Daro follows Jack to the abandoned park with Julian staying behind to fight. Julian gives them a map. "GO TO THE PARK!" It was wailing from pain; it turns back to the abyssal darkness. Julian took them out and soon after follows behind them.
"Why the park?" exclaims Daro.
"I have a hideout!" Julian keeps them back. Daro takes the map and carefully folds it up. "Go. NOW!" He shoves one of the creatures back and attacks it full on, they quickly run out of the garage towards the park, it seems like the farther they ran the more they pursued. More creatures reach out of the abyss, the creatures attacked reaching out for Jack and Daro as they ran. Julian lunges to keep them away.
Daro casts fire at the oncoming creatures, her blast makes them screech a very disturbing sound. The creatures' arms, legs, tentacles and parts shrink away in pain. Julian shines a light on all the monsters in the shadows and they vanish back into the abyss. Daro finally arrives at the park with Jack, he takes Daro's hand and runs onward as she pulls out the map and examines it. The map takes them to a cave, the cave was dark and moist, echoing of small creatures in the back. "This place is crazy! But we must end this!" yells Jack, Daro simply nods, she was clearly out of breath from running. "Do you want me to carry you?" They hear cries of help in the distance. Daro hears something that sounds like her parents crying for help in the distance, in another direction is what sounds like Jack's deceased family.
Julian finds Jack and Daro and activates a spell in the cave "It's not real!" He yells. Daro tries to ignore the wailing and cries of her parents. Julian rests both hands on Daro's shoulders and looks in her eyes "Ignore it. Its fake. It isn't real..." holding the sides of her head as Marek speaks in her head, causing her to cry out, even Jack's mental state was breaking.
Marek creates perfect mimics of their families as there wailing cries for help echoed in their mind. "DADDY?! DADDY, WHERE ARE YOU?! IM SCARED, DADDY, HELP ME!" Jack hears his deceased son calling for him from the abandoned park. His mind told him it can't be real, but his heart was breaking when he knew he could save them if they were or weren't alive. He stops for a moment and begins to shake. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! THEY DIED!"
"JACK, HONEY!? WE'RE HERE...IN THE PARK! WHERE ARE YOU?! It's okay, baby. It's going to be okay." Daro curls up in the farthest part of the cave, still holding the sides of her head.
"DARO?! DARO, WHERE ARE YOU?! WE'RE TRAPPED HERE AND CAN'T GET OUT!"
"Mom? Dad?" She curls up with fear, visible in her eyes. Daro's heart as panic begins to rise.
"DARO, PLEASE! ARE WE?! WE CAN'T SEE!"
"It's not them!" Julian prevents her from leaving the cave. Alex cried in his mother's arms, wondering where his father was.
"DADDY! Mommy, where's daddy? Why isn't he coming for us?"
"I don't know baby. It's okay, we're going to get out of here. It'll be okay." Jack felt like he was abandoning his family once again.
"I have to save them! I FAILED ONCE I'm not going too again!"
JACK? PLEASE! WE MISS YOU SO MUCH! WE CAN LEAVE TOGETHER...YOU CAN SEE YOUR SON; HE LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU!"
"J-jack...don't give...in.." says Julian still blocking the way. Daro heard his pleads and want to leave and knew she must stop him before he could get hurt.
"Jack, no! Please. It's a trick!" The sound of small footsteps running across the ground as the child takes off followed by other small footsteps.
"ALEX, NO! PLEASE COME BACK!" Jack's eyes showed such sorrow and began to walk towards the voices. "I..." he stumbles a little, but Daro stops Jack from walking any further.
"Jack? Please, don't go." She grabs onto him to prevent him from going further. He holds his gun out. "Let me go!"
"No, Jack. You don't understand. It's a trick." She begged not to leave with tears in her eyes.
"DARO? COME ON SWEETIE! IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY; WE ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" cried out Samantha Haddaway.
"Come on honey, she's got to be around somewhere." Says John Haddaway, footsteps run across the ground as they continue to look for her.
"Guys...no... This is all fake..." yelled Julian. Jack fell to his knees in anguish. It seemed far too real.
"I'm not-I'm not going." Cries Daro. Julian's shooter-corrupt officer, hired as inside job from someone in IA at park.
"So... you're still alive! I've been following you, so we can finish this once and for all!"
Julian nods no. "Fake..." The corrupted officer fires two warning shots and creeps around. Daro covers her ears from the gun shot and looks at her surrounding for the noise and they all run out of the cave to a safer spot.
"Come on! Boss was pretty pissed when he found out. It's just business...my neck or yours." He aims his flashlight and sees the others.
"What the hell?! Who are you? Have you seen anyone else?"
"No. Just you...who are you looking for? A criminal?" asks Samantha
"Can you get us out?" says John.
The office lied. "Yeah, sure is a criminal. Corrupt detective...did some friendly fire, nearly killing a few others. I was hired to take 'em out." Daro whimpers and hides behind a tree with Jack and Julian nearby. A cloaked figure appears-lantern in hand. He quickly covers her mouth from screaming.
"Sshh...come with me...I know where it's truly safe. We have to move quietly." the voice is urgent.
"How can we trust you?" Whispers Daro to the hooded stranger.
