by J Middleton
Zac walked rapidly through the sitting room. The older man was sitting by a low fire. He turned and looked at him but never said a word. Quickly Zac made his way outside, he started to jog, then broke into a run. He stopped and turned around to see the cabin one more time but it had disappeared into the trees. The was no sign of him even there.
Zac followed the trail that he had made coming into the forest. Now that the initial burst of adrenaline had run its course, he felt the sick feeling of fear spreading up his spine. It was akin to a cold embrace pulling him close and he was suddenly very aware of everything around him. There was a great sense of dread, a negativity in the air that he was certain hadn’t been there before. The only comparison he could make was the way the air got just before a particularly bad storm. The way you could almost taste the electricity. Cocking his head slightly all he could hear was the wind blowing through the brush. His senses were on high alert. He crept deeper into the trees, taking care to step lightly upon the brittle leaves and twigs on the forest floor. He sensed danger in theses woods, slithering along the ground like snakes. Darkness pooled along the base of the tree trunks, seeping outward as the grew old. An owl screamed behind him. He shivered as the blackness covered everything. Struggling to identify the contours of the trail. There was no path, no worn trail, from ages of travel through these woods. No hint of civilization anywhere. The interior of the forest felt like a crypt, except for the thickening fog. The woods remained fixed and silent. Now and then, a branch would snap and fall to the ground sounding like a crunched brittle bone. The moon flooded the forest floor in a soft blue, as though you were underwater.
The eerie light simmered and spread toward the blackness congregating beneath the forest. A shadow appeared and disturbed the moonlight. It slithered black and dangerous across the ground, the soft crumble of desiccated leaves the only break in the silence. The long and gangly outstretched arms might have been cast from a dead tree, had it not moved. As the figure crept closer along the rough contours of the trees until it drowned him in blackness again. His hand on his sword ready for anything that jumped out.
Silent. Deathly silent. The moon shone down through the forest that towered against the azure backdrop, appearing frozen.
Zac breath came in short gasps.
He looks up as the sky above the canopy of trees glowed in deep orange fading to gray. The hint of blue twilight bled through to be followed by darkness. The trees seemed to close in and merge with the gloom, their contours melting into the night air until they could barely be identified. He shivered, thinking any one of those shapes might not be a tree at all, but one of her servants.
He ran, ignoring the slap of branches on his skin. It seemed forever before he got out of the thickness of the trees. Finally, after a few hours running he seen the sun peaking between the limbs. He knew then he wasn’t far away, he would make it before dark. Pressing forward not stopping for anything, he moves on. Soon the sun beamed from directly overhead.
The scent of dry leaves thickened the air, not much different from an autumn day. The morning air became moist and soon dew would glisten the forest. From several paces, away, he could see the blinking of lights.
Ignoring his tired legs, hunger and muscle pains while walking southward until the sun was in mid sky. His eyes haunted as though he saw ghosts peering at him from the brushes.
“Do not deviate from your path.” A voice boomed as loud as thunder in his mind.
Zac fell to his knees and screamed. His voice carried into the forest in a frenzied elegy, echoing off the trees and retuning to him in maddening concert. Then he broke into convulsive laughter, as the day rushed toward extinction, the forest seemed to laugh back at him. He stood up, as the sun, hot and relentless.
Zac knew he had miles to go, exhaled and tried. Looking up as a blinding yellow and orange orb begun its descent ahead of his path. It was like the trees were gone and nothing was in his way. A sudden burst of energy hit him like a lightning bolt that came through the sky. He looked down as his sword pulsed with a power that vibrated his skull and shattered his teeth. He slashed the sword through the air and heard it whistle with the screams of men that had served it before. The sword cut through the air with a thin layer of flames floating in the wake of the blade. He felt his body hurtling up through the light as though propelled toward the sun. His muscles twitched beneath his clothing, the threads straining against his power.
“Thank you brother.” He whispered.
Several symbols, words he recognized from the cabin of his brothers danced before his eyes with meaning. His eyes centered on two of the symbols and when he mumbled them in succession, he felt the earth tremor and saw the impenetrable wall of his world crumble. He reached his hand into the light and the floating symbols steadied, awaiting his command.
Zac blinked, he was no longer rising, but falling through infinite space. His stomach rose into his chest and somewhere deep in his subconscious he heard Victoria’s voice. He fell faster now, the wind screaming in his ears and his hair trailed his body in the endless sky. He closed his eyes and felt his stomach coil with sickness as the light whipped past at increasing speed. The light warped before him so quickly that if he blinked he would have missed it. He smelled burning flesh, heard the screams of the dead and saw his family fleeing through the night toward the burning flames. He opened his eyes and realized he was no longer falling as fast. The strange symbols drifted on the breeze but followed his path, there for him to grab. The symbols now appeared faded, their contours washed out and sinking into the light. Again, the light warped, as though he watched a bed sheet flutter in a midday wind.
As loud thunder, boomed inside of Zac’s head. The light evaporated like morning fog baked by the sun. The forest materialized the looming silhouettes of the trees. Shaking his head free of the cobwebs clouding his thoughts, grasped the sword lying between his outstretched legs he pushed himself to a standing positon.
