You don't know me. I am not in
any history books, I have never been a subject of gossip, I have never endured
the horrible curse of being widely known. I have lived an unobtrusive life. It
is possible, of course, that I know you, but even then it is likely that you
ever knew me. I was a flash in the corner of your eye, a creaking of
floorboards, a moaning of the wind. I am something that parents of older times
when folklore flourished told their children about, and I am something of which
modern children tell their parents.
But this story isn't about me. It is about the stories that I was told when I was little and lived with my own parents beneath the floorboards of someone like you. There are many of my kind who are dangerous, whose sinister appetites are the source of many dreadful tales, and I could have been like them. But my parents were wise, and they told me about those ancient warriors. There are many knights and hunters in my world, as well as many nobles and established powers which enforce the ancient laws of our unseen society, but these are different. They are the monsters that all monsters fear, and they are known by the words that they inscribe upon the sites of their battles: "Remember the sorrows."
Their order was established by Merlin himself, and for thousands of years they gone into darkness to make war therein. You must understand that supernatural evil is an extension of human evil; it thrives upon poverty, war, addiction, corruption, all the societal pits into which the evil that is in your heart inevitably flows as it mixes together with all the sins of humanity. That is where the monsters thrive, and that is where these knights seek them out. But over the years, there have been many retaliations against the knights, and in 1978 there was one who orchestrated a great disaster by which they were nearly destroyed. Nearly.
For thirty years, the evil festered in those pits. The tangled webs of corrupt politics stretched and twisted and grew. For the thirty years, the powers that had crushed those dreadful heroes solidified their hold. And then terrible knights of my childhood tales charged again into the darkness.
They are called the Helsing, and this is their story.
But this story isn't about me. It is about the stories that I was told when I was little and lived with my own parents beneath the floorboards of someone like you. There are many of my kind who are dangerous, whose sinister appetites are the source of many dreadful tales, and I could have been like them. But my parents were wise, and they told me about those ancient warriors. There are many knights and hunters in my world, as well as many nobles and established powers which enforce the ancient laws of our unseen society, but these are different. They are the monsters that all monsters fear, and they are known by the words that they inscribe upon the sites of their battles: "Remember the sorrows."
Their order was established by Merlin himself, and for thousands of years they gone into darkness to make war therein. You must understand that supernatural evil is an extension of human evil; it thrives upon poverty, war, addiction, corruption, all the societal pits into which the evil that is in your heart inevitably flows as it mixes together with all the sins of humanity. That is where the monsters thrive, and that is where these knights seek them out. But over the years, there have been many retaliations against the knights, and in 1978 there was one who orchestrated a great disaster by which they were nearly destroyed. Nearly.
For thirty years, the evil festered in those pits. The tangled webs of corrupt politics stretched and twisted and grew. For the thirty years, the powers that had crushed those dreadful heroes solidified their hold. And then terrible knights of my childhood tales charged again into the darkness.
They are called the Helsing, and this is their story.
I like this. I think, as an hook, it does its job. I want to read more. I have all these questions about the narrator that I'm eager to get answered: Why would they live under floorboards? Where else does this story intersect with stories with which I'm already familiar. The overall concept seems promising.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the "You don't know me" and "But this story isn't about me." I think these lines do a good job of establishing the character of the narrator.