each reason to our behavior, there is always someone that doubts the limits God has set. Recently, one man has overcome the limits to find the next perception of the human mind.

To help you understand this, I must first briefly explain the life we all once lived, lived blind. It is one year and four months from that day, the day the mist cleared. Ask anyone and they will refer to it as a "mist". In actuality, it was more like transparent cob webs that clung to everything like a ghostly claw, lifelessly slowing us down and making it difficult to practically do anything with perfect accuracy. It took no favorites in plaguing certain areas as the whole earth was its' canvas for entanglement. Looking back now, I think the mist was sharpening our minds for the future, but tolerance of the truth blinds us even more than the fog ever had. Our future looks...good, only appears to be one thing we can't figure out. Till then, we don't know if it's entirely good or bad.

With winter coming up, autumn is currently proving itself evident among the park maple trees. Hardly, once a year do I ever get to see such a sight as nice as this. It really makes these walks enjoyable under the overhanging yellows and reds, gently being cradled by the caressing wind, till the first leaf innocently drifts down to touch the ground. Soon the ground will be covered in a thin gold layer, changing the once graceful trees into naked arms of wood and bark, only to be born again later in the seasons.

It's quite different from the fast paced, rather confusing atmosphere of the dorms. I'm supposed to move in today, but after the first glance in front of the entrance to the complex, I was bewildered at the odd hurried movements of everyone throwing stuff to each other and yelling across the rooms. I thought I should spend the beginning of my college days in some place more relaxing and think about what I left back home.

If there was a reason for traveling away from home other than for an education, it would be to distance myself away from everything or more or less everyone that expected greatness to flow naturally from me like a mountain brook. We have it in ourselves to live up to our own standards, though my time spent here has not been the best in self-efficient terms.

I was always fond of the evergreen state. It's been the only home I've known. Soon enough I will establish myself again in its' musical forests, noisy streets, quickened days, and of course its' relaxing periods of magical rain. Thinking to myself now, there has been so much enjoyment in things since the mist cleared.


It's remarkable I was able to find a map to this park on the internet. Of course, this nature park isn't the reason for attending the university of Business Technology. It is also nice to learn about something you're actually interested in for a change.

Well, I better get settled before the dorms get really crazy. Weird how the school of technology would be so rambunctious compared to what I was told through reviews and personal interviews.
Then again, that was two years ago.

Another good feature is that this park and some generic grocery stores are within walking distance so there is almost no need for a car except for one's amusement.

The entrance to the "estate" as I now have begun to call it. Is like that of a wealthy mansion you would see on the televison. Large, think iron bars surrounding the slightly aged dorm complex. The loud creak of the metallic hinges moving as you open the gates is something I think I'm always gonna remember. Now, there is nothing but a narrow cement walkway to the complex, with the neatly cut grass surrounding it to give that feel like home touch.

I have nothing more than a broken-in backpack and two duffle bags of living necessities for my out and alone experience. My fellow residents were happy enough to care no mind to me as they came from either side of the hall, running about hastily for a reason unknown to me. I was lucky enough to pick the right path down the entrance hall. The registration office was the first place on my list of things to visit. Next, I got my room key and a welcoming shrugging smile from the distinguished middle-aged women running the office. I even got a complimentary tube of toothpaste, no larger than my index finger.

Ah ha! Room number 87, home at last. The journey up here was enough of a struggle in itself, passing by the people who apparently had to be somewhere important at that very moment. I also took a passing glance into some of the dorm rooms which usually had someone either reading a book or listening to some music on their computer. Seems the more mellow individuals stay peaceful in their rooms. The only thing I wanted to do now was dump my stuff off in my room and hopefully meet my roommate if he was in there.

"Knock knock" a courtesy before I opened the door. Upon putting my key into the door, I could tell the dorm had indeed been locked by someone. Noone said anything when I opened the door, so I just walked in the room. Seemed simple enough, one window in the center of the back wall, one small dresser under that, and beds on opposite sides of room, nestled against the wall. I was about to throw my luggage onto a bed when out of the corner of my eye, I saw the opposite bed wiggle, just a little bit.

I gently put my things down and walked over slowly to the other bed. At first glance you couldn't honestly tell that someone was sleeping in it. Maybe it was that the blanketed mattress sunk in under the wooden frame. Whatever my first impression, I had to look over to see if someone was really there. A pillow was nestled over where their head should be, so I had to stand on my tippy toes to look all the way over on the other side of the covers. There was a second there where I though I shouldn't disturb, even if there wasn't anyone sleeping there anyways. Yet, some odd curiosity drove me onward to gently lift the pillow with both of my hands.

I could see long brown hair laying down on one side as quivering lips mumbled something into folded hands which laid to the face. Hmm...I didn't know these dorms were coed. An instant sense of dashing intrigue took my mind, but then quickly surfacing was a dreadful sense of difficulty. I was starting to think I was on the wrong side of the complex. The girl's side.

Whatever mistake I may have made, I sat the pillow back over her head and began to step away silently. I didn't close the door, but thankfully it was one of those doors that swings itself just about shut so noone saw my possible mistake. Although, sadly to my dismay, not even before I made it back to my bed, the door flung open abruptly, slamming against the wall and breaking whatever silence I tried to sustain in this room.

"Wake up time Sirie!" a boisterous yell from a young man with what looked like a metal cap on his head, with numerous tiny holes all along it's base.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?" he asked me, starring at me like I was wearing some weird metal thing on my head. After a necessary gulp, I actually sat myself down in my bed and took one more glance at the girl sleeping in the bed next to me. The mumbling had now changed into a moan of discontent and my mind told me right about now I really should be somewhere else.

"I said, who the heck are you!?"

"Oh sorry, I'm um...Allocen Ragmore. I seemed to have been assigned to this dorm room" A reluctant response to a simple question that I momentarily was at a loss of complying to.

"You?" he said in a confused manor, resting his arms against his hips. The covers flung open next to us, as the brown haired girl sat up rubbing her eyes. A long healthy yawn soon accompanied her awake as she stretched out one arm into the air and put the other one against the right side of her chest, looking like she was giving a cheer with her arms now.

The boy with the helmet thing briskly walked over to her, after giving me a friendly cold stare of what I hoped was acceptance. "Sirie, it's time for today's routine with the team" the boy said in a remarkably different tone. It was amazing how it changed from the tone he had with me just a few seconds ago. Now it just seemed so friendly, like he was talking to a little sister who's feelings were hurt easily.

She lifted up a hand for him to help her swing around and stand up from her bed. She blinked her eyes a couple times and right about then I must have come into focus.

"Who the heck are you!?" Wow, if I ever thought the boy had an offensive tone, she made him sound childish compared to the ferocity her tone demonstrated towards me. Who was this girl, wearing shorts and a tank-top during autumn?

Before I even opened my mouth, the metal cap boy was more than gracious to explain the situation in his mind. "He says he was assigned to your room!". Since when was it her room anyways? Did I not have a right to it as much as she did?


"Nathan, I thought you said you arranged to be my roommate?". Just like him, her tone changed dramatically when talking to someone other than me. It seemed like I caused a lot trouble being in this room.

"I did, I did. Fine, that's it! I'm gonna go down and give Grace a good talking too!" Nathan triumphantly announced with a firm raised fist to the ceiling. Clearly the occupancy to this room was very valuable. And hey, if it was really so much trouble...

"Wait Nathan. It's alright, I'll go talk to the registration and get them to assign me to another room" This I pleaded like a man begging for his life. To my surprise, they were both completely awe struck to my affirmation. I hoisted my things back over my shoulder and politely squeezed by Nathan and headed for the registration office without hearing their opinions on my decision.



"What do you mean I can't switch?" almost giving into the urge to pound my fist on the office counter. I brought my face in closer to address this situation more seriously.

"Listen sport, I can't just willy nilly switch kids around", Grace explained in her unexcited manor towards everything.

"But! I'm bunked with a girl!" I pleaded with an excuse that seemed worthy.

"Your what? At least 19 years old and you can't handle being with a girl?" an almost curious sense in her voice.

"No no, that's not it... I'm just doing this as a favor for another guy" since an excuse didn't work, the truth seemed to be the only way to go. Although, I should have probably worded it a little different.

