Shrill ululations and venomous coos crept out from the fathomless black shadows lurking beyond the strange unnatural trees. The unearthly sounds slithered up my spine, and overwhelmed the very essence of my soul with an avalanche of trepidation and fear. Frightened and confused, I continued to hysterically race through the godforsaken cesspool of nightmares that I'd somehow accidently stumbled into.
The putrid smelling air burned in my lungs, and the cut on my foot felt like it had been dipped in acid, making running a toilsome task. I wove my way through the sickening gnarled trees and glowering ferns, scrambling over sharp stones and rotted roots, while screaming at everything like an alarmed guinea hen. Everything here was so dark and malevolent, saturated in atmospherical woe. I was hopelessly lost within the twisted thorny clutches of this harrowing forest of death.
My fingers repeatedly pinched at the skin on my arm, leaving little stinging red marks behind, confirming my worst suspicions... I'm not dreaming... How am I not fucking dreaming!? I had no idea where the heck I was, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was somehow no longer on earth. And all I wanted to do was get the flipping fuck out of this... unknown world.
Did I die and go to Hell!? Is this some sort of divine punishment because I secretly ate that stolen blueberry muffin at work!?
I didn't have any clue where I was running to or how in the world I was going to get back home, but one thing was for certain, I had to find somewhere safe immediately. Dillydallying for even a measly second wasn't an option in this wretched place.
In my haste, I tried to brush some of my golden hair out of my face to see a bit better, but it was tangled in my flower crown. It was also still wet from being submerged in the creek, and hung around my head in darkened stringy strands. While fussing with my unruly locks, my soaked and now see-through peachy pink dress suddenly became snagged on a branch.
I went to tug it free and ended up screaming in terror. The branch that my dress was caught on was more like a gnarled skeleton hand with claws. And it was attached to a desiccated looking ashen corpse within the tree's gaunt trunk. Dry papery skin hung in loose tatters from it's haunting face as if it were shedding like a snake. An echoed otherworldly screech poured out from it's black abyss of a mouth, while it's soulless midnight eyes stared at me with an eerie emptiness.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I frantically sputtered in panic, while furiously ripping my dress out of it's grotesque grasp. A piece of the thin material tore off, making my dress scandalously sort and frayed on one side.
With a whispery hiss, the tree corpse devoured the shredded fabric, slurping it into it's void of a mouth like a tasty spaghetti noodle. I swiftly staggered away with wide terrified eyes and my mouth unflatteringly hanging agape in horror. My injured foot slipped on a slimy, black moss covered stone, smearing it with my blood, and causing me to stumble back and fall onto my butt. I landed on another stone, slamming down hard enough to leave a bruise. "Oof!"
Tears flooded my eyes and flowed down my cheeks in thin rivulets of despair. Never in my life had I ever felt so afraid. My breathing was uncontrollably rapid and my bones rattled painfully beneath my flesh. Everything in this strange dark place was so frightening and gloomy, cloaked in a nightmarish veil of grievous obscurity. The fragile threads of veracity had begun to fray in my mind, as the undeniable verisimilitude of this otherworldly place had me believing that I was going insane. I just simply couldn't comprehend the fact that this was my current reality.
"Help! Someone please help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, causing my distraught voice to echo into the inky darkness, stirring the slithering shadows within it. "Please, someone! Please help me!" I shakily stood back up, pitifully looking around in desperation for someone, anyone, who could possibly help me. Although, rationally I knew that there probably wasn't anyone else around in this dreadful wilderness. Especially not at this time of night. "Please, anyone, help me." I hopelessly whispered, alone in the dark bleakness.
...How am I ever going to get home?
With that despondent thought, sobs began to wrack my petite frame. I buried my face in my hands and pathetically wept. I'd only been here for about fifteen minutes, and yet, it felt like an eternity of despair. All light seemed to have faded away like ashes upon cruel winds, while the suffocating darkness blinded my soul from any possible glimmer of hope like a burial shroud.
A sudden consonance of eerily sinister sounding howls suddenly ripped me away from my woebegone moment of self wallowing. The harrowing notes were like cries of agony from souls trapped beyond the grave, echoing within the hollows. Their baleful song threaded throughout the forest, coming from all directions, as if it were weaving a transcendental web of terror to ensnare unsuspecting prey within it's silky strings of malignity.
My blood turned to ice in my veins and my heartbeat slammed in my chest. Each howl pierced through every inch of my soul like the wicked blade of scalding knife. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever creatures were howling would bring only death. Adrenaline and anxiety coursed through me, and every instinct and fiber of my being screamed at me to fucking run.
I took off in a dead sprint, completely ignoring the pain in my foot. Twisted gnarled twigs snapped beneath my bare feet, and little sharp stones continued to bite at their tender flesh. I Stumbled over thorny roots, and slimy black vines that seemed to be actively trying to wrap around my legs. As the howling continued, my eyes shifted to my right where I saw a massive black shadow swiftly pursuing me.
I screamed again while trying to run even faster. Echoed barking joined in with the howls, and dread poured into my spirit... Oh shit... I'm being pursued by wolves! Realizing that I needed to get off of ground level immediately, I rushed over to a massive gnarled tree that thank god didn't have a fucking corpse writhing in it's trunk.
My dainty pink nails clawed at the rough ebon bark, causing little flecks to chip off, as I desperately tried to scale up the side of the trunk in a lame attempt to get away... Fuck! This was a terrible idea! I'm actually going to die! Hearing deep harrowing growls, I slowly turned around, and my heart sank into my stomach. Out from the thick shroud of slithering ghostly mist, slowly emerged six massive undead-looking wolves.
Holy fiddlesticks... They're not just wolves, they're zombie wolves!
Their sharp black claws clicked on the slimy stones, causing little loose pebbles to fall to the rocky soil. All of them had areas within their bristly black fur where their flesh had rotted away, revealing pale jagged bones. Their black soulless eyes stared at me with voracious hunger and bloodlust, as they snarled and slowly circled over, readying to make their kill.
One with no flesh on half of it's frightening skeletal maw malevolently yipped to the others, then they all stared to sibilantly cackle like a bunch of jackals with sore throats. They looked downright rabid and deranged, as if they relished my fear and suffering. I knew then that I would not be given a quick death. These animals liked to play with their food.
The lead wolf's formidable jaw loosely hung open with an unsettling otherworldly growl echoing from it. It stared at me with desire for maleficence in those fathomless black eyes. With a few loud skeletal cracking sounds, it hunched it's gnarled back, then pounced with a vicious snarl.
I screamed in terror, and covered my face while crumpling to the ground in defeat. And yet, I was stunned when I didn't feel razor sharp fangs sinking into my flesh, but instead heard the mellifluous swoosh of a blade and a loud thump. I warily peeked my teary eyes up over my hands, then widened them in complete shock and awe.
The wolf laid decapitated on the forest floor, completely sliced up and mangled, with thick black blood oozing from it's stump neck. Standing over it's limp scraggly body was a mysterious man holding a huge menacing sword. His long tattered black jacket eerily blew in the breeze like a phantasmal shadow, while a large hood cloaked most of his features. He looked totally badass and radiated danger, like the type of guy who knew a thing or two about surviving in this awful place.
A savior!
He was very tall, well over six feet, and extremely well built. A line of thick upturned spikes curved up along the backs of his strange calf-high obsidian boots, meeting the black leather pants which perfectly hugged his strong masculine thighs. His midnight shaded belt had two sword holsters descending from his hips, with the ends hidden within the shadows of his jacket. And that very jacket was open with no shirt underneath, revealing his perfectly sculpted abdominal muscles. Trying not to leer at his incredibly alluring body, my gaze lifted up to his half shadowed face just as he turned towards me, giving me a glimpse of his handsomely strong jawline and full lips... Holy hot damn!
Then my eyes grew even wider as I watched his large hand, with literal black claws as sharp as daggers, reach up and pull back his hood, fully revealing his face... My jaw practically hit the ground. Even though his handsomely formed features could have easily put any male model to shame, he was completely inhuman looking.
...What in the world!?
A mass of thickly tangled raven locks tumbled down behind him, reaching all the way to his thighs like the world's most scraggly cape. Bright blue clashed with crimson red, as he stared back at me with equal shock in his otherworldly gaze. What was particularly startling about his eerie gaze, however, was that the whites of his eyes weren't white at all, but rather abysmal black, with two equally black thin lines stretching over his left eye. Pointy elf ears poked up on either side of his head, while his flawlessly smooth skin was a pale grey, as if kissed by ashes, and not ivory like I'd originally thought.
And to top it all off, some sort of strange boney spikes were grotesquely twitching on his forehead. They made soft skeletal clicks, and looked like a bizarre crown of horns, or boney antennae, or something... It was disgusting.
My stunned gaze met his again, while the remaining wolves prowled even closer around us, carefully planning their next attack. He was staring at me dumbfounded, with a strange mixture of confusion and horror etched onto his otherworldly face. "Human?" He practically whispered. His deep baritone voice was laced with utter disbelief. While he spoke, I got a quick peek at his sharp pearly white teeth and fangs which could easily rip right through my tender helpless flesh.
Oh shit, never mind! This guy's just as scary as the wolves!
I began to freak the fuck out, and screamed in terror at the sight of him. "Shh, no, no, no." He quickly said while waving his free hand at me with his palm facing down. But the wolves abruptly pounced, forcing him to fiercely leap into action.
A second menacing sword seemingly materialized in his other hand with a metallic hiss. Then he violently slashed at the wolves with swift agility and startling proficiency, twirling his blades like a true adept, shredding the ferocious beasts to mere ribbons in a shadowy macabre dance. I frantically took of running in the opposite direction, not wanting to linger for another measly second. That was not a man, but a monster, and he was lethal!
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!
My lungs burned in my chest and my bare feet stung from the roughness of the ground, as I made a mad desperate dash to get away. Unfortunately, between my panicky cracked out state of mind and the suffocating darkness of this dreadful place, it was hard to navigate my surroundings. I somehow ended up scrambling through a thorny brittle shrubbery. Each twig seemed to claw and grab at my legs, ripping up the bottom of my dress and leaving behind little red scratches on my flesh.
I whimpered in pain, while thinking about how crazy all of this was. It felt like I had been abruptly hurled off into wonderland. Only instead of some wacky mushroom trip with talking caterpillars, this was more like if Alice had smoked a boat load of PCP in the world's most godawful house of horrors.
This is fucking madness! I've gotta get the hell out of here!!
In my haste to get away from the accursed and seemingly sentient bush, I accidently slipped on another slimy rock. I ungracefully tumbled down a steep embankment leading to what appeared to be a dried up riverbed. A few little rocks and burgundy fern-like plants plummeted down with me. The wind was knocked out of my lungs as my body slammed to the rocky ground, and I hit my head on an old splintering log with a painful thwack.
The surrounding corpse trees seemed to appear in doubles, as my vision momentarily blurred. I held my head in a dizzied haze, and sat up while slowly blinking a few times. As soon as I no longer felt so discombobulated from the fall, I shakily removed my hand and saw a layer of glistening crimson coating my fingers. I grimaced then looked around, noticing a small concaved area made from eroded stone and twisted gnarled roots within the side of the embankment.
With trembling limbs, I pathetically crawled into it like a weak frightened poltroon. Tears streamed down my cheeks while I huddled with my knees tucked up to my chest. My puffy eyes warily darted around, trying desperately to see whatever was lurking within the abysmal darkness. And there I sat, a beaten, bleeding, and bedraggled mess.
Shadowy unnatural fog ominously slithered and swirled throughout the ashen trees. Their soulless eyes appeared to be staring right at me as they whispered sibilant lamentations. They seemed oddly sorrowful, as if they were forgotten hollow shells of who they once were, cursed to carry the weight of this worlds grief and remorse upon their boney branches. I tried to be as quiet as possible in hopes that nothing else would notice me.
Desperate and despairing thoughts began to plague my mind, while I failed to think of a solution to my perilous situation. I had always thought that I'd have time to improve my life and make things better for my future. Never did I think that I might end up dying young. That it would be too late. But now, trapped in this place, it was as if the reaper's skeletal hand was holding a nearly emptied hour glass before me. Each grain of sand falling to never return while I helplessly watched.
I thought of Pema and my mother, and how much they'd miss me. More tears streamed down my cheeks as my thoughts drifted to Speedy, my beloved pet turtle, and the fact that I might never see him happily munch on his favorite crispy green lettuce again.
Right then and there, I vowed to myself that if I did make it out of this dreadful place alive, then I would change my life around. No longer would I settle for working as a mere cashier at the Cedarville Country Store. I would go out and get a better job, one that I actually found meaning in. Something that would help improve the lives of others, as well as my own.
I'd also break off my toxic relationship with Justin the jerk, image be damned. Then, I'd go out and meet someone who would actually love and cherish me. Someone who would honestly enjoy my company, who would fulfill the void in my heart. Someone I'd actually want to marry.
I'll rip out the weeds in my life and plant a garden in their place!
