Jake Delaney and the Jade Stone Curse

Jake's long time friend and mentor, Charles, had told him that it was his destiny to find the stone. He'd also told Jake that he'd be dead before he made it home if he set foot in Leadville. Charles' words rang true as the last of the town's residents had shot themselves following a week of terrible visions and bloodshed. The town was now empty, except for the bodies.

A week ago, Jake had arrived in town only to find the streets littered with corpses. The people had tried to flee their own minds, but they couldn't run from what they saw in their dreams. They were all alone so far away from any help that they didn't even try. They just gave up on living.

The day after he arrived, Jake heard about two bounty hunters that are still alive making their way to Leadville from Montana. They were searching for a relic known as the Jade Stone of Power. It was discovered by a Chinese soldier during the Boxer Rebellion who hid it in a cave before being executed for "supernatural" crimes. The soldier's last words were: "Do not bring forth the stone lest your nightmares be unleashed upon you."

A few days later, Jake had seen one of the bounty hunters walking down the street. He didn't know what to do except follow him back to his hotel room where he found out that he wasn't alone in his search for the Stone of Power. He didn't stay long enough to find out why his partner left him behind and decided to go looking for him himself instead.

He looked up at the hotel and saw someone standing outside of his partner's window. He thought it was probably another bounty hunter like them who was trying to get a jump on finding the Stone first. As he ran towards the window, he heard muffled voices inside and then a loud bang came from upstairs which sent glass flying past him in every direction. He looked up at the window again to see who it was and saw through the curtain that nobody was there anymore and neither was his partner who was sitting at the desk just moments ago writing in his journal when he left him alone for only a minute or two.

He opened the door slowly, making sure not to make any noise and took off after whoever did this without even thinking about whether or not there were more outside waiting for him or not, he didn't care anymore; he just wanted revenge for his fallen friend and nothing was going to stop him from getting it no matter what it takes even if it means sacrificing his own life in order to get it done like Charles taught me too... my friend... my teacher... I will miss you old friend... I wish I could have been there sooner so that I could have helped you somehow... I am so sorry... Jake thought as he made it outside where everything went quiet suddenly; maybe because whatever killed Charles killed everyone else too? He thought as silence fell over all of Leadville with only one exception: A lone but familiar voice screaming at him from behind making sure that everyone knew exactly where he was running as fast as he can towards... my enemy is here! Jake thought as he turned around quickly drawing both of his pistols and fired blindly into the thick fog ahead of him without even knowing if his shots are hitting anything or not: If I don't do this right now then that thing is going to kill me before I have time to reload! He thought as bullets whizzed by all around him while he kept on shooting until they stopped disappearing into thin air before they hit anything solid making him realize that they weren't intended to hit anything anyway: Are those bullets running out already?! No! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! Who is this monster?! Why isn't anybody helping me!? Where is this monster?! Where is everybody else?! What does it want with them? What does it want with me? What does IT want with my power? It wants my power!? What power? This is my fault!? Why would this happen because of ME!? My family!? My friends!? My girlfriend!? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIFE!? To my friends!? To my family!? To my girlfriend? Is she still OK? Does she need me? Does she still love me as much as she used too...? Am I still her hero? Do I look like her hero anymore? Do I look like anyone's hero anymore? How did I let this happen again?! Why did this happen again?! How am I supposed to fix this again?! How am I supposed to fix US again!? How am I supposed to fix HER again?! What can I do now that everybody has been taken away from me!? How many times have we already been through this nightmare together so far!? How many times have we already been through hell together so far!? How many times have we already been through heaven together so far!? How many times have we already been through hell together so far while we're dreaming together?! How many times have we already been through heaven together so far while we're dreaming together?! So many times ...so many times... SO MANY TIMES!!! JAKE THOUGHT AS HIS TEARS FELL FROM HIS EYES AND HE WEPT IN SILENCE BECAUSE IT WAS ALL HE COULD DO TO NOT LET THE GUILT AND PAIN OF LOSING EVERYTHING HE LOVED AND CARED FOR PUSH HIM OVER THE EDGE INTO DARKNESS AHEAD OF HIM WHERE SOMEONE ELSE IS WAITING FOR ME WHO IS WAITING FOR ME TO LET GO OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES ME WHO I AM AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS THEN LET THIS BE THE END OF IT ALL FOR ME BEFORE IT ALL ENDS FOR GOOD FOREVER BECAUSE AT LEAST THEN WE WILL BE TOGETHER AGAIN LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE WE ALWAYS ARE WHEN WE DREAM ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE ...