by Sam Short
That was the last of any similarities between the world she’d left behind and the world she was in now, though. In place of wildflowers in a vase and plates of custard slices on a sideboard, was gloominess, cold, and an awful stench which made her want to gag.
The smell which burned her nostrils and turned her stomach had a mustiness to it which made Millie think of death and decay, and she screwed her nose up in a futile attempt to form a barrier against it.
Still standing on the stone plinth she’d stepped onto, the circle of light behind her illuminated the area in a shimmering brightness.
Noting that she was in a cave with rough walls formed from rock, Millie scanned her surroundings, fear bubbling in her stomach. Scanning the uneven floor, she gasped as the light reflected off something long and thick. Something white. It wasn’t alone, she realised, as she ran her eyes across the floor. The bones were everywhere — some small and some large, and some lying in piles, including the occasional skull of an unrecognisable creature staring back at her from the darkness.
Cold fear gripped her body, and Millie took a step backwards as the unmistakable sound of shuffling footsteps emerged from the darkness to her right.
As the footsteps grew louder, fear gripped her in a tighter grasp as light was reflected by two red orbs which approached her slowly. Understanding that the circles were eyes, Millie realised that her fear had pinned her to the spot on which she was standing, unwilling to allow her a step in either direction — not further into the room, nor backwards into the safety of the gate.
The large eyes peered at her from the gloom, and the sound of heavy breathing became apparent as something approached her, the shape of an elongated head beginning to form as it stepped into the light.
Attempting to swallow her fear, Millie searched for her magic, discovering it in the place it should be — in her chest, alongside the ball of terror which had taken up residence within her. As the creature loomed close, its eyes deep red and its breathing laboured, Millie prepared to defend herself, allowing magic to trickle along her arms and into her outstretched fingers.
As a spell quivered at her fingertips, ready to be released, more of the creature became illuminated by light, and Millie stared in horror as a mouth at the end of a bulbous snout began to open, revealing rows of pointed teeth which glinted viciously under the white glow of the gate.
Her forearms throbbing with magical energy, Millie prepared to cast her spell, but as the first sparks crackled at the ends of her fingers, the creature spoke, its voice broken at first but then becoming familiar. “Millie, don’t you dare cast that spell, it’s me, Reuben!”
“Reuben?” said Millie, unable to comprehend that the huge beast approaching her had only very recently been a tiny creature capable of flight.
Resembling a crude version of an upright hippopotamus, Reuben lumbered from the shadows on two stumpy legs. He emerged into the light, his thick grey hide wrinkled, and short hairs protruding from his long face. Nostrils flared as he took deep breaths, and his bright red eyes, sunken in folds of flesh, peered along his snout as he stared down at Millie. “Speak to me,” he said. “Say something! Or am I so ugly that you can’t bring yourself to talk with me? I knew it! I knew you’d never accept me in my true form! You can’t judge a book by its cover, they say in your world, yet look at you — you have judgement written all over your face! You think I’m ugly, don’t you?”
Millie swallowed as she stared up at her familiar. “I’m not judging you,” she said, running her eyes down his body, noting the sharp claws on the little hands at the ends of short arms. “I’m getting used to you, Reuben. It’s hard to believe it’s you — that’s all. There’s nothing ugly about you, though, I promise.”
Reuben moved even closer to Millie, bringing with him a smell similar to the aroma given off by the fortnight old cooked cabbage that she’d once found in a hidden Tupperware pot at the back of her fridge.
He gazed down at her, his eyes unblinking, trapping her in an intense red stare. “Kiss me, Millie,” he said, bending slowly at his thick waist. “Kiss me on the top of my head and tell me I’m a good boy, like you do when I’m a cute little cockatiel. After all, according to another of the sayings in your world, beauty is only skin deep. I know you can see my inner beauty, so kiss me and show me you accept me as I am.” He looked at her with large, pleading eyes, before bowing his head. “Please.”
Studying the bulging drops of an unknown brown substance which oozed from deep skin pores on Reuben’s giant head, Millie bit her lip. The smell emanating from her familiar invaded her nostrils, and she was confident she could taste it on her lips as she moistened them with her tongue.