Grace looked away from her computer and turned her chair to stare at me attentively. I backed up away from the counter and put up the most serious manor my face could muster together.

"It's the truth, really!"

"So another guy wants to be in your room with this girl, so you came down here to switch rooms so he could take the room with her. Real pretty girl huh?" Grace's neutral face seemed like it was trying to hold in a giggle.

"Listen, can you do it or not?"

"Hmm...I might be able to change the registration of room 87 if you do me a favor" Grace implied casually.

My feet just seemed to involuntarily take a step back. "Um...what kind of favor?" a distinct uneasiness shivered down my entire body.

"I have this date tonight and I have to also finish organizing this month's applications, but I can't do both in a single day since the papers will be reviewed by the school tomorrow morning and you see this man is..." Grace so whimsically explained.

"Of course..." I muttered with obvious, understanding intent. I didn't even know women her age still called them "date's".

"So can I expect the paperwork to be finished by tomorrow morn?" Grace raised a grizzly eyebrow to her confident question. Ahh! That thing needs to be trimmed before the date, seriously.

"Yes.." with my head held low. I didn't think I'd have this much work before school even started.

"Fantastic young man. Here is your room key and your humble assignment" I think I caught a tiny smile across Grace's even smaller mouth as she threw the keys at my chest and plopped a massive stack of papers on the counter, just before she turned around to grab the other stacks!

"Arrange them by name and gender and GPA. Have fun in your new non-girl room." The regular carefree expression reflected itself over her face once again as she returned to her computer now that her business was done with me. I think I just got taken advantage of on my first day at college and by a 40'ish year old women.




Jeffery Manor....Apetha Diary....Bart Plieph....Tiffany Vaschez. A tired glance at my watch read 12:46pm and I was only a quarter way through the applications. There were a lot more papers tightly stacked in the load than I thought. Complaining won't make things go along any faster though, but I badly needed a break!

I held my flashlight in my mouth while shuffling madly through the female and male application piles on my bed. My roommate this time didn't come in the room till a little bit after ten and fell into bed without even noticing me. I'm sure his deep black hair and matching fingernails will get along with me just swell.

After the hours stacked up, I couldn't read my watch any better than I could get the fierce pain in my wrist to subside. Finally, my victory over the applications came sweetly with the rise of the sun, at what I think was 5am. My quivering hands leaned over the side of my bed and dropped the papers down to the floor as I laid back and shut my eyes, resting my hands over my stomach trying to ignore the throbbing pain. Right before I slipped away I think I felt something touch my leg ever so gently.



"Dude, dude, it's seven already, wake up" an unfamiliar voice entered my ear. Painfully, my eyes opened and I rubbed them awkwardly feeling a horrible pain of disappointment in my gut.

I looked half-awake towards the other side of the room at my roommate. He now strutted a small mohawk down the middle of his head. "I'm up! I'm up, God I got no sleep" my words slurred as grogginess caught up with me.

Not the time for an introduction, he left with a uninterested shrug. Turning my head back around I noticed my legs felt pleasantly warm. I feverishly fluttered my eyelids open and closed as I looked down between my legs.

"Ahh!" something that was obviously not attached to my body was nestled between my thighs! My scream seemed to attract a couple acquaintances of mine.

"Sebastian!" A heartfelt call sounded from a wide awake and casually dressed Sirie. She ran towards my bedside just as Nathan popped his head in and without even a simple courtesy knock from either of them.

She reached in towards my legs and gripped a black and white cat which was lazily laying between my thighs. I jumped being rudely touched and furthermore completely disrespected.

"Watch where your touching!" I shrieked in a more angered tone than usual, being cranky now without my rest.

"Hey it's that one guy! You look horrible. There's this new invention called sleep, have you heard of it?" Sirie joked as she held her cat that was sleeping attentively in her slender arms.

"Wow you ain't kidden. Hey, what was your name again?" Nathan took his turn in arousing my animal urge to lash out and destroy the origin of my predicament. But, holding back I performed a series of deep breaths and politely replied.

"It's Allocen Ragmore" I stated calmly. It took all my self-control not to inform these two of what kind of night I now won't ever forget from my college days.