My attention was abruptly ripped away from my inspirational thoughts, and to the horrifying fact that a thick black root had sneakily twisted around my wrist, ensnaring me in it's slimy steel-like grasp. Oh shit! Nonononono! I panickily tried to pull my arm away, but the root only tightened it's powerful grip. "Come on, come on, come on!" As my fingers began to claw at it, another root swiftly slithered around my other wrist, rendering me completely helpless as it held me hostage against the grimy wall of rocky soil. "No." I whimpered in panic.
While ineffectively fighting to break loose, the sound of a slight thump came from right in front of me. Dread filled my stomach, as I warily pried my gaze away from the bastard roots and slowly looked over to see what it was.
The monstrous elf man had suddenly dropped down, landing in a crouching position with one clawed hand on the ground and his long tattered coat sprawled out behind him. The sight made me jump in fright with a soft gasp. His otherworldly eyes looked like two hypnotizing garnets floating within pools of midnight, as he pierced my very soul with his intense inhuman stare.
FuckFuckFuckFuckFuck!
With a slight frown, he curiously tilted his head from side to side, while the unsettling bones on his forehead inquisitively twitched. I nervously stared back at him with teary eyes, hoping that he wouldn't notice how I was trapped and completely vulnerable. Maybe he was like a tyrannosaurus rex, and would lose interest in me if I didn't move? Although, it was too late to test out that theory, considering I was shaking like a leaf and whimpering in fear.
He continued to study me for a quick moment, as if I were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen in his life. His ruby gaze lingered on my eyes, hair, and flower crown, then moved to the roots tightening around my wrists. A look of worry and concern fell across his face, and I swear his long snarled black hair became almost like a wispy mist for a quick second. It was very bizarre.
"Shhh." He gently shushed while taking a crouched step forward, startling me to the point were he might as well have suddenly yelled it in my face. "Okay, okay." His heavily accented voice was deep but very soft and compassionate sounding, as he carefully reached a clawed hand out towards my wrist. "Good, yes." He kindly smiled.
I fucking screamed like a lunatic. "Get the hell away from me!" Using the roots to hold my weight up, I furiously kicked at him in uneven circles, as though I were making a pathetic attempt to ride a paddleboat. I didn't know what this freaky sharp toothed man-creature's interest in me was, and I didn't want to find out either. Who knows what he could do to me!?
He began to frantically shush while panickily waving his hands in a 'stop' sort of way. "No, no, Shhh!" He took another step closer, allowing my bloodied feet to make impact with his hard muscly body. To my dismay, my kicking seemed to have absolutely no effect on him at all. "Shhh, okay."
His hand firmly clamped down over my mouth, pinning my head against the embankment wall. I stilled in fear and startlement, as he moved his face uncomfortably close to mine while holding a finger over his mouth. He sternly shushed, then moved the hand that wasn't muffling my screams up to the roots strangling my wrists. He maintained eye contact while snapping their iron-like grip as if they were no more than mere flimsy twigs.
"Good." He gently said, then took his hand off of my mouth.
"Hee-yah!" I screeched, while immediately trying to fight him off like a hysterical madwoman.
He tried to grab ahold of me, but seemed oddly hesitant, while I writhed and wiggled like a little worm trying to escape from the beak of a big hungry bird. I ungracefully flopped to the ground, then began kicking up at his face. I was terrified, but dammit, I was going to fight for my life!
"Get back! Get back I say!" I manically screamed.
A look of annoyance flashed across his face, and he muttered something to himself in an unearthly language. It was then that it dawned on me that he probably only knew very limited English. And although I was consumed by my fear of him, I did realize just how weird it was that he even knew any English at all.
How could a creature from another world possibly know a language from earth?
The sound of another harrowing howl pierced the air like a knife through silk, pulling me out of my hysterics and confusion. He looked at me with a determined expression. "Come." He sternly said, while leaning over my trembling frame.
"No!" I tried to kick at his face again, but he snatched my foot right out of the air, causing me to wince in pain from the cut.
His eyes narrowed at my injury, then quicker than I could blink, he swiftly swooped up my thrashing body. I kicked and screamed as he effortlessly threw me over his shoulder like a measly sack of spuds, then stood back up to his towering height. His hands grasped at my butt and thighs in his struggled attempt to get a better grip on me, since I was still frantically trying to squirm away. "Human... No!" He literally growled in irritation, causing me to freeze in place.
"Please put me down." I begged, but I didn't think that he could understand me.