“Almost there Victoria?” he yells knowing he was just a few hours away. His thoughts go back to the vision he had just seen of the flames in the city. Is this going on now, are is it coming. Nevertheless, he knew he would be there.
Dark clouds pattern the sky. They’re calm, almost still. Twisted trees are sparsely spread cross the largely desolate landscape which lies beneath. After walking a fair distance, the surroundings remain essentially the same as where he started through, there’s no sign anything.
He’s barely paying attention when he trips over a precarious lone tree root poking out from the ground. Falling to the ground he scraped his shin across its sharp pointy tip. He cries out, landing with a thud, for it’s a natural reaction, though as soon as he’s landed he realizes something. That he isn’t hurt at all. He rolls his pants leg up to see if he’s injured, but there’s nothing, not even a scratch. “How strange.” He proclaims rolling it back down again. His clothes too, are completely undamaged and there isn’t the slightest hint of dirt upon them.
An unsettled feeling inside of him and he can’t put his finger on why. He tries to ignore it, but soon he finds himself overwhelmed by discomfort, stumbling along as he tries to summon the energy to continue. Falling to his knees, he lays on the ground wondering what’s going on. “I haven’t had any food or water since I got here, maybe that’s why this is happening.” He reassures himself.
He forces his way through the last of the thicket, escaping its finger like clutches. A long hollowed out tree lays flat on the ground at the end closet to him, it looks inviting, so he perches himself upon it and sits there reflectively. Emotionally he’s drained, but physically he’s still not even tired. He cogitates how the trees seemed to last forever, grateful for the modest open space in front of him.
Looking up he sees the sky again and its dark clouds passing by slowly. As he looks back down, something unusual catches his eye. His gaze is drawn towards the far end of the clearing, trying to decipher what’s moving through the trees. Just as he considers getting up to investiga
te, suddenly it steps into the clearing. A dark image, it looked unlike anything he’s ever seen before. Most striking, is it large round shaped eyes which look like hypnotic whirlpools. In the center were small dots that glowed a bright purple staring directly at him. It had a large stature and a giant hood that rests about halfway up behind it, yet given the size of the garment he couldn’t look any less threatening. In fact, he doesn’t appear the slightest bit surprised to see me. For a blank expression resides upon its face. There seemed to be no lower half of his body; only cloth. The creature had an arm glide out and sway in a small motion. The face was blank staring at Zac as if he was staring right through him.
Zac pauses momentarily, his face remaining expressionless. Still facing towards the opposite side, the giant hood covering the most of his head, he stands in silence. Then he reaches his arm out behind him and clasps his hand tightly. A finger rises, pointing ahead towards the forest, as if it was beckoning him forwards. Not knowing what to make of this situation. Normally the forest was full of animals and bird’s noise’s but it was just silence.
He reaches for his sword as it starts to glow. The dark spirit screams and points at the glow. The spiral in its eyes started to flash rapidly as the mouth of it started to get louder and louder. Its screams started to multiply, causing Zac to hold his ears. He then sheaths his blade and the glow faded. Seconds later the spirit re-enters the hazy forest and completely vanishes.
The sky peeps through the tangled branches and the clouds are moving slightly faster now. He watches as thick brambles covered in razor sharp thorns begin appearing all over the place. Despite their unwelcome addition, he merely continues travelling at his same speed. He charges straight through them like they not even there. The thorn is enough to stop him instantly, yet oddly he isn’t hurt at all. He knew right then he was close, that this was Lilly trying to keep him away. On his guard, he continued.
He felt a cold eye watching him from the shadows of the trees. The wind started whistling and gusting, shaking the foliage into an almighty rumbling din, which seemed to push against him, slowly he stumbled on. He felt his stomach lurch violently, and knew beyond doubt that something was in there watching from the shadows, waiting for him to go further.
Chapter 15
Standing there staring into the dense woods, he couldn’t explain the unsettling tingle that caused the hairs on his arms to stand up. This feeling seemed to conflict with reality as he looked up and down the wall of trees that seemed to stretched for miles and saw nothing. It was quiet, no twigs snapping, leaves rustling, or strange echoing whistles. At that moment, it looked like any other stretch of woods.
He dug his heels into the ground and moved through the brush. Thunder cracked above, followed by a quick flash of heated lightning. Dark clouds continued to gather above the tree lines, and static electricity in the air hung like a damp overcoat. His crystal around his neck started to glow a deep orange. The wind whistled through skeleton trees and branches. The ground was littered with day, crackling leaves. These leaves flew over the ground like low flying ghosts in a great hurry. The branches moaned and wailed, swaying to a melody no mortal ear could hear. He jumped, his heart fast, when a loud scream pierced his ears, hung like an echo from a dream long forgotten. The wind carried it through the trees as the sound disappeared behind him.
The wind continued to blow as it swept across the limbs. Zac looked towards the edge of the forest, waiting for something to jump out. Looking at the twisting shadows moving from tree to tree. He felt the hair on his neck rise. Thunder crashed and lightning shot down from the sky.