"Allocen, right. Well we got's to go. See ya around. Oh and thanks for switching rooms. Grace was more than happy when I explained I needed your room. She mentioned it was no problem with your more than willing attitude to help her out, whatever that means" Nathan smiled happily and lead Sirie out of the room who was lovingly stroking her cat while whispering cutesy phrases of affection into its' ear.

I fell back against my pillow and covered my eyes in stressful agony. I guess there's nothing I can do. Maybe if I get something to eat I'll feel a little better. Slowly rising from my bed, I scowled down at the stacks of application papers and lamented my past evening a little bit more. Putting it behind me, I forced myself up and walked out the door. Meanwhile, it didn't take long for most of the people to evacuate their dorms like me and move about down the narrow, sunshine filled hallways. Everyone seemed remarkably alive all the time as I gracefully crept down the hallways to unenthusiastically plop the paperwork on Grace's front counter. Regretfully, she wasn't there and some of the satisfaction I was planning on sharing with her was whisked away. Oh well...

Slightly disorientated on my way back up to my hall, I began to follow some other people in pajamas towards a noisy mess hall in hopes of sustenance. It was actually a gym, they just call it a mess hall in the morning from all the people that parade around there aimlessly un-awake. Classroom tables lined the gym floor with assorted cereals, muffins, and ten or so coffee machines. After a splash of O.J and a good sized bran muffin, I regained structure back in my walk and appeared wide awake.

Breakfast must have sparked a loose brain cell because I just remembered that class didn't start for me till ten. My fists tightened as I looked around for my ill-brained roommate. Waking me up for no darn reason.

Well, it did mean more sleep and my active mind settled knowing more rest was coming. I was sipping on a dixie cup filled with my bland tasting O.J when I noticed the complete rush everyone was in. Practically spilling my little cup numerous times when people shoved past, all heading in the same direction. I downed the rest of my juice and figured I'd see what the commotion was about.

I looked in the open dorms as I passed by and noticed groups of a people; most just two, were just sitting and facing each other in their rooms. Maybe 7:00am is meditation time in the dorms. The majority of people though were racing down the end of the hall like a concert was going on in another room or something.

I began to hear screams and cheers of all kinds echo from down the corridor. Maybe my assumption was right about the concert. Before I entered through the opened door at the end of dorms, I could see circling rows of people standing and jumping up and down cheering at the center of the room.

I walked in to a very crowded room. Rows of people were lined in a circle around a stage in the middle. I went in further to see what the fuss was about.

Simply that's all it really was, a wooden stage with just two people sitting down facing each other. I did notice though that off to the side there was a kid wearing one of those metal helmets I saw Nathan wearing before. Some type of cords were connected in all those holes around the base of the cap and plugged into a small little box that was hooked up to what appeared to be a normal computer.

I decided to look around more and it seemed the crowds of people were actually cheering at large monitors hanging from four sides of the room around the stage, so that each section of the crowd had a designated screen to look at. I focused my eyes a little more and walked up into one side of the crowd to see what was one of the large monitors.

I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing, but it seemed like someone was playing a video game. Two human shaped figures were clashing against each other with some type of tremendous force. A camera was following the whole battle. The figures did resemble humans. I mean they had two arms and two legs and so forth, but their bodies glowed a distinct and oddly creepy color which eluded me of what exactly they were supposed to represent. Their glow also seemed to wave to one side like there was a constant, stable breeze that existed just around their person.

The green glowing figure seemed to be wining. When he raised his arms straight out, separate glowing lights would suddenly appear around his arms and then these lights would shoot small, shard shaped glowing pieces of green light at furious speeds toward the red glowing figure.

They also appeared to be fighting in a forest, odd. The green figure's projectiles were slicing though trees like they were warm butter. The battle carried on for a while as each figure ran, jump, and fought at an amazing speed. Every second stirred up the crowd even more, although no real contact took place yet.

Clearly the green figure was at an unfair advantage. He didn't run out of his speeding bullets and all the red figure was doing was just jumping around and dodging the shots. The game seemed to even simulate weather as you could see the wind blow through the long hair of the red figure, separate from the natural flow of their glowing bodies.

