The Underworld : Haunted Shores (Part I)

An endless field of corn stretched out as far as the eye could see, warmed gently by the blazing midday sun above. Acacia Kalliope brushed her bare palms across their buds, delighting in their feathery touch upon her skin. Up ahead, a small stream flowed beneath a grassy enbankment, helping to feed and fertilize the abundant fields.
Elyssia, she thought happily. In all her dreams, she had hoped that the coming of death would release her to this wonderous place - the essence of all that was pure and good in the world.
The sudden call of her name came like a thunderclap from the heavens.
"Kalliope!"
She squeezed her eyes shut from the sudden pain, faltering and almost crashing to her knees amid the endless span of crops.
"Kalliope!"
The sudden migrane was quickly joined by a throbbing pain in her shoulder. Reaching towards it, she saw that her fingertips were caked in dried blood.
In an instant, the blue sky and green-yellow fields seemed to dissolve from view.
She opened her eyes, trying desperatly to focus her eyes in a blind panic. Finally, she succeeded.
Corporal Hendry was crouched over her, cradling the remains of an emergency stim-pack in his hands. At his side, Private Wilson fidgeted nervously with an empty cigerette packet, flicking his lighter absently. And above them all, the grizzled face of Colonel McMillan presided over the scene.
"Thought we'd lost you there for a second, Private. Going out in a blaze of glory and all that" Hendry grinned, nodding towards her throbbing shoulder. "Not really top-grade stuff, but it'll do for now."
Kalliope turned her head and risked a glance; Not bad, she thought. Several layers of gauze over antiseptic synth-skin and a tightly held bandage. She was suddenly feeling better.
Hendry's grin widened. "I don't think that beast's gonna be getting up anytime soon though."
"How long was i out?" She rasped, feeling the sudden dry ache of dehydration. Wilson knelt forward and offered the water ration. Easing herself up against the rock wall, she accepted gratefully and took several swigs from the canteen. After her third gulp, she focused on the sight that lay below.
"About half an hour", Wilson spoke up. "We got up here as soon as the thing went down. McMillan had an emergency kit left over. You're a lucky girl."
The corpse of the Spiderdemon had been reduced to a bubbling mass of tan-coloured liquid that pooled over and around the half-slagged steel that formed the beast's weapon platform. Remembering the supply crate that she'd so desperatly fought to reach, she looked up at McMillan.
"How did i do?"
The Colonel's almost permanent scowl eased a little. "Excellent job, marine" he smiled softly. "This is is exactly what we needed." Tugging on his shoulder strap, he bought up one of the sleek plasma-stream cannons and examined it admirably. "You could take on a swarm of demons with one of these babies, and we've got two. But... " He nodded towards her shoulder, "You'd better give those heavy duty weapon's a rest for at least a few hours."
Kalliope nodded obediently, noticing the massive silver shape of the BFG-9000 slung over Hendry's shoulder and the Plasma Cannon held ready in his gloved hands. Wilson brandished the SPAS, with the empty mini-gun dangling from his back. A simple weapon perhaps, but it seemed to improve his mood. Maybe I won't need to punch the depressing bastard after all, she thought idly.
"We found something else," Hendry spoke up after a moment. "A teleport pad - had to be some kind of way out after all. We we're thinking about testing it, but decided to wait til you were up. No sense getting the group divided if things go wrong on the other side." He looked to the Colonel, recieved a nod of affirmation. "Strength in numbers, you know?"
Kalliope smiled, then closed her eyes as she pulled herself to her feet. The throbbing pain in her shoulder had subsided to a dull ache, bringing with it a fresh sense of determination. Flexing her limbs, she gave the area another once-over, this time seeing the glowing red pad several feet behind the hoarded supply crate.
"Do i at least get a weapon?" She enquired to anyone who was listening.
Hendry tossed her the Combat Shotgun and the remaining shells; she and Wilson both had somewhere in the region of twenty rounds each, while Hendry and McMillan toted a combined total of 240 energy cells.
"No reason to delay things any further" McMillan commented.
Each marine in turn stepped onto the glowing red pad, vanishing amid a shower of green light and leaving the twisted, gut-laden spiderweb and it's deceased occupant behind.
Something's wrong, McMillan thought amid the surreal mass of colours and shapes. Dimensional teleportation had the nifty up-side to take a mere split second. This one, on the other hand, seemed to be taking an eternity.
Suddenly, he felt the very fibre of his being being stretched and contorted, not so much being landed safely into reality as being dragged protestingly.
With another flash, the Colonel hit solid rock.
When he finally came to, he instinctively rolled himself onto his back and blinked back white spots of oxygen starvation. His companions sat or lay in similar conditions in a rough circle around him. Wilson was the first to speak up.
"A beach?"
McMillan pushed himself upwards on his elbows, faltered in mid-stand, and landed roughly on his haunches. All his organs seemed to be in place, at least. With a supreme effort he focused on his surroundings.
A long, sweeping beach stretched away to the horizon, its sands the colour of excrement and dotted with skeletal frames of human and demon forms alike. Further out, a sea of warm blood lapped at the shores; a cliff face of glistening scarlet rock hung over them, daring them to climb.
Kalliope and Hendry had found their way to their feet and stood examining the endless coast.
"You think we're on the right track?" Hendry asked.
McMillan forced his way from the ground, steadying himself with Wilson's aid.
"The teleporters should lead to the Baphomet" The Colonel mused. "It spawns the demons, so it should need a way to transport them away from its lair."
Wilson caught on straight away. "And the same gates should lead back to Baphomet?"
McMillan gave a cursory nod. "Exactly." A moment later, his attention was distracted by a distant howling someway down the coastline. All four marines turned in unison towards its source - and reflexively grabbed their weapons.
Perhaps a few hundred yards away, a stampede of hunched demons charged forward like an army meeting invaders.
McMillan checked the guages on his plasma cannon. "If only it were that simple..."

Great work vampire, through not quite as exciting as the last chapter, it builds up a lot of anticipation for the next. Let's see some plasma fried demons >:-]
/Me grins like the Grim Reaper >:-D

I must admit though that your description of the Haunted Shores doesn't remind me much of the Underworld map of the same name. The map was more like a set of caverns inside a huge cave with lava and annoying chaingunners scattered around at places where they were hard to spot. Not that it matters, just an observation.
[edit]Oh sorry, I mistook it for anotother map. I think you missed one.[/edit]

Indeed; i missed out Cocytus (map05) because the story was becoming overly long. 'Haunted Shores' will consist of Acheron, Styx and the Haunted Shores of the title. Next chapter is Cerebus Gates, followed by Palace of Hades.

As for the writing, it's supposed to be a calm before the storm - a tying up of previous events and a build-up towards the subsequent ones; after all, the story can't be non-stop action can it? :)

Thanks for the comments though.

Spike said:

As for the writing, it's supposed to be a calm before the storm - a tying up of previous events and a build-up towards the subsequent ones; after all, the story can't be non-stop action can it? :)

Of course mate, I meant nothing bad about what I said before. :-)

It's ok, i didn't think you thought that - just clarifying for anyone else who happens to read.

As for this chapter - i think it's about time we dealt with Hendry's resurrection at Athens Base at the hands of an Arch Vile :)

"We want more, we want more, we want more, we want more" Come on Spikey, get your arse in gear and make the story (my map) really exciting eh?

Some of you guys are too talented...
I don't know why it took me so long to discover, but some of the stories in here have exceeded my expectations; this one, DSMS, and in particular Katharyne's. Its amazing to see such quality stuff filled with imagination coming from the doom community. Keep up the good work GUYS!

/me inspired to write a short story...

doomedout said:

/me inspired to write a short story...

Yes! Do that. It's the only way to learn to get better and if you don't give at a try we'll never know whether you have a hidden talent or not.

You could also revive some of the long dead community stories, by posting contributions to them - that's how I originally started out. You'll find links to them in the index (hopefully the links still work).

Thanks for the encouraging comments folks (and to think i was gonna stop posting it :)); i'll have another passage written up between now and Sunday - Hopefully.

Spike said:

Thanks for the encouraging comments folks (and to think i was gonna stop posting it :)); i'll have another passage written up between now and Sunday - Hopefully.

See? I told ya!
Just give people some time to discover your 1337 writing sk1llz and they will flock around your stories like maggots around a rotting corpse. ;-P