I made sure to sleep near the trees, as far away from the others as possible without being considered suspicious. Xavier fell first, then Danae's eyes closed quickly, then Yi started snoring like a freight train. Ah, how I love loud snoring.
I wait a few minutes, lying on my back and looking straight up at the sky. Not a star is up there, only real black, the same black that covers this whole landscape. I haven't seen real natural light from the sky since we got here.
There is always a haze, a thick fog that spreads across the sky and the forest. It doesn't seem like this place ever gets rain or any kind of irregular weather. If this is the same place as my dream, it will always look like this. Which would be explainable, if this place is in fact the land of the dead.
I never imagined that hell would be quite like this. I always thought of a world of fire, endless smoke, and screams of terror, and this world seems anti-c
I stare at the body beside me, wondering what I should do.The red-haired man looks like a gangly puppet; bent, broken and lifeless. His breathing has almost completely stopped and his face is a strange shade of purple. How do you revive a dead man? Should I leave him and try to escape?For some reason, I can't put it aside. I walk over, looking at his bloody head and body. It looks like his head hit the side of that well pretty hard. At least I think we fell into the well.He looks familiar to me, as do the other strange werewolves I've seen since I landed in this strange place. There's something about him I can't quite place.I raise my hand to his shoulders and head, twisting his body to rest on my bruised legs. Examining his face and hair carefully, I notice a gigantic gash running down the back of his skull. It doesn't seem to be healing like a normal werewolf wound would. In fact, none of my br
For the first time, it rains.It pounds the stone walls, swirling around the spires and turrets. It caresses the clear windows, dripping from each stone like blood. It must be the wrath of God, coming to us in liquid terror... a symbol of worse things to come.He turns away, overwhelmed by the endless sight of rivers flowing from above, washing the earth with coin. Never before has he experienced such fear, shaking his soul with overwhelming intensity. The old one is overthrown, the regime is coming to an end. But it is difficult for him to grasp - the "end".The end exists only in relation to the beginning, the omega to the alpha, and there is no beginning here. There is only the "is," the simple state of being that extends beyond what the eye can see. No one knows when it began; it was just-was, and is, and always will be.The continuous roar of the darkening clouds as they hurry to take the earth
"Oh! Oh, nothing. It's just... did you feel that? I feel the walls building as fast as they fell; the shaking begins, the nerves jump. How did I fall apart so easily?"Feel what?" He looks at me, then at the sky. His eyes are dark, frightening, with his face darkened by a kind of depression. "I think there might be a little rain shower on our way."It hurts."No, no," I mumble, "well, yes. Rain. But that's not what I'm talking about."It's pounding in my head, my sanity."Mona, please tell me.""It's the...the voices! Don't tell me you can't hear them. I try to cover my ears, but it bursts out anyway, scaring me with its ferocity. "It's so loud.""It's just us here," Griffin tries to calm me down, "there are no voices except yours and mine."My vision blurs, but I can vaguely make out spheres of light bouncing around
This can't keep happening to me. My emotions are seriously out of whack.I don't know how many times I've accepted my death over the past few months and kind of lived to see the next day. The first few times I just thought it was lucky. Okay, I'm saved, what a miracle.But the reality is, I quickly realized, that this stupid idiot is seriously the best guardian angel ever. His timing is also impeccable. He couldn't find us five minutes ago when we were barely swimming in our prison, when we weren't laughing and crying like idiots. No, he has to rush out on his white horse when I'm getting ready to meet Satan. Or God. Or both."It was nice of you to come," I mutter under my breath, feeling more than a little bitter at both the moment of his appearance and the emotions bursting through me."It's nice, isn't it?" Xavier's voice echoes, and I turn my expressionless head toward the water that is rising fu
I face them all, water dripping from my nose and chin, pleading with a resolve I didn't know I had. "Please," I say softly, but it soon becomes more than a word. It grows beyond that, beyond me and anything I could hope to accomplish. I can feel the desperation emanating from that one word, watch the word fade from my ear but grow in its deliverance. And as I watch in amazement, everything seems to come out of the well.I could see everything, every emotion coming together to form a strange essence that rose higher and higher. It shines with a thousand lights to fight the darkness, a life that embraces the land of the dead.A smile graces my lips as suddenly the collective dissipates, flying almost at lightning speed to all the edges of the glades. I can see the Shifters becoming visibly brighter, as if they themselves had received a breath of life. Very slowly, they begin to disappear, fading into the depths of the trees.
He sighs and pulls another small fruit from his bag. "Don't make me come get you." Tugging on the fruit's shell, he waves the treat toward my face.Almost robotically, I walk beside him and slide to the ground. "Good girl," he smiles, patting my head. My hand automatically rises to drop his hand, but the warm feeling that accompanies his gesture makes it stop just short of doing so.He starts laughing again. Why is this crazy kid in such a good mood? I've never seen someone laugh so hard in such a short time. "What's up? You decided to be nice to me today?" he teases me, tapping my forehead with his finger. It stings really bad, and I give him the worst glare I can muster."That wasn't the plan," I mutter, reaching for the fruit as my stomach lets out a particularly embarrassing growl that echoes through the cave. My expression turns to anger as he pulls his arm out of my reach."Let me feed you," he
He doesn't answer me, looking out solemnly. I turn, leaning into his embrace. We sit in silence, watching the thunder gradually diminish as the storm gets further and further away. Even though I'm in one of the strangest circumstances I've ever experienced in my life, I don't feel very nervous or scared anymore."Let's rest," Xavier finally says as he gently loosens his grip on me. A strange sense of loss swells in my chest.He quickly grabs the shirts and places them on top of me. "Use this as a pillow." The backpack is pushed into my arms. Within seconds, I'm officially ready for bed."Okay, before you go to sleep," he says slowly, "solemnly swear that you are not going to try to murder me in my sleep and run away."I stare at him without blinking in response. This is probably the most viable option for me if I intend to get out of this whole mess. But something tells me that not only do I not have
My eyes open quickly and I inspect my surroundings. The shirts from the previous night are strewn about the cave, the fire nothing but cold ashes. From what I can tell, the sky is still full of low fog and thick mist, the rain having retreated far to the horizon. I can't really see the sun, if there even is one in this world, only the gray darkness.With a grace I didn't know I had, I slowly stood up and made my way to the mass of clothes at my side, careful not to shake the rope that bound my ankle. Shivers ran down my body and I shivered as the wind brushed my neck. My clothes are still pretty wet, but not as soaked as last night. I take my long flowing shirt and spin it around, shaking off the excess water, and tie it around my waist like a makeshift skirt. There's no way I'm putting on these soaked pants, especially with this stupid rope to ruin things.Xavier stirs in his sleep, scaring me with the disturbance of his breathing. I inwardly beg him not to wake up. Preferably never.