Crown of Sunlight

by Payton Taylor

  “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” Sunny said, only slightly hysterical. Jo knew Sunny was just saying it for her benefit. The terrified look on her face proved that she didn’t believe a thing she was saying. Jo didn’t blame her—she didn’t believe Sunny, either.

  They both stood on shaky legs and walked over to study one of the trees. What Jo had thought looked coppery before now shone like bright amber. She reached out to touch it, and her fingers came away sticky. Tree sap. She almost laughed at how unexpectedly normal it was. But she couldn’t shake the persistent feeling that something was very wrong. She felt an urgency, but why, she couldn’t explain.

  Probably my fight or flight instincts, she thought. But there isn’t anything to fight.

  Is there?

  The moment the thought flashed through her mind, she heard a twig snap behind her. Jo and her sister whirled around, hearts pounding, to see four men emerge from the surrounding trees. The men wore some type of black uniform made from thick, sturdy material. Their heads were covered in sleek helmets, their faces obscured by tinted visors. But what drew Jo’s attention was the weapons that glinted at their sides. Each of them had a sword strapped to one hip and some sort of strange gun holstered at the other.

  Despite their obvious weaponry, they held their hands up, as if to show they meant no harm.

  She and Sunny backed closer together, eyes never leaving the men in front of them.

  “Who are you?” Sunny demanded of them.

  One man took a step forward, but stopped when Sunny and Jo tensed and took a step back. He lifted a hand and tapped the side of his helmet, speaking in a low tone as if communicating with his team. Then he spoke louder, his voice directed at Jo and Sunny, but his words were from a language Jo did not recognize. The sounds flowed in an unfamiliar way, the vowels sharp and the consonants short and precise.

  “I’m sorry,” Sunny said. “We speak English, can you speak English?”

  The man just looked at her with the same blank expression that Jo was sure was on her and Sunny’s faces as well.

  She tried again, “English? Do any of you speak English?” There was a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. She looked at Jo, but Jo could only stare back helplessly, still in shock.

  The men’s expressions didn’t change.

  “I’ll take that as a no…” Sunny trailed off. Her eyes were scanning the men, the same as Jo’s, looking for any sign that they were safe. Any sign of familiarity.

  Sunny nudged Jo, causing her to meet her eyes. Jo and Sunny were as close as two sisters could be, to the level that people sometimes swore they could read each other’s minds. And it was true, sometimes Jo could look at Sunny and know what she was thinking just from the look on her face.

  But this was different. When their eyes met, Jo could actually hear what Sunny was thinking as she saw it in her expression.

  We need to run, Sunny’s eyes told her.

  Strange men in the woods are never a good sign . Jo shook the eerie feeling from her head as

  Sunny’s words resounded within her. They did need to run. It wasn’t a coincidence these men had shown up after they had somehow landed in this unknown place. Given their dark uniforms embroidered with a crescent moon insignia, Jo was willing to bet they weren’t hikers or forest rangers.

  Jo’s eyes went back to Sunny’s. When I give the signal, run, her eyes seemed to say to Jo, though Jo didn’t understand how eyes could convey a message that specific.

  The men started ambling toward them, muttering to each other in their native tongue. Together, Jo and Sunny began inching backward, away from the men. One man darted forward, shouting in alarm as if to say, “No! Stop!” But they weren’t taking any chances, and when Sunny screamed, “RUN!” they took off running through the trees.

  Though Jo had the longer legs, Sunny was in much better shape, and soon Jo started to fall behind. A hand grabbed her arm, pulling her backward and throwing her off balance. The air left her lungs as her back hit the ground.

  One of the men scrambled to hold her down. Knees dug into her ribs and it felt as if a boulder sat on her chest causing Jo to panic. She couldn’t see anything except for the man on top of her. She couldn’t smell anything except sweat, and her own rapid, rasping breath was all she could hear as she thrashed and the man tried to get a hold of her arms.

  Jo and Sunny’s mother had always worried about them and had made them take self-defense classes. Jo bent her knees and spread her legs before lifting her hips and throwing her weight to the side, knocking the man off of her. He fell with a hard grunt and Jo brought her arm back, elbowing him in the nose as hard as she could. She heard a satisfying crack and felt warm blood seep through the sleeve of her jacket. Jo jumped to her feet and took off in Sunny’s direction, hoping to catch up.

  As she ran, she heard the man get to his feet and give chase. Jo dodged around a tree and barely had time to stop herself from running into her sister. The other men were hot on Sunny’s trail, and Sunny grabbed Jo’s hand and jerked her to the side as she started running again.

  The sound of grass and leaves crunching made Jo’s head whip around, and what she saw terrified her.

  Some sort of military vehicle was swiftly approaching. Jo’s heart lurched when she noticed the vehicle hovering in the air. Not to mention, the uniformed men behind them were so close, Jo could’ve sworn she felt their breath on the back of her neck. One of the men shouted in alarm, but Jo and Sunny pushed themselves faster until they weren’t running at all.

  They were tumbling.

  Together, they pitched over the side of a ravine, falling and crashing through branches on their way down. Rocks and sticks cut into Jo’s arms and back while tree branches whipped past her, leaving stinging marks. They fell so fast that Jo couldn’t see anything except the swirling colors of the forest blurring together.

  When they finally came to a stop, they couldn’t see anything at all. They were surrounded by a thick fog and, when they looked up, it obscured their view of the spot they had fallen from.

  Distantly, they heard the men yelling and engines rumbling, but it got further and further away until the only thing they could hear was their own rapid breathing.

  Not knowing what else to do, and clutching each other’s hands tightly, they headed off into the fog. What had seemed to be a bright summer day was now dark and cloudy. The forest was filled with a thick, sickly-sweet scented fog that seemed to come from large purple flowers growing on the branches of the trees around them. The air smelled like a humid summer day, the perfume from the flowers so dense it was starting to make Jo dizzy.

  They walked for a while. There was no sound at all, everything was silent. No birds sang in the trees. No crickets chirped underfoot. No small creatures scurried in the undergrowth.

  There was nothing.

  It was so eerily quiet that Jo could almost swear she heard her sister's voice whispering in her mind, though Sunny hadn’t said a thing. Just as she was starting to think the woods were haunted, the voices were interrupted by the sound of a child’s laughter. The sudden noise was jarring in the silence of the woods.

  Jo met her sister’s eyes before they both cautiously started toward the sound. Obviously, nothing good could come from hearing a child’s laughter in a dark forest, but if there was a child, they needed to make sure it was alright.

  They were not at all prepared for what they saw.

  As they entered a clearing, a small child came into sight. He was wearing a cloth diaper and his black curly hair stood out from his head like a halo. He let out another trill of laughter at the creature hovering over him.

  The creature was unlike anything they had ever seen with a huge, wolf-like head and a long, thick serpent body covered in silvery green scales. It seemed to almost glow in the shadows of the forest.

  “Holy shit,” Sunny breathed. This was it, their first real proof that they weren’t on Earth. This creature didn’t exist in any book Jo had ever seen. Hell, or any
movie for that matter.

  Two forked snake tongues flicked out of its mouth, and the child let out a squeal of delight. In unison, they took a step forward, toward the toddler. But before they could take even one more step, the creature lunged forward and ate the child whole, letting out a sickening crunch.

  The sisters stopped dead in their tracks, frozen in shock as the thing gradually faded away.

  Jo turned to Sunny, her hands covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. She was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. It was a miracle that she had lasted this long. Dead-eyed, Sunny walked over and wrapped her arms tightly around Jo, both of them shivering.

  They heard it again.

  The child’s laughter.

  Their hug dissolved while fear made them freeze.

  The dark-haired child was back, laughing once more at the wolf-like creature. The scene replayed again: the forked tongue coming out, the child giggling, the wolf eating the child.

  Jo’s widened eyes burned as she held them open. Afraid that if she blinked she’d miss something. Afraid that if she blinked that when she opened her eyes again, she’d have to witness the scene for a third time.