His grip only tightened, then he gracefully leapt up onto the fallen log and out of the dried riverbed. I screamed and fearfully grasped onto his thick unruly hair for dear life. The embankment was incredibly steep, and there's no way that any ordinary man could have jumped up it like he did.
He began moving like a shadow, gliding with graceful silence through the sinister trees. Another howl resounded through the air, and the silhouettes of three wolves suddenly emerged from within the thick swirling mist, hot on our trail.
Upon seeing them, I quickly decided that it was far better to take my chances with the ninja elf-man and his swords, rather than those heinous gnashing jaws. Not that I had much of a choice anyways, since he currently had me draped over his shoulder like a beaten throw rug. But still, he hadn't tried to hurt me yet, unlike those terrifying wild beasts.
"They're behind us! They're right fucking behind us!" I yelled to him and tightened my grip on his hair.
He didn't respond, and just kept gliding through the forest like a shadowy phantom. Thick slimy drool dripped from the sickly wolves formidable fangs, as they chased after us. They looked crazed, driven to madness by the pain of starvation and disease. The lead wolf was rapidly gaining on us, and I greatly feared the it would pounce at any moment.
The man abruptly jumped up and kicked off of a tree, slamming into it's corpsen face with his boot. I screamed and held onto him with all my might, as he literally back flipped over the wolf. He expeditiously pulled one of his swords out mid-air, and sliced the wolf right in two, gliding the blade down through it's head and along it's spinal cord, until both halves fell to either side with a plop. He gracefully landed on his feet, then swiftly whipped around, slicing the two remaining wolves head's clean off with one swift swoosh of the blade.
Holy smokes!
Then, calm as a cucumber, he tucked his sword back into it's holster, and began to put me down. "Don't put me down! Don't put me down!" I frantically gripped onto his neck with all of my strength. I was in shock and horrified, and although I was still afraid of him, it was now quite clear that he was my best chance at survival. He appeared confused by how quickly I changed my demeanor towards him, but allowed me to remain in his arms anyways.
"Shh, okay, okay." He quietly said while gently patting my back. His arms awkwardly wove around my quivering body to hold me up, and I wrapped my legs around his thick waist for better support. He looked slightly weirded out by my action, as if he'd never held a woman before or something, yet I was too frightened to care.
The ebon mist ominously swirled across the twisted roots of the forest floor, as unseen creatures swiftly skittered and hissed in the darkness all around us. My heart fearfully thumped while pressed firmly against his chest and tears fell from my eyes. Yet despite my fear, for the first time in since arriving here, only about a mere half hour ago, I felt a sense of safety within his big strong arms.
"Sagacor..." He lowly called into the darkness, as if summoning something.
He then proceeded to gently rock back and forth on his heels, while softly murmuring to me in an unfamiliar language. I sucked in a deep shaky breath, unintentionally inhaling his otherworldly scent. It was sort of like a strange but pleasant mixture of rosewood and black pepper, yet somehow unlike anything I'd ever smelled before.
After a few moments of him trying to comfort me, as I pathetically sobbed into his shoulder like a helpless little sap, a ghastly whinny echoed through the suffocating darkness. I stiffened and held onto him even tighter, watching with wide eyes, as an enormous undead stallion trotted out of the ghostly mist towards us.
Oh, fuck no...
It's coat was as black as a raven's feather, matching it's equally dark mane which mournfully draped down along it's slightly rotted neck. Tattered undead flesh revealed areas of bone on it's legs, sides, and half of it's deathly face. It's six pale eyes seemed to be glazed over with a phantasmal fog, with three of them resting on either side it's head. The frayed bridle eerily rattled and the saddle clanked in the silence of the night. Large black hooves clip-clopped over the jagged stones, until it stood right in front of us.
"Sagacor." The man said with a warm smile. Then to my horror, he swiftly mounted the ghoulish horse quicker than I could protest.
"Oh my god! Holy shit! ...FuckFuckFuck!" I frightenedly babbled, as the man hoisted us up onto the sinister looking saddle.
He tenderly rubbed my back while repeatedly saying the words, okay, yes, and good, confirming my suspicion that he didn't know much English. My arms and legs stayed tightly wrapped around him like a boa constrictor constricting it's prey. One of his arms remained firmly on my back to hold me in place, while he grabbed the reins with his other hand. He made a rapid clicking noise, and the frightful horse began to run.
I buried my face into the crook of his neck and closed my eyes, not wanting to see anymore of this godawful world. His arm comfortingly tightened around me, as the horse galloped through the nightmarish forest, and into the deep dark depths of the unknown.