Birds are chirping outside on a sunny but brisk Sunday morning. Filtered through the window pane and shades it has an almost robotic tone Xander thinks to himself.
“Have they always sounded like that?” The question pops into his mind, but soon dissipates amidst the raging headache he finds himself woken up with.
“Uuuhhhhggg… What the fuck?!” He grumbles
What exactly happened last night? Why can’t he remember anything? These questions puzzle him between the consistent hammer pounds in his brain as he tries to sit himself up in bed.
“Has my room always been like this? Did someone come and tidy up?” More questions form as he recognizes it as his room, but something slightly off. He manages to pull himself up and out of bed, although it needed a bit of extra effort, and he stumbles his way to the bathroom. Opening the medicine cabinet he grabs a bottle of Tynelol and quickly chomps a few. After downing the meds with a glass of water he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
“Wait… Have I gotten old enough that I need glasses now?” He stares at his reflection but it’s slightly fuzzy and almost looks like it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the surroundings. “Guess I better schedule an appointment with the eye doc.”
He didn’t seem to realize the contrast and that everything else in his vision was perfectly in focus.
“Ugh… This is horrible…” He grumbled to himself. How on earth did he get himself into this situation? All he wanted to do was spend a bit of his free time volunteering for a charitable organization and was even excited at the prospect to work with some kids, but he never imagined it would be like this.
He continued to clean up the mess on the floor and the stench of goblin blood was permeating his senses making him nauseous. He needed to finish this quick before he puked everywhere and had another mess to clean up.
Turns out, this was no ordinary charity, it was a place where parents of vampire, or werewolf or oni or any of the “good” species sent their children to learn and play when they would not blend well in a typically normal human school. These species were no mystery to the people of the world and when the rift happened that brought them in or changed existing humans into one happened 5 years ago it seemed like the world would be soaked in a bloodbath. But very quickly normal humans and the “good” species formed an alliance as the rift also brought about “bad” species like goblins, trolls, and the mindless undead.
This was one of the first organizations to form to teach these new kids all the same stuff we had been teaching kids before the rift, but with added curriculum of using their powers appropriately and slaying the “bad” creatures. And from time to time a goblin or some other smaller one would make its way onto the grounds and the kids would just have a hayday.
The fog was thick and there was an eerie absence of sound that they noticed more and more from the moment they entered. From the outside it looked like any other forest, but the moment they passed the threshold, nothing seemed right about it. The trees were almost unnaturally twisted as if some external force had exerted pressure on them. The bark gave everyone creepy pareidolia and disturbed faces felt like they were popping out at them. There was a nice pine and mild flower fragrance before they entered, now it smelled like musk and as if everything was beginning to rot, and there was a slight undertone of sulfur. They each made hesitant and deliberate steps but each time their foot hit the ground the sound would stop just a fraction too soon.
“I don’t like this” one of the group muttered.
“Shhhh, be quiet” another quickly rebuked.
They continued slowly making their way in the direction the map they received seemed to indicate, but it was hard to truly tell since the moment they stepped in that foresaken place, their compasses seemed to go crazy periodically.
Suddenly, a faint glow emitted from somewhere deeper in the general direction they were trudging. The first to notice it suddenly stopped and in a whispered tone told the others wait. Those that had one pulled out their compasses and checked, but they were all acting as if a strong magnet was running circles around them. After some very hushed and nervous deliberation they decided to head towards the lumination.
Carefully moving forward the glow was getting a little brighter and seemed to reach out behind as if it were trying to embrace them. Visibility was poor and the fog was stifling but the light around them got brighter and brighter the more steps they took towards it.
In a sudden and very digital-like jump, a silhouette appeared in the distance ahead of them. They froze in their tracks, hearts pounding through their chests and breaths heavy, yet no sound seemed to reach them from beyond their own mind.
“What the fuck is that?!” One of them exclaimed, only he couldn’t seem to actually vocalize and the words were stuck in his throat. He quickly noticed that he wasn’t breathing anymore and the hypoxia became apparent and his consciousness began to fade. He quickly took a look at the others but they did not seem to notice what was happening to him. They actually appeared frozen stiff almost as if he were looking at a photograph. The last thing he sees before his vision fades are a series of black strands begin to wrap around the others as they stood motionless in their tracks.
Then…
Darkness