The symbol around his neck started to glow a deep dark orange. He knew then that there was something evil lurking ahead. With his sword drawn he eased his way through the path.
Feeling a chill creep down his back, he realized he was holding his breath. Forcing himself to breathe normal. His eyes swept between the trees watching the shadows move faster. The ground shakes vigorously beneath his feet as he slowly moves closer.
Holding out his amulet it became brighter than the sun as it blasted through the darkness of the trees. Knocking limbs off and spitting a few in half. The ground thundered as they hit the ground. As the dust settled underneath the thick heavy branches, there was nothing left but a few leaves that were flooding in the air slowly hitting the ground. Glancing into what was left of the trail, the shadows had vanished. The wind howls as if something was tormented. Then her evil laugh bounces off the nearby tree sounding just as distorted as her dark appearance. A terrifying wall of evil, for a split second he wanted nothing more than to get away from the sound. The wind rocked him hard trying to knock him off balance. Then there was a whisper, low at first and louder. He was hearing the dark shadows chanting.
“We are the trees, and the blood-soaked earth. We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen. We are the deepest darkest nightmare. We are the darkness that lurks behind the night. We are the evil that roams the earth. We are Lilly warriors.”
Zac shouted out in anger, “I’m coming for you Lilly, I will destroy you and your army!” his voice echoes over and over.
Her eerie laugh rang through the treetops. as a sudden wind hit him hard almost knocking him over. Then unseen branches clawed at his skin, but did nothing to stop his progress of moving forward.
Moving fast through the debris he made his way to another clearing. More dark clouds move in filling the sky. The atmosphere more unsettling. Finally, he reached the dirt road as he moved faster, into a run. Watching the skies at the colors were changing to a dark gray as thunder clouds rolled in. Lightning bolted out as it strokes the ground close to him.
“Oh no Lilly, you’re not going to stop me” he mumbles as he runs a little faster. Moments later the city came in view. Closer he got the he noticed flames coming from one of the buildings. A thick black smoke had begun to drift towards him.
Chapter 16
Silence surrounded him. Turning back over on his back Vince stared at the ceiling. Blinking a few times, he thought he saw flashes of orange and red lights shine in the corner of the room. He turned his head and noticed that the light was coming in from his window. Crawling out from under his covers he moved to the window and cracked the curtains. Darkness filled the streets, only a small light was seen at the stone building. He stared at the building as he watches lights blink back and forth from orange to red. Dark shadows moved in and out of the alleys.
His heart rate increased. Slowly he dressed as he moved to the door.
“If I could just talk to grandmother maybe she would leave us alone.” That thought crossed his mind.
He walked quickly down the hallway until he made it to the stairs. Moving slowly down each step until he made it to the bottom. Looking to his right he seen Jessica asleep in the chair. He moved to the door and turns the door knob easing it open. When he stepped outside his heart started pounding hard. Adrenaline ran fast through his veins. The surrounding trees were bare and wiry. The sidewalks were covered in paper from the wind blowing the trash cans over. His breath plumbed in the chilly night air. Walking slowly through the fog as it moved with every step he took. A horrible skin crawling sensation that he was being watched creeped over him. Trying to adjust to his surroundings he knew what ever was out there he didn’t like. A couple of times he considered turning around, but he was just too close to the building. Stopping a few feet from the stone building and just before he was going to knock he noticed a dim light coming from the other side of the street. Only a few blocks down, he watched dark shadows enter a rundown building. Quickly he moved across the street and headed down the side walk. The fog was so thick he could lay down in it and hide. Moments later he reached the building.
He moves aside, rubbing is hands as he grasped the handle and gave it a pull. The door popped open, and a dusty breeze hit his face. The room smelled stale, like sweet wood and dry rot with mildewed. Dust swirled lazily in the shafts of golden moonlight filtering in through the window. He
could barely see the narrow room with a few shelves built into the walls. A huge network of spider webs crisscrossed the wooden shelves, some of it residents long dead while others were alive and well. Waiting like large flies as they sat in their webs. Vince didn’t care for spiders. He looked over and there was an old rocking chair with one handle broken. The wood was almost black with age, as it sat beside the window. It was obviously old, and hand-carved. Despite its age, it was still sturdy. The touched the door facing as a sticky ooze stuck to his fingers.
With only the brightness of the moon shining through the broken window, he couldn’t tell what it was. Wiping it on his pants he turned around and stepped towards the inside. He hesitated, pushing away the horrible gnawing in his stomach. A few spiders disturbed by the intrusion scurried across the floor.
His heart started racing when he heard a foot step in front of him. A dark figure stood not far from where he was standing. He couldn’t even blink his eyes before the figure moved. Before he could even take a step, it pulled him to it and its leathery fingers stroked his hair. Vince reared back and almost screamed, but nothing would come out of his mouth.
The smell of rotten flesh filled his nostrils making him gag. He couldn’t see its face under the long hood, but he could smell its breath, which wept of death. The light of the moon would only give him the shadow of it form. Its piercing red eyes glowed strongly as they stared into him.
“Oh Vince, I am glad you came to see me.” Staring straight into his eyes.
Vince was shocked to hear a familiar voice come out of something so decrypted.
