Zerzura
My eyes could be playing tricks on me. I didn't know. Lost for a week in the desert it seemed impossible that I was still alive. I tucked the shirt against my face, blocking out the sun as I squinted at the two black pillars that gleamed at the edge of the dune.God, another dune.
Climbing the bastard would be worth it if there was a city on the other side, or anything else for that matter. Anything but sand.
My hands dug deep into the hot white ground as I crawled inch by painful inch to the top.
The dry heat of the desert tried to chock me, and I gasped for breath before collapsing at the peak and stared at the dust covered stone.
Ancient and black, two statues stood tall and strong. Stern black faces stared straight into my soul. Beyond the stone guardians a city of opalescent white shone beneath the sun, beckoning me even as the guardians warned me; once I entered that city I would never leave.
Yggdrasil
It loomed over me, the largest specimen of its kind that I've seen. Among the other trees of the National Park it wasn't exactly out of place. All the Red Woods and Sequoias were massive. The largest trees in the world.But this was an Ashwood.
How had it gone unnoticed? The branches spread so wide and far that the tree tops of the surrounding red woods got lost in its foliage
I reached out and touched the ridged grey bark of the tree and smiled. It was warm beneath my fingers.
Craning my neck back, I stared up into the branches and shook my head in wonder, stepping back as a helicopter seed drifted downwards on the breeze. I held out my hand and the key floated into it. It was the size of my palm and the green pod pulsed with life.
Wind whipped through the clearing and I clenched the seed to my chest, moving closer to the tree for cover. With seed in hand, I braced myself as against the tree, and as we made contact the tree flared with light and I closed my eyes against it.
The wind died down and I peeked opened my eyes. A door of light glowed within the trunk of the tree and the key, the seed of the Ashwood, crumbled in my hand. I stared open-mouthed at the doorway, goosebumps moving up my arms.
A rainbow bridge spanned from the door, into the tree and a shadowy figure stepped forward.
"Yggdrasil has favoured you mortal and has granted you access to the corridor between worlds, do you wish to use the Bifrost?"
Xindhi
The shadow walked back and forth beneath Jak's door. The thing was going to try to eat him again. His parents wouldn't believe him that the creature visited his room at night. But tonight he would prove it..
With a creak, the door opened and Jak buried himself deeper into the pile of stuffed animals in the corner of the room. Most of them had been chewed up by his dog but that was okay, it would hid his smell.
His nightlight flickered and the door clicked shut. The creature looked like a shadow against the door but he couldn't forget that ugly mug after it and shoved its pointy teeth in his face and threatened to eat him.
"Bobby?" The creature said in a sniveling voice. "I've come for a snack Bobby, come on Bobby, be nice."
Jak gripped the baseball bat hard beneath the pile of stuffies. His name wasn't freaking Bobby.
"BOB-EEEEE. I'm hungry," the creature said, and pounced onto his bed. It found nothing but a pile of pillows and it screeched in anger and ripped and shredded them with its long claws.
Jak jumped from his hiding place and the creature swung towards him.
It was too late, the bat was already in motion. It struck the elf-creature with all the force an eight year old could muster and sent the creature flying across the bed, hitting his floor with a loud thump.
"Jak?" his mother called, and pushed open his door. "You're suppose to be sleeping."
"Mom! I caught it!" Jak cried as light flooded his room.
"Oh my god, what the hell is that?" His mother said, and called for his father. "Henry! Henry, come here, hurry!"
Jak let his bat drop to his side and he stared over at the black skinned, pointy eared creature.
"Gottcha."
Wild Hunt
It's happening again.I stood outside my house in the large field and the wind howled around me. Angry, sounding like the call of wild dogs.
This was the third time. I couldn't tell if it was a dream or if I was sleep walking.
Out in the field the sound came again. A howl or the call of a horn?
I turned and fled. Across the open grass towards the trees. Something was coming, I didn't know what, but I felt it coming for me. My whole being vibrated with the need to run and I listened to it, and my legs carried me fast across the field, my movements swift and graceful until they seemed no longer human at all.
The sound came again and I stopped at the edge of the forest, glancing over my shoulder. My body glowed with a silver light that flared as I saw it.
A large pack of wolf-like dogs surrounded a dozen riders on horse back, their weapons gleamed in the moonlight.
My body screamed at me to escape.
If could outrun them a third time, I would be free. My soul my own.
If I could not, I'd become one of them.
One of the Wild Hunt.
Vivian
She caressed the bark of the tree, and leaned forward, resting her forehead against its rough texture. The wind blew through the branches, wiping at the leaves so they fell in multicolored swirls around her.Vivian swallowed hard and bit back the tears that threatened to burn tracks down her cheeks.
“I am sorry, my love,” she whispered to th
e tree. “But it is for your own good. The things to come now.” She held her breath for a moment before letting it free. “You do not have to watch Arthur fall, to witness the world you tried so hard to built crumbled at your feet."
Vivian touched the tree, her voice soft and full of sorrow. “Be safe here Merlin and know that I shall bare this for you, I shall watch over him when he has lost.”
Turning from the tree, she walked a few steps before looking back at the large willow, its long tendrils of leaves drifted on the breeze.
“And when the time comes for this world to accept all that you have to offer, you shall be there. So will I, and on that day, I hope you can forgive me.”
Unicorn Horn
Unicorns are despicable, selfish, loathsome creatures.Of all the beasts, people and places in the world they are the only ones that have magic, and they will not share. Masters of manipulation all of them,
a Mage must never fall for the deceitful disguise of a unicorn.
We call ourselves Mages, because we know the spells and the rituals that would bring us magic, if we had a wand or staff to call it to us.
Imagine how horrible it is to attend a school and wave around a wooden stick, pretending.
My days of pretending are over.
The graduation rite for the class isn't simple, few who spend half their life studying magic ever actually get to wield it.
Tonight we'll go into the Magic Lands, many will never turn and of those that do return, only a few will get the means to wield their craft.
Those that find the unicorn and rob it of its horn and perhaps its life, will be able to use the horn as their source of power.
That is the only way a Mage will ever wield magic.
By obtaining a unicorns horn.
And tonight, I shall get mine.
Teles
"The others have already left," a voice said.
I rolled onto my stomach and my wings stretched large and bright, a mixture of midnight blue and purple.
Struggling to my feet, my talons dug into the earth as I looked over at my sister.
"You didn't wake me?"
She wrapped herself in her wing. "I tried, you sleep like a stone in Tartarus."
I beat my wings and stretched, pushing myself off the ground, blasting the air towards my sister who grumbled loudly.
It didn't take long to reach the edge of the island. Several of my other sisters sat, staring off into the distance.
"Anything?"
"Not yet," one said, and sighed over the rumble of her own stomach.
"When was the last time we ate?" Another asked.
"Too long," I said, perching on a rock.
The day wore on until waiting became like watching sand drip through an hour glass, grain by grain.
A blot appeared on the horizon and my wings perked up.
"There," I said, my breath catching.
The others came to life instantly as the blot came closer, revealing large sails.
Joy swelled within me and it came of as a song, the soft alluring haunting melody of my people.
Tonight we feast.
Scholomance
It's been exactly a year since I came too Scholomance.I shifted the dark blue robe around my feet and bounced on my heels. The older men glared at me.
I was the youngest person admitted to the school, and out of the ten of us, over half of them hadn't spoken to me for the entire year.
Not only was I the youngest, I was a girl. Don't get me wrong, Scholomance has admitted girls before. Old and grey like most of these bastards.
People trained and schooled themselves for decades to get admitted here.
To be taught by the Devil himself, in the kind of magic that
stole your life, and ate away at your soul.
These guys? They had a few good spells in them; good being a relative term. They would sell them to the highest bidder, spend the last years of their life in luxury.
A wasted existence for an old man.
But me? I was only eighteen. They envied the hell out of me.
The large black obsidian doors creaked open and we turned to watch the dark form enter the room.
Shadows shrouded him but they fell away as he walked, as if he were dropping a cloak.
The devil himself was rather unimpressive.
Nondescript even. It was hard say.
He moved down the row, hands tucked deep into his pockets, no words were necessary as he passed us. Today nine of us would go home and one of us would stay as payment to the Devil for his teaching, and as he stopped before me, I felt the old men smirk.
Damn the Devil.
