Chapter 1: The Calling

The beat of drums through an empty cavern heralds madness. A flash of pale green light in time with the drums reveals the truth. Blind are you in the light and sane are you in the dark, deaf to the song of eternal knowledge and drowned in the noise of an ancient heartbeat. Can you open your eyes in the light and see in the dark, can you hear it?

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Jackson had finally done it, he got promoted and his transfer was approved. He would be moving to a small town with a population of about 3,000 people. Jackson hopes that the location will be a good place to finally settle down and rake in a paycheck without the vast stress of bigger cities and their higher crime rates. Now Jackson wouldn't consider himself to be lazy but a few close calls too many had him wanting a better place to live without thinking that the next robbery or hostage situation he responded to would be his last, though it's not like the event would be less dangerous just that they would happen far less often.

The house Jackson moved into was located in the eastern district of ... That name always sounded strange to Jackson, never rolled off the tounge but that was besides the point it was a great place. Two stories and big enough to support a family if Jackson could ever find a woman that he wanted to marry. Jackson pulled his car into the garage after a quick trip to the store to stock up on food. Jackson stepped into the house and took the hallway into what appeared to be a living room but with only one couch, a loveseat and a basic flat screen, that was all he could fit into his old place but this was a much bigger area compared to the other so needless to say it felt empty.

Most of Jackson's day was spent arranging his belongings and cleaning, though the person he got the place from had already done so, still it gave him a sense of self-satisfaction. After that was done he relaxed on his couch and had a simple dinner consisting of pizza, the local place was really good and he couldn't cook much on his own. Tomorrow would be his first day reporting to his new station, Jackson was excited to finally start as a detective, he already imagined himself in a trench coat with the hat and the revolver but that might be a bit out of date but the trench coat could still work, the temp in this town was usually cool in the summer and cold as hell in winter. It was getting late and Jackson wanted to be sure he was well rested on his first day so he went to bed in his rather empty bedroom, he'll get more random stuff later but right now it was time to sleep.

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As Jackson fell to sleep he was greeted by a dark room, his room as he had left it when he went to sleep but something felt wrong. Jackson brushed off the feeling as him just being in a different place. Jackson turned over to go back to sleep, as he closed his eyes he saw lights. Something glowed in a pale green light at two points in the darkness. Despite having his eyes closed he attempted to peer closer or maybe he was focusing his eyes, either way as he was about to give up a boom filled his room and the fog in the distance cleared to show a flash of vibrant deep green eyes.

"FUCK!" Jackson jolted to a sitting position clutching a nonexistence pistol close to his chest. That was all Jackson could say as he awoke to a new day. Damn nightmares must be from the nervousness he felt for his first day.

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Jackson looked himself over in the mirror, he had his black hair cut short before he left for his new home and shaved his face. Jackson was only in his late twenties and his face was average by most standards but Jackson thought he looked pretty good for what he does, after all he could be scared and with a crooked nose if his previous calls were more melee focused, that's not to say he didn't have a few scars from bullets wounds on his body. He kept in shape even if his eating habits implied otherwise, after all he was a detective now, he would shame the protagonists of the shows and stories he watched as a kid that made him want to be one in the first place.

Jackson had a quick breakfast then got in his car and drove five minutes to his station, listening to the classics on his way. Jackson on his way thought back to the dream he had last night, something about green eyes but that was all he could remember. Jackson tried to think of all the people he met with green eyes like that but none came to mind, both his parents have brown eyes like his own and he was blanking on his old friends eyes, after all why focus on the color of eyes when you have a great time watching football with the boys on the rare chance they all could. These thoughts took up most of his drive to the station.

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The police Chief of ... was gladdened to have a new detective after the previous one was MIA, the last report the old detective sent was that he was investigating a person of interest who may have been involved in a homicide. Said person was Ethan Kellers, he was said to be reclusive and hostile to any who got close to his home which he rarely left however when he did leave it was never to the same place twice. Mr. Kellers was a 40ish year old man with a strange habit of speaking threatingly to any who approached him, so anytime he left he often got into fights with those that were done with his rude and needlessly aggressive behavior. The chief had a hard time with this as it caused unrest with those that lived near Mr. Kellers, who wants to live next to a potential murderer. this new detective was young and experienced which was fantastic, the Chief will give him some easy cases to help him to get to know the town of ... after that he can assign the case the old detective was working on, he would put somebody else on it but they were all closer to the town and thus the people in it though he doesn't doubt they would get it done.

They really need to fix that noise this sound is incredibly irritating. The chief was broken from his thoughts when the new detective was seen walking in, as the Chief recalled his name was Jackson. Jackson seemed to be like any other cop in this town not at all how he pictured a cop from a city with a ridiculous crime rate to look.

the Chief made a call on the phone that was on his desk "Jen have the new guy stop by my office".

A voice replied "Will do dad".

The Chief sighed, he didn't have to wait long for Jackson to arrive.

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Jackson stood outside the door to the Chief's office that and was currently mentally preparing himself which lasted only a few seconds, after all didn't want to keep the chief waiting. Jackson entered the room and was greeted by a older man maybe around his 50s who looked as though he spent most of his life in the military, greying buzzcut and a ridged posture that told of a 'lead through action' mindset. Jackson was sure this was going to be a very stressful first day.

"Morning sir" Jackson greeted adding a professional tone to his words.

"Good morning detective Jackson, I wished to speak with you regarding the next few days of your job here" the Chief said in a very casual way as if he wasn't Jackson's boss at all which put Jackson at ease.

"What did you want to discuss sir" Jackson inquired keeping the hint of professionalism. 

the Chief was glad the new guy was respectful which was to be expected from someone from his old position but he was too tired today to both put on a militaristic authority like he used to do and to ask Jackson to be at ease so he just kept talking so he could get home and sleep, this damn sound was getting under his skin.

"I'll be assigning you a few low end cases to help you get accustomed to the town, most of these will be investigating possible illegal markets and interviews of potential suspects affiliated with them" the Chief said in a tired tone which Jackson thought came with his age and time as police Chief.

"I'm ready to start whenever sir" Jackson said with a bit of confusion in a his voice. Usually black markets would be a hard to find and even harder to tear down operation but with the size of the town he guessed that a black market was more like a small group that sold drugs to the few people that would by it.

"Small town with a smaller crime rate so these cases are considered low end. Any questions" The Chief said hearing Jackson confusion.

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"None right now sir" Jackson responded with a little more confidence in his voice that today might not be as stressful as he first thought.

"Excellent I'll have the files sent over in 10, Your office is just down the hall on the left" the Chief said.

"Thank you, sir" with that statement Jackson left to head for his office and set up the computer that he would no doubt be looking at for a while.

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Jackson spent a long time scrolling through files both about his case and various major incidents in this town. The most noticeable was that there was a cult that has appeared no less than eight times through the years this town has existed, the earliest of which sprang up only 9 years after the town was finished. The second was 18 years after and the third was 27 years after with each only lasting nine months before they all disappeared seemingly with no trace. If one were to do the math the town would be older than the country it was in, which made it even stranger.

Jackson was both intrigued and confused, on one hand this file made no sense and on the other it was because it made no sense that Jackson lost himself in the reading until it was interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Detective are you still in there?" asked a female voice from the other side.

Jackson looked at the clock and saw 9 hours had passed in which time Jackson didn't feel a need to get lunch or go to the bathroom. Jackson couldn't believe what he was seeing, surely the clock was messed up there was no way he could sit reading for that long especially with a file that was only 8 pages long. He got up to answer the door and found the front desk lady on the other side.

"Oh, hello, um yes I'm still here, uh, could you tell me what time it is?" Jackson said with his confusion seeping through his voice.

"Oh, it is seven in the PM, my name is Jennifer by the way but call me Jen" Jen said with a helpful tone.

"Right, thanks, I'm Jackson" Jackson said even more confused as he learned that his clock wasn't wrong.

"Something wrong detective Jackson, you haven't come out of your office since you went in, everything ok?" Jen asked inquisitively.

"No, I guess I just got lost in reading and research" Jackson said still a little weirded out by the event.

"Ok well dad, uh, the Chief said you should head home for tonight since you spent so much time in your office" Jen said embarrassed that she called the Chief her dad in front of somebody that she worked with.

"Oh, ok, sorry I didn't know the time would fly by so quickly" Jackson said with his own embarrassment and worry.

"D-the Chief isn't mad or anything, if anything he's glad your taking it so seriously despite the laxity of the case" Jen said comfortingly

Jackson was perplexed, normally if he spent so much time in one room in his old station he would get yelled at, his office or not but he assumed the Chief was just taking it easy on him since he was new or that the Chief knew that he was reading up on the goings on in the town.

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Jackson's drive home was uneventful but it was calming, it allowed him to think back on what had transpired that day. 9 hours gone by in what felt like 3, perhaps Jackson fell asleep but he doubted that immediately, he didn't feel tired and he had no memory of laying his head on his desk or waking up. The town was strange in more than a few ways it seemed. Jackson was sure with time he would come to find that it was just his own fault and not some weird black magic.

After arriving home Jackson showered and made some burgers though they were pretty basic they were good enough. Jackson decided he wanted to test something so he spent an hour watching television and another hour reading up more on the cult he previously read about for another hour. Jackson's test proved to be what he expected, both lasted an hour with nothing strange going on. Some might say he was overreacting or being childish but the supernatural always interested Jackson so he wanted to try and recreate the event with predictable results. Jackson was hoping something would happen but he knew that it was just his imagination.

Jackson having wasted his day on research, a pointless experiment, and watching old movies he decided that was enough for today and retired to his room.

"Jackson"

As Jackson closed the door to his bedroom he could have sworn he heard somebody call him from downstairs, Jackson froze and with hesitation moved to open his door again only to hear a squeak from the door.

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