Finally the green figure struck true against the red figure's chest, knocking him out of the air and crashing him down into the ground with great force, creating a path of crushed-in rock and dust among the mangled trees. "Get up Ryan!" someone behind me screamed towards the monitor.

"Be quiet! He can't hear you in there". Another boy next to him pushed him back down in his seat and told him something else that escaped my ear among the noise of all the other people. I thought maybe if I listened to the conversation of the people around me I would better understand this intense game.

Just then, everyone gasped as something flashed on the monitor. I quickly turned my head to see the red figure's fist mere inches from the green figure's face. Everyone sunk their heads in closer to see what would happen. The camera moved in closer and I noticed the figure's glow itself seemed to drift off in the air like it was smoke being pushed by a breeze, making my body shiver with a creepy sense. As the camera zoomed in closer, I could see that their eyes were amazing. The detail of this game was incredible, the graphics and shading made it seem so realistic.

In a split second the green figure foolishly tried to move back and bring up his arms, but the red figure thrust his fist forward to collide cleanly with the green figure's face. Another quick flash flowed over the screen as the punch by the red figure triggered an expanding white shockwave that resinated with such force that it threw the green figure through a whole row a trees in an explosion of dust and dirt!

Cheering instantly sounded throughout the crowd as people screamed in utter pleasure and hugged each other with sport-like enthusiasm. They really enjoy this game, huh?

The two people that were meditating on the stage now stood up and shook each other's hands. The boy on the side removed his metal cap and raised up the arm of the boy standing closest to my side of the crowd, which reminded me of the end of a boxing match. In the mist of all the commotion, I tried to look around the two people on stage to see where their controllers had gone, but didn't see anything.

As fast as it filled up, the circling crowds of the room poured back out into the halls. I held my position and stared back at the monitor hoping to receive the gravity of the situation, and why this game was so captivating to everyone.

"Awesome match! Huh, Allocen?" Nathan said with a slight chuckle in his smile as he strolled by.

"What game was that?" I asked without taking my eyes off the monitor, rewinding my memory back to some of the dynamic scenes in the game.

"Bwah ha ha ha" a wind of laughter shot from his body which caused me to turn away and step a few feet back. It wasn't that funny.

"Oh your serious?" Nathan said wiping a tear from his eye.

"Where are their controllers? Did the two guys pocket them after the match?" I scratched my head trying to perpetuate a logical possibility. Meanwhile, Nathan wore the most odd looking expression over his face.

"What!" I asked in hopes of him answering my questions instead of looking dumb.

Suddenly, Nathan grabbed me by the shoulders and quickly looked about the room in a paranoid fashion. He instantly started to shove me down the hall and the second I was about to speak my mind accordingly, he hushed me with his sweaty palm and then roughly pushed me into his room.

"What's the deal!?" I frantically asked in a rather testy attitude. The nerve of this guy!

He quickly shut and locked the door and then put his back up against the door like he had something to hide. He began to brush his hair hastily, messing it up in every which way. What was stressing him so much?

"Nathan what are you doing?" a evenly calm Sirie asked, sitting on her bed stroking an appreciative Sebastian.

Following this chain of craziness, he grabbed me by the collar and surprisingly hoisted me up off my feet. "Do you live in a damn cave man!?".

"What the heck are you talking about!?" I responded and squeezed his wrists in the right place, forcing the nerves in his joint to relax and let me down.

"This guy actually doesn't know about..." Nathan whispered in an urgent tone towards Sirie.

"Your kidding me!?" Sirie oddly shouted as her focus was somehow broken and even Sebastian leaped off her lap sensing something wrong.

"Know about what!?" I shouted between them in bitter confusion. These two have lost it!

"That's it! The heck with college!" Nathan yelled, picking me up by my mid-section and tossed me over to his bed. My face slammed against the wall painfully. Ouch! He's strong, but why is he so excessive all of a sudden!? I can't take much more of this.

I sat up and rubbed the bump on my head, just as Sirie joined in the ridiculous situation and pinned me firmly back against the wall by my shoulders.

"From this point in time you have been living the best part of your life completely blind! We have to immediately tell you something that will change your life forever!" Sirie screamed with a strong force, making me pin my head back against the wall to distance myself from her scream.

"This isn't some weird cult is it?"