"Do you have a choice? You can't trust either side of this place. This is the abyss, during the day it's past meets present-in a sense the people can interact, touch, and feel but they're more like spirits. Come...we can't talk here...he'll know and he's at his most powerful here, especially since the nights are long." He picks up on a new person and a loud angry growl echo. Seeing there isn't much of a choice they follow him. "Now, quiet. We can't alert the mimics. They are just as dangerous, if not more than him." the growl makes the mimics stop talking and look around, twitching and jerking their bodies as they're eyes turn milky white "Quickly! The curio-shop! The basement will be safe."
Little shop filled with oddities and different spiritual things, sigils and different markings all over the walls and on the counter. Looks the same day or night, different from all other buildings. They arrive at the shop, out of breath. The creatures reached out trying to reach for them as they run into the shop. They were nearly snagging a couple times. "Not yet! Begone with you!" pulls out a bottle and breaks it on the ground, lighting up a giant sigil. "Quickly, inside!" He opens the door, and everyone runs in. An angry, frustrated roar echoes through the abyss. Daro runs inside and barricades the front door and then turns around and lights the place up using her fire magic. She begins to light the candles.
"You're the first I've seen that's special." He pulls off his hood to look and sound like Marek but a light softer voice. "Hi, I'm Malicai. I've lived here for years, so I know how things are."
"Special? What do you mean by that?" asks Jack.
"Well, besides Marek, someone who ALSO has powers. I have been following you since you guys ran to the park, but I was not able to do anything...I did not have what I needed. He is really on you guys. What did you do? Ya know...besides showing up."
"Well, uh- I-it's-" she said trying to find the right words. "I... don't know how to explain it..."
"Well, it's going to be a long night...time is slow around here. Start from the top, I suppose." Says Malicai.
"I-I" words escaped Daro on what to say.
Jack was afraid his mind was going to get the best of him. "We....we need to find a way; we can't have our minds playing tricks on us again..." He was mad they tricked him like that. He lifted a table with one hand with his super strength and threw it in a fit of rage.
"My powers aren't special enough; I do have a light gun but....my mind reading skills are pointless here...."
Malicai looks surprised "Two? Wow...three? They must still be at the park...I'll go."
"It almost led me to madness...I-I wasn't strong enough...not now...not then" he looks away feeling defeated.
"I know how that feels." Says Malicai looking down. "I came close to the same fate or worse when he first found me. I've been living here for years, interacting with people every day and surviving."
"What does he want from us?" Asks Daro.
"Only he can answer that...as you've discovered, he doesn't always use words to do it."
"Why does he?" She is interrupted by a loud voice.
Jack listens in his mind with caution. "Who's thought patterns" wondered Jack, he looks in his mind.
"No one knows, it's just...him, except to create fear and chaos..." Malicai's voice trails, listening. "Someone's here" says Malicai looking around.
"Human?" Jack was searching in his mind. "It's...like it has orders.... not really a thought...Is it a doll?"
"Where?" his eyes grow serious and cloudy. They listened to the silence area, till they quickly saw a shadow glide by quickly and then disappear again, it a presence was pure evil.
Jack senses Marek nearby "No, it's not a doll. It's him!" Jack gets his gun ready; he cocks the trigger readying his light gun.
"Such malevolent intent" Jack spinning his gun barrel with a click.
"Don't worry, that's what the markings on the walls are for. He hasn't been able to cross in here, ever." They get into a fighting position.
"Your pesky HUMAN! you've been living under my nose like a RAT, NOW it's time to SQUASH YOU!" Threatens Marek to Malicai. The walls shudder but the building stands, his roar screeching throughout the town and their ears loudly. Daro shakes in fear of hearing him. Jack smirks to Marek being mad, he pulls out a cigarette "What's the matter can't get in?" He lights it.
"The ruins on these walls, can you mark them into my bullet powers? If so, we might be able to stun him and take him out for a while, but that is a theory."
"Uh...sure. Never thought of that." He rushes to prepare what Jack had said.
"I think I might be able to help with that." Says Daro as she runs to help also.
Marek growls "I guess I'll have to take a prisoner then!" He laughs manically and disappears into the shadows.
Jack felt his thoughts disappear. "He's gone"
"W-what does he mean by that?" Asks Daro confused.
"Let us begin on those bullets. My power is unlimited, but we will have to find a way to do it so I can save whoever, if we move fast and....I am going to need a barrier spell.... I don't believe in magic much but....it seems to work well here." Explains Jack. Daro starts the process of placing the ruin like symbols onto the bullets using a light spell and Malicai helps as well. "Almost done" says Daro. "And there." She places the last ruin on the last of the bullets.
"The barrier? Tattoos on my body?" He says looking at Malicai.
"I-I'm afraid the barrier was taken down while we were putting the ruins onto the bullets." Explains Daro.
"Maybe. Tattoos should slow him down, but not completely stop him. That is how I get around...and my cloak, it looks like a normal cloak until you got up close and once you did you could see with the blind eye inscriptions and markings show." Malicai shows the cloak as the clothing, shows magical pattern on it quickly. Daro looks at it in awe and fascination until Marek's voice is heard again.
"You did say there were three of you, right? We'd better move, no doubt he's got a plan already."
"Quickly draw them into my body" says Jack. He gets his gun ready. He takes his knife and draws the ruins on his arms.
As Jack and Malicai were busy, Daro runs out of the building while they were not looking and see that the streets are mostly empty. She turns to run back in but is grabbed by something around her figure. Jack was finished "Okay here I go!" He turns to smile at Daro and finds she is not there. "Daro?" An abyss monster quickly drags her towards the darkness. Malicai lights a sigil on the ground but is too late. She is dragged further and further into the abyss until she comes face to face with Marek.