Rama Empire
The dark grey flakes caught in my hair and I brushed them away. I wiped the tears from my face, smearing the dirt as I watched the city burn. The large beam slowly razed the city, glowing like heaven fire in the night and the fire raged onward.I stood on the hill overlooking the chaos, my heart in my throat.
"It's the Kapilla's Glance, the Atlantian weapon. Again," a tall boy said, stepping next to me.
"Why are they doing this?"
"The Empire has gotten too strong, too powerful."
Even as he spoke, a blue blast erupted from the city of Lothal; the psychics defense, and slowly enveloped the Kapilla's Glance beam, breaking it apart and dissolving it into tiny particles until it shattered and small flecks of light floated heavenward.
How could destruction be so beautiful?
The boy reached out and pinched a grey flake from my hair, rubbing it beneath his fingers. "There will be no need to bury the dead."
I held out my hands and stared wide-eyed as the ash of my people covered them. Tears flowed down my cheeks and I gasped for air, cradling my hands to my chest.
The Rama Empire would fall and the Atlantian's would be the cause.
Qutrub
He touched the stones as he wandered through the graveyard. Tapping this one, caressing the next.Inhaling deeply, he held the musty scent of earth and decay deep in his lungs before letting it out.
Delicious.
Had his brothers started without him?
Hunger rumbled deep inside him and he weaved through the headstones, mist swirling around his feet.
The moon hung high in the sky, playing peek-a-boo behind dark clouds, lighting their edges. There was a time when it had been difficult to find food; to eat without drawing attention to oneself.
But now? The world overflowed with people, with the dead. If his kind didn't eat them eventually the humans would run out of places to put the bodies.
Far back against the fence and the tree line, a small lantern glowed in the night.
"The graveyard keeper has already been taken care of," a voice said from the darkness.
"By taken care of, you mean...?"
"Sleeping, of course," the voice said.
"Of course," he said.
The voice guided him to a grave, not new but not insipidly old. Two of his brothers poked their head up from the hole and grinned, tossing dirt aside.
The third sibling, the voice, materialized out of the darkness, his grin stretched his face. "Brother, you're just in time for dinner."
Prima Materia
The mixture blackened.I let the contents boil before adding a few ingredients for the whitening, and when the process was complete I settled the mortar on a bed of ice.
Once cooled, I added the seven ingredients for the yellowing, and the solution sparked to life, bursting into a yellow flame.
The last phase was the reddening. At least that's what everyone was told. It had never been seen.
I dropped in the white sand, the fire flared so hot I turned away. When I looked again the mortar contained a misshapen glass-like rock. I held the last item over the flame; an ancient piece of volcanic rock and it twisted in my hand.
The rock pierced my flesh; cursing, I dropped it to the floor and it shattered. I scrambled to pick up the pieces but even as I did I heard the flame sizzle and die.
Again.
Failed again.
Kneeling on the floor, I clenched the rocks tight and the pain brought me back to reality.
I climbed to my feet, preparing myself for the black coal-like substance that always resulted in a failed Philosophers stone.
In a failed attempt at discovering the Prima Materia.
The stone sparkled. All angles and crusted around the edges.
But it sparkled, glowed with inner light.
Like blood.
Oak King
The staff twisted in my chest and I cried out, clenching the blackened wood."Wha...what are you doing?"
Impossible. Every year was the same, it had been the same since the dawn of the seasons when he and I came into being.
How can he stand over me now old, hunched and withered, but strong as winter ice? It was his time to wane; my time to wax.
The power that built in me during the winter reached its pinnacle at the spring equinox; today, and I was powerful as ever. I just wasn't powerful enough.
He reached his hand out and pain splintered through me as he grabbed a horn. It froze over and turned brittle in his hand until it crumbled to dust.
The pain racked my body robbing me of breath. Even at the end of summer when he came to claim my place it had never been so intense. I went willingly to my grave then, to rest and grow strong.
Why would he not return to the ground?
“Why, Holly King,” I gasped, the words like butterflies on my lips. My body arched beneath his staff which seemed more metal than wood.
“Because I am strong,” the King whispered, his face twisting with mad power and loathing. “And you are not.”
Nanny Button-Cap
I reached out and ran my fingers through the soft brown hair of the small boy sleeping in the bed.Beautiful, angelic.
This is what I lived for. Lolling these kids to sleep, making sure they were safe and had beautiful dreams.
I rose from the end of the bed and moved to the window, with a final look back at the child, my physical form turned to light and I drifted as a long glittering streak on the wind. Swirling through the air my being swelled with happiness, bright and light.
The moon shone high in the sky as night closed it and the world became still and quite only to be broken by the dreadful cry of a child and I froze.
No.
She would not have another. I would not allow it.
I rushed through the night sky towards the screaming and arrived just in time to witness Black Annis pulling the small child out the window. The parents watched in horror as the crones blue face twisted with hatred and hunger. Her claws dug into the kids arm and blood dropped from it onto the window sill.
A roar ripped free of my throat as my form solidified and I summoned my cane; large and ancient.
She would not take another.
Moo
The dagger sunk deep into my brothers chest and I hissed in pleasure as his blood bubbled up and poured over my hands. His chest heaved and his eyes widened, staring at me. Asking me why as he slipped into death.This Kingdom and everything that it was, would be mine; the crown; our sister.
All mine.
Laughter tumbled from my lips like water from a fountain and I pulled the blade free. Blood splattered across the floor and with each droplet the ground shook.
"What have you done?"
My sisters voice was music to my ears and I climbed to my feet, turning to face her.
"Now we'll have it all," I said. The mosaic tiles beneath my feet shifted, broke apart.
She shook her head, thick dark waves of hair cascaded around her shoulders. "What you have done is bring the wrath of the Gods upon us."
"You and I will be together always. We will rule over this kingdom."
Her gaze strayed to my dead brother and tears weld up in her eyes and escaped down her cheeks.
"No," she said, her gaze steely. "The Gods will take you and all that you love for this. Goodbye, my brother."
Outside the volcano roared to life and my sister, my beautiful Moo, turned and fled.
Lotus Tree
Our boat crashed on an island. In its center stood a large tree with a crooked trunk; its branches were covered in white flowers; Red juicy fruit hung from each flower.“Wow, I've never see anything like it,” Rim said.
“Is it edible?”
He plucked a piece and pulled it apart. The inside was the color of a graph fruit and it looked like a cross between a pomegranate and an orange.
The smell wrapped around me and I took it from Rim. "If I die, don't eat it," I said, and took a bite. The juice washed over my tongue, both sweet and tart. "Amazing."
There was enough to get us...to get us where?
I took another bite and smiled as the day turned to night and I gazed up at the sky. I had never seen those constellations before.
Strange.
“Wait,” I said, and stumbled to my feet. “Are we...do we need to be somewhere?”
“Um, no?” Rim laughed. “Why would we need to be anywhere but here?”
“I don't know,” I said. I took another bite of the fruit. “I just thought...” I thought perhaps we were lost and people were waiting for us. We needed to go, didn't we?
“I like it here,” Rim said, smiling.
I agreed. I liked it here too.
Kaf Mountain
She needed to see it.
“Must you?” A man said, appearing from beyond the peak.
Her people couldn't be right.
“Oh, they aren't,” he said with a harsh laugh. “Not about everything. You've traveled my path up the mountain, so you are mine to deal with.” The djinn held out his hands. “Choose. Look pass the mountain and become my servant, or travel back to your people and the death that awaits.”
“Look," Artakama said, her voice shallow.
The djinn dragged her forward until she stood at the peak, overseeing everything. The mist slowly parted and Artakama breath caught in her throat.
A vast ocean stretched, so green it tinted the sky. But at the edge of the ocean, more mountains.
More.
The djinn weaved his hand in front of her face and Artakama watched her last breath crystallized into a beautiful purple gem. She breathed again, this time easier.
“This is your last breath,” the djinn said. “It belongs to me now, and so do you,”
Jack Frost
In the center of the ice hut a fire burned so blue that it no longer gave off heat but cold. Jack looked out the window and tapped his bare foot.The cry of children echoed in the distance, happy and loud, but mean.
It was the third time the children of the near by village ganged together to torture the smallest of their lot.
Well, he had given them plenty of chances.
A smile lit his face and Jack dashed out the door and through the snow-covered forest until he reached the frozen lake.
Rushing across the ice was a small boy, barely covered from the cold. He was followed by a pack of wild kids.
Jack moved his foot and touched the frozen lake with his toe. A loud crack splintered the ice and moved across the surface. Several of the boys stopped running, but the littlest one kept moving.
Good for him.
The crack made a large circle around the children. Jack smiled and stepped onto the lake and as he did the ice beneath the boys shuttered and sank. They disappeared beneath the surface with a sharp cry, and the ice resurfaced, boy-less. With a tap of Jacks foot, the lake sealed itself back together.
Perfect and clear, as if nothing happened.
Ichor
Athena brought her finger to her mouth and bite down, her sharp canines pierced the white flesh. Holding her finger away she squeezed and a single golden drop rose to the surface. Her lips twisted into a mean smile as she held her finger over the barrel of wine. The essence of her Godhood dropped into the grape wine. The liquid shimmered brightly for a moment before fading. She had done all she could for Medusa; with such power Medusa would never have to bow to any man. God or mortal. All that was left was Poseidon. If he thought he could desecrate her temple and her patrons. Well, he was sorely mistaken."Girl, what are you doing?"
Athena turned, her simple maids dress flowing around her knees and held up her jug.
"Getting the wine ready," she said. Letting her mortal guise shrink and contain her.
"Hurry up, three kingdoms here tonight," the older woman said, and shoved her aside to inspect the wine. "Today is Poseidon's festival. Everyone will want a merry time. Not a drop is to be wasted. Understand?"
Athena filled her jug and smiled, holding it close. "Of course, Mistress," she said, walking away.
"The Kings are to gets theirs first!"
Athena stopped and smiled over her shoulder. "I'll make sure if it."
Holly King
The sun shone bright and he moved through the forest, hunched over feeling old and worn. The snow had melted, leaving piles of slush and water behind. Animals that usually hibernated for the winter began to reemerge. He pulled at the piece of holly tangled in his hair and the last withered berry dropped to the ground.His beard was thick and grey and he tugged at it absently as he followed the pa
th through the forest.
Winter was over.
He'd come soon. Tall, strong and arrogant.
The cycle between them was never ending, tedious. But with each passing Winter as Spring approached something changed within him. Something fundamental. Winter ended but power continued to build within him.
A horn sounded in the distance and he froze. His stags bounced through the woods, crossing his path and disappeared. Hunching lower to the ground, he clenched the long staff and rapped it against the ground. The start of a low, sharp beat that the forest picked up and echoed on the wind.
He entered the clearing just as the dark form of his adversary stepped out into the light. The man was youthful; with a head of brown hair and large stag horn arching from his forehead.
It didn't matter, this year, the Holly King was staying.
Galdrabók
The fire cast a harsh glow across his face, but he refused to look away. His only hope to be cured from this Endlessness was going up in flames. Having tracked the book for four centuries it finally lead Kol to this library, half a world away, in a war torn country.Why was it even here? He couldn't figured it out, he only knew that someone moved the book as if they wanted to keep it from his reach.
Kol rubbed his hand against his chest. The ancient Icelandic ruins craved there by the Godi of his village were meant to help his people against the invasion of a tyrant King. But as the years wore on and the fight seeped out of his people, Kolbjorn; as his people knew him, was no longer needed.
Years of being bathed in the Icelandic magic of The Galdrabók, cemented his soul to his body and pushed him adrift in time. The Godi stopped practicing the old magic and when his condition was discovered it was already too late.
The Galdrabók was gone.
That book wouldn't burn here.
Clenching his jaw, Kol took a step forward and the fire blazed higher, the flames licking at his skin.
It was his only hope.
Fairy Ring
"Cut it out," Will said. He was more my friend than Jake's. But Mark, more Jake's friend than mine, egged me on.
"Don't be such a chicken," he said.
I stared at the ring of mushrooms. They were white and bulbous, hundreds of them clustered together formed a large ring. Our Grandmother told us never under an circumstance, even a double dog dare, to enter one. Was this why we weren't allow in the North Woods? They weren't concerned about bears at all, they were concerned about this.
"Bock, bock, bock," called Mark.
Will shook his head. "Don't do it."
"Yer both chickens," my brother taunted.
"It's just old stories," I said. "You heard mom, Grandma's off her rocker."
"I dunno," Will whispered, