Cortex Complex: 2nd Night 1

Cortex Complex: 2nd Night
Chapter 1: Ode to the Darkness

It was long past curfew at the Academy of Evil and all the students had returned to the dorms for the night. The moon which was almost full hung low in the black sky, illuminating the tall, almost decrepit old structures. This school alone occupied one of the small islands off the coast of Australia, known as the N. Sanity Islands.

The only soul to be seen out on the school grounds that night was a lone figure sitting on the roof of one of the highest buildings of the Academy. With short white hair he was dressed in a dark charcoal grey coat with a collar that came all the way up to the green lens goggles covering his eyes. He was motionless except for his hands, the left one solid bone, strumming the guitar resting in his lap.

The only sound to be heard in the darkness was his lone pale voice singing:

"He spoke of tortured souls,
So outrageous the toll,
You can lose all you have...."

"She and he will know,
That some day,
All things will end...."

"Thru this fog,
They came along,
Dark creatures singing a terrible song...."

"That misty night,
That dismal moon,
The dead search for their kin...."

"While angels sleep,
Be an endless dark,
The dead seek out sin...."


In one of the dorm rooms below a young Goth girl of around 13 years of age was sitting up in bed and writing frantically in her notebook. A large grey gargoyle was curled up at the end of her bed snoozing peacefully.

"Nina," said the creature, lifting its head up from between its crossed arms. "Shouldn't you be getting to sleep? The night is over half way thru already and I know you humans need to rest often."

"I can't yet, Locky." Nina replied. "This chemistry paper is due tomorrow morning and Professor N. Brio will give me detention again if it isn't done on time."

Lockbolt didn't want to question her since it hadn't bothered to do its own homework. Even though Lockbolt spent its days shape shifted into the form of a human boy that the rest of the school knows as "Lockian Boltiel" it didn't take its roll as a human very seriously. It mainly just followed Nina around like a loyal minion ever since it pledged its loyalty to her.


Somewhere in one of the schools many hallways the Janitor was mopping the floor between some stacks of nitro crates. The Academy had long since fallen into a decrepit state. With floors missing, acid dripping from the ceiling pipes and hazardous materials left carelessly about. The principal Madame Amberley never bothered to see that the school be kept up to standards.

The Janitor never speaks so no one knows his name. Not even the rest of the schools staff. Most people preferred to just avoid him altogether. His mute silence is nearly frightening to most people. He’s left to go about his work without question. Aside from the standard janitors uniform he wore the only recognizable feature about him was his long inky black hair which completely covered his eyes and stretched all the way down his back.

Heavy footsteps echoed off the walls as Black Horn, a large, toadyish-like monster with sharp teeth, long claws and large curved horns jutting from the top of its head and back made its way down the hall. Hungry, it sniffed around searching for living flesh. It had no eyes so it relied on its sense of smell to search around.

It detected a life form just ahead. A loud and thunderous roar echoed from the bottom of Black Horns throat as the monster charged. It closed in on its prey, and then halted suddenly a few feet from the man mopping the floor. The Janitor paid the creature no attention. Alarmed, Black Horn slowly began backing away. Cringing intensely, Black Horn wouldn’t turn its back as it crept away from the man who just kept mopping without even looking up or breaking stride.

Sensing that the strange person isn't fighting, Black Horn decided to lunge and attack the man who seemed to decide to just ignore it.


The sound of the guitar stopped. The moon had vanished as the morning light was beginning to shine in the horizon. Igma stood up and turned to walk towards the stairwell. "Class starts in a few hours. Better get going." He muttered to himself. He paused for a minute and looked back towards the sky. "It will be a full moon soon."


End of chapter 1
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Well there you have it, the first chapter of the sequel to the original "Cortex Complex" Crash fan comic I drew. Theres about 3 comic pages worth of content there. ^_^

Igma enjoys playing his guitar at night. Lockbolt sleeps at the end of Nina's bed like a pet. And theres a monster running loose in the school. ^_^

- The song Igma sings is called "Hometown". It's by Akira Yamaoka from the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack. Listen to it here: [link]

- Black Horn was a monster I had drawn a long time ago. I figured I'd use it for this story. See a pic of what it looks like here: [link]

Cortex Complex: 2nd Night more chapters:
Chapter 2: [link]
Chapter 3: [link]
Chapter 4: [link]

Nina Cortex, N. Brio, Madame Amberley and the Academy of Evil (c) Seirra/Radical
N. Igma, Lockbolt, The Janitor and Black Horn (c) Me
Hometown song lyrics (c) Akira Yamaoka/Konami

-JenL