  And then, Jo’s fear came to life as the scene replayed once more.

  “Is someone projecting this?” Jo flinched at Sunny’s voice. That’s what it looked like. Like a screen projection on repeat, but more realistic.

  Jo swallowed thickly. “It just looks so real and life-like.”

  “Let’s keep going,” said Sunny.

  Then, without a word, Sunny took off at a run.

  Shocked, Jo stared after her before hurrying to catch up. “Sunny, what’s wrong? Where are you going?” she squeaked, body humming with adrenaline.

  But Sunny said nothing. She didn’t even twitch at the sound of Jo’s voice, just kept running.

  Jo ran around in front of her sister. Sunny’s bright blue eyes were glazed over, no thought or recognition in them at all. Jo held out her arms, trying to stop her, but Sunny just pushed her to the side and kept going.

  Jo followed along, drenched in sweat as she tried to keep up with Sunny, trying to get her to snap out of it. As she half walked, half jogged to keep up with her sister’s brisk pace, Jo had to force herself to stare straight ahead. The few times her eyes happened to stray to the side, she caught a glimpse of scenes that her mind could barely comprehend. Strange serpents slithering between the branches of trees. Flowers the size of a bear opening their petals to reveal sharp teeth. Hands that seemed to reach for help but which she instinctively knew would pull her into the thick underbrush if they happened to get a hold of her.

  She wasn’t sure if the things she was witnessing were real or more illusions like the child eating creature, but she wasn’t willing to linger and find out.

  They walked for what felt like hours before the weather changed yet again. The fog lifted on a cool spring breeze.

  They had arrived at a picturesque pond surrounded by bright green grass, wildflowers of every color, and willow trees with bright, turquoise leaves. The pond had the clearest, most enticing water Jo had ever seen. And Sunny was heading straight for it.

  “Jo. . .no,” Sunny croaked out.

  “Sunny, what are you talking about? I’m right here. I’ve been here the whole time,” said Jo, confused.

  But Sunny didn’t acknowledge her, just kept staring at the water with a horrified expression, mumbling and saying Jo’s name. It was as if she thought Jo was in the water. As if she was hallucinating.

  “Jo what are you—JO! STOP!” Sunny screamed before taking off toward the water at a dead run. Before Jo could blink, Sunny had dove into the water and was frantically swimming toward the center of the pond.

  “SUNNY, WHAT THE FUCK?!” Jo screamed, running after her. When she reached the edge, she dove in as well, swimming towards her sister. Before she could reach Sunny, something grabbed Jo’s ankle, making it impossible to swim any further. She struggled against it, but, whatever it was, the hold was too strong.

  Without warning, the entire pond went completely still. At the center floated Sunny, unmoving. It felt as if time had stopped, and Jo somehow knew something horrible was about to happen. She felt a deep sense of foreboding surge through her before she noticed ripples coming in from all directions, heading straight for Sunny and herself.

  Jo’s entire body jerked as she was roughly dragged under water. Her eyes burned when she opened them, and she wished she would’ve kept them shut. For when she opened them, she saw dozens of monsters surrounding her.

  They were pale white with no eyes or noses, just gaping mouths full of serrated teeth. Long, pale limbs ending in strangely human hands moved awkwardly through the water.

  Grasping.

  Searching.

  Jo could feel hunger and malevolence radiating from them. She knew without a doubt that she was their prey of choice. She looked down and saw that one of the creatures had a hold of both of her ankles and, when she looked up, she saw the surface of the water was getting further and further away. More of the creatures grabbed at her with their bony hands, clawing painfully at her clothes, skin, and hair.

  Her lungs began to burn, starved for oxygen. She was going to drown soon if she didn’t get some air. She probably had only a minute left, if that. The panic set in and she began thrashing her limbs, trying to get free, but they were too powerful. She couldn’t think straight. She needed them to stop, Stop, STOP!

  All at once, everything stopped.