“Go on,” murmured Reuben. “Kiss me on my head and ask me who’s a pretty boy.”
Wanting to show her familiar that of course it was what dwelled within him that mattered to her, and wanting to show him that her love for him was not based on a cute feathery face with bright red cheeks, Millie took a deep breath and then held it. She moved her face closer to the rubbery flesh of Reuben’s broad head, which still oozed with viscous trickles of brown liquid, and pursed her lips in readiness to show him that her love transcended his appearance.
When her lips were centimetres from his head, and her eyes watered from the stench she was sure was rising from the brown oozing sludge, Reuben suddenly drew backwards and straightened his back, staring down at her as he let out a booming laugh. “Psych!” he said. “I got you! I got you! Oh, gosh, look at your face! That was so funny!”
“What are you doing?” asked Millie.
“I didn’t expect you to kiss me,” said Reuben. “I’m fully aware of what I look and smell like! I got you though, didn’t I? I tricked you!”
“Reuben, this is not the time for fun and games,” said Millie. “We’re here to help my father, remember? Every minute we waste is precious.”
“I was just trying to lighten the mood,” said Reuben, his eyes wide and staring. “I saw how scared you looked when you stepped through the gate. I wanted to make you feel better. That’s all.”
Millie smiled. “It was funny,” she relented. “And just so you know, if it weren’t for that foul liquid oozing from your skin, I’d kiss you all day long.”
“That foul liquid, as you call it,” said Reuben. “Is what may save our lives. It won’t hurt you, but it’s highly toxic to some of the most terrible demons which live here. Even the smell will keep the worse of them at arm’s length. Stay close to me, and it will only be the smallest of demons who will pose a risk to you, but I’ll be able to fight them off. It’s no coincidence that I managed to stay alive in this place for so very, very long. It was thanks to the poison my body produces.”
“That’s good to know,” said Millie, looking away from Reuben’s intense glare. “But do me a favour, would you? Blink for heaven’s sake. You haven’t stopped staring at me. I feel like you’re looking into my soul.”
“It’s another evolutionary trait,” said Reuben, with a hint of pride in his voice. “Like the poison. I have no eyelids, you see. I can’t blink, but I’m very well adapted to seeing in the dark. I’ll spot danger before it spots us, don’t you worry.”
Gazing into the dark at the end of the cone of light produced by the glowing gate, Millie shuddered. “You’d better put those eyes to good use then,” she said. “We need to find gates which lead to other dimensions.” She took the leather pouch from her pocket, feeling the vibrations of the stone before she tipped it out into her palm. As the orb made contact with her skin, it vibrated with more intensity and gave off a soft blue glow which cut into the darkness.
“That makes a fine torch,” noted Reuben, stepping off the stone plinth with a heavy thump of big feet on earth. He pointed into the dark. “The exit from the cave we’re in is that way. Follow me. When we get outside, the stone will tell us which way to go.” He began walking, a loud cracking sound filling the cave as he took a long stride and stood on a bone, breaking it in two.
Walking
alongside Reuben, Millie placed her feet carefully as she crossed the bone-strewn floor, holding the stone before her. The light offered by the stone extended a few feet into the darkness, and Millie gave a startled shriek as a dark shape crossed her path in the dim cone of light, scurrying close to the floor as it passed from left to right.
“It’s okay,” said Reuben. “It won’t hurt you. Most creatures in this dimension won’t hurt you. We’re all collectively known as demons, but the majority of us don’t wish to cause harm to anybody or anything.”
They walked for less than a minute, dodging bones and spotting shadowy forms skulking at the edges of the cone of light the stone gave off. Then the ground ahead of them became a little less dark, and a breeze blew across Millie’s face, ridding her nostrils of the awful stench she was becoming accustomed to. “I smell fresh air,” she said. “And I see light.”
“The cave entrance is just ahead,” said Reuben, pointing a clawed finger.
Her eyes adjusting to the slight change in light, Millie could just about make out the difference between the inside of the cave and the dark world beyond. “It’s night-time,” she said in a low voice.
“It’s always night time in this world,” answered Reuben.
Stepping through the crack in the cave wall, and into a warm breeze, Millie stared into the distance, her eyes beginning to pick out details. As Reuben shuffled alongside her, she stared at the undulating terrain ahead of them. Gentle slopes rose and fell as they vanished at the horizon, and the remains of trees pointed at the sky with dead branches and broken trunks. “There was light here once?” suggested Millie, finding the sharp outline of a dead forest on a hill.
“It was before I was born into this place,” said Reuben. “But yes, there was light once, or so the stories go.”
Taking a few steps forward, Millie turned and looked at the cave they’d exited. She gasped as her eyes followed a wall of rock into the sky where it continued to rise until she could no longer see it in the gloom. As she looked left and right, she understood what it was. “A wall of rock?” she said.
Reuben nodded. “Yes. With no top and no ends. There is no way over it and no way around it.” He looked left and right, his eyes reflecting the crimson hue which seemed to tinge the dark skies. “Which way?” he asked.
“I don’t know, Reuben,” said Millie. “This is your world.”
“You have the stone, Millie,” answered Reuben. “We’re looking for gates to other dimensions which I couldn’t see before coming to your world. I’m as lost as you. The stone will lead us to Henry.”
Millie nodded. Holding the stone before her, she moved it left and right, focusing on the strength of the vibrations on her palm. As she moved it to the left for the third time, she began walking. “This way,” she said. “The vibrations are stronger.”
Hearing the heavy footsteps of Reuben following close behind, she walked alongside the sheer cliff which rose on her left, staring into shadows as she passed them, and concentrating on the instructions the magical jewel imparted through vibrations.
Suddenly, a sound which made Millie’s blood run cold, echoed across the dead desert’s sandy surface, bouncing off the wall of rock and reverberating in the air. She stopped in her tracks, staring into the distance as the sound rose on the air once more — a screech so terrifying it reached deep inside her and spread cold fear throughout her body. “What was that?” she whispered, turning to face Reuben.
“That is a thing that populates the nightmares of people in your world,” answered her familiar, his large nostrils sniffing the air. He lifted a short arm and pointed a claw. “Look,” he said.
Millie looked. Then she gasped. From a dead forest which tore at the sky with spindly fingers of broken wood, poured shadows which moved swiftly across the landscape, dust rising as they manoeuvred in unison like a herd of stampeding cattle. “They’re coming this way!” she said. “What do we do?”
“We concern ourselves with the thing that is chasing them,” said Reuben. “Those creatures you can see are its prey, and all they want to do is escape. They are no danger to us.” He began walking, his strides longer than they had been previously. “Quickly, Millie. Use the stone. Graham and Peter assured us that other gates wouldn’t be far from the gate we passed through.”
Matching Reuben’s speed, Millie moved quickly, vibrations not only growing stronger in her palm, but in her feet, too. “I can feel those creatures as they run,” she said. “The ground is shaking.”
“Just keep going,” urged Reuben. “What is the stone telling you?”
Closing her hand on the stone, Millie concentrated on the series of powerful vibrations which ran through her hand. “The vibrations are becoming stronger with every step we take,” she said. “We’re going the right way.”
Another screeching scream sounded from her right, and Millie stared in horror at the horizon. The horde of galloping creatures was still running, but had veered away from the wall of rock and was heading away from Millie and Reuben, dust rising high above the ground behind them. It was not the shadows of the prey animals which gave her the most significant cause for concern, though — it was the colossal shadow which stalked the horizon. Striding on at least a dozen arachnid legs, its circular body high above the ground, the creature screeched once more, before pausing and shifting direction quickly. “What is it?” said Millie, terror rising in her throat.
“A creature like that has no name,” said Reuben. “It does not need a name. Those creatures are rare, Millie. I didn’t expect to encounter one. I wouldn’t have risked this journey had I known one would find us.”
“It’s not chasing those other creatures anymore,” said Millie, as the huge beast appeared to sniff the air, its silhouette a living nightmare against the dark crimson sky. Her stomach sank as the creature turned slowly, facing the wall of rock and lifting its head to the sky as it emitted a blood-curdling screech. “Why isn’t it chasing those creatures anymore, Reuben?”
“It never was,” said Reuben, placing sharp claws on Millie’s back as he urged her forward. “It sensed us when we passed through the gate. It’s coming for us, Millie. Find those other gates, quickly, we don’t have time to get back to the gate into our world. Hurry!”
Chapter 37
The ground shook violently beneath her feet, pebbles and dust bouncing with each heavy step the creature took. Sprinting alongside the towering wall of rock, Millie risked looking over her shoulder, wishing she hadn’t when she saw the beast as it looked when not silhouetted in black shadow against the horizon. Not a spider, and incomparable to anything Millie had ever seen, the creature stalked the two of them on long legs which creaked as they bent.
The head which protruded from the vast, bulbous body, was placed at the end of a long, thin, multi-jointed neck. Its rows of multiple eyes were large enough to be visible at a distance, and like Reuben’s, they appeared unable or unwilling to blink.
Taking gasping breaths which made her lungs sting, Millie forced her legs to work harder. “It’s getting closer!” she yelled, the stone of integrity vibrating excitedly in her hand.
“Concentrate on finding the gates,” ordered Reuben. “I’ll be able to keep it at bay for a short while with my poison.”
The ground rocked once more as the creature drew closer, and Millie almost lost her footing, regaining her balance as Reuben urged her on. “Run!” he shouted from behind her. “And don’t worry about me! Just find those gates and get out of this dimension!”
She was running. She was running as fast as she could. She was running so fast that she could hardly breathe anymore, let alone answer Reuben. But she wasn’t running to leave Reuben behind, alone with the awful creature. She was running just far enough ahead so she could pause and take control of herself once more. With control came correct use of her magic, and with correct use of her magic, she had a chance of defeating a beast even as large as the one which wanted to kill them.
Hearing the creature screeching
again, Millie stopped running and turned to face it. Her heart boomed inside her chest as she saw it up close, towering over Reuben, its body quivering with muscles and its large mouth drooling thick saliva from the rubbery lips it peeled back to reveal teeth as long as Millie’s arm. Slamming huge beetle-like feet into the ground surrounding Reuben, causing dust to rise in clouds, the demon made repeated attempts at getting its mouth within biting distance of her familiar, who stood helplessly below it with only the pungent stench of his toxic brown liquid to repel it, and the almost insignificant threat of the teeth he bared in warning.
Glancing in Millie’s direction, and seeing she’d stopped running, Reuben shouted. “Run, Millie. If I sacrifice myself here today, I want to know it was for a good reason. Find those gates and then find Henry!”
As the creature let out another screech, like metal gears grinding under strain, Millie shook her head. “No!” she yelled, watching in horror as the creature lunged once more at Reuben, backing away as it neared the smaller demon’s head and was repelled by the warning stench. “I’ve got this! I’ve got my magic!”
“Run, Millie,” begged Reuben. “Please! Magic won’t stop it. It’s too powerful.”
Ignoring her familiar, Millie forced magic from her chest, preparing herself for battle as it ran the length of her arms and tingled in her hands.
It was only then that she noticed something had changed. The jewel clenched in her fist wasn’t vibrating as powerfully as it had been less than a minute ago. She stared at the orb, and then she stared around at her immediate surroundings. There was only a massive wall of rock to her right and a lifeless dark desert to her left. She gazed at the ground and saw the dust inside her footprints bouncing and rising in clouds as the creature slammed feet into the ground.
Walking slowly, Millie retraced her footsteps, hoping she was right. One metre. Then two metres. Then five, and ten, and then the orb began vibrating vigorously.
Almost standing close enough to Reuben to reach out and touch him, she screamed as the attacking demon noticed her and lifted a foot high in the air. Aiming it at her, it forced it toward the ground with a creaking of the hard shell that covered its leg, screeching once more as it attacked. As the foot travelled towards her at speed, Millie dived to the right, hoping again that she was right. She launched herself into the long-dead dry wood of the brambles which had once grown up the rock wall, but now covered its base like a rusty barbed wire fence.