  The creatures were frozen in place, hands outstretched, reaching for her. Jo grabbed at the hands that were wrapped around her ankles and yanked herself free. Dark spots danced in her vision, and her torso jerked forward against her will. She was going into convulsions. She swam with all her remaining strength, trying to reach the surface. She felt her ears pop, and then, finally, her head broke through the water. She took in greedy gulps of air, trying to feed her oxygen-starved lungs. Her vision was dark around the edges, but as she got more oxygen into her body, it started to fade, though her lightheadedness didn’t go away.

  Jo looked around, trying to spot her sister when she felt pressure inside her head.

  Looking for sssssomething? hissed a disembodied voice.

  Startled, Jo spun in a circle, trying to spot where it had come from.

  Over here, Princessss , the voice teased. A strange feeling tugged at her gut, urging her to swim toward the shore. As she got closer, she noticed a person sitting at the edge of the water.

  No, it wasn’t a person.

  Though the top half was humanoid, the bottom half was composed of what looked like a shark’s tail. It was long and sleek and covered with tiny, rough gray scales. Its upper body was covered in dark gray skin, its bare torso and arms made of sinewy muscle with hands that ended in long black talons. Its head was completely bald, with high cheekbones, no nose, and solid black eyes. When it bared its teeth in a feral grin, Jo saw that they were sharp and shark-like.

  Floating next to the tail, Sunny’s skin was pale white, her eyes wide with fear. When she saw Jo she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

  Now, now . Jo realized the creature was speaking inside of her head.

  What else is new? she thought wearily.

  Whatever am I going to feed my pets? it asked, seeming put out, as if annoyed they would have the audacity to try to escape becoming monster chow.

  Jo wondered how it knew their language.

  “Let us go,” Sunny said, drawing its attention. She looked into its horrible black eyes, “Please. Let. Us. Go.” She said each word clearly as if that would somehow convince it.

  To Jo’s surprise, the creature’s face went slack, and its hand fell from her sister’s shoulder. Unwilling to take any chances, Sunny started swimming toward her.

  The creature shook its head as if emerging from a fog.

  You think you can control me? It hissed, throwing its arm out toward them. A sudden wave lifted them both, br
inging them forward until they were within its reach. Its black eyes roved over them, and Jo felt as if it were looking into her soul.

  Raising her chin defiantly, Sunny met the creature’s stare. “There was a group of men who followed us here, what about them?”

  Though Sunny’s facial expression remained neutral, Jo knew her stomach vaulted at the idea. Again, Jo felt that spark in her mind that allowed her to feel her sister’s emotions and thoughts. She knew this wasn’t logical, that it wasn’t possible to hear another’s thoughts, but logic had pretty much flown out the window once they’d entered wherever it was they were.

  What are you sssuggesting?

  Sunny gave a wobbly grin. “I’m suggesting that we lead you to those men, and then your pets won’t have to worry about food for a while.”

  The creature's smile was terrifying when he said, Yesss. That will make my petsss very happy. Of course you’ll stay here as leverage, it said to Sunny then looked to Jo, You’ll go seek the men we need.

  Jo’s hands trembled as she spoke, “I’m not leaving my sister.” She’d be damned if she was going to abandon her sister in this hellish nightmare.

  The creature's mouth curled into a smug grin. You are each otherssss’ greatessst weaknesssss, it snarled, its voice sounding oddly pleased.

  Sunny squared her shoulders, a look of determination lighting her features.

  Uh-oh , thought Jo.

  Sunny’s confidence could make her act invincible.

  “What’s your name?” Sunny asked.

  Jo looked over to her sister. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting.

  The creature looked taken aback as well. It blinked twice before answering. I am called the Ssswarog, it said, and its look turned contemplative. I had a name once, but that wasss a millennia ago, when thessse landsss were new, and the old godsss ruled. It died with them.

  “Well then, Swarog, I’m sorry. I’m sorry we trespassed on your land, but my sister and I are new here, and we have strange men chasing us, and we’d really appreciate it if you could just give us a break and let us leave. We’ll pay you, or buy your pets food, or whatever you want. Just, please, let us leave.” Sunny’s voice shook, and Jo realized it was one of the few times she’d ever seen her sister truly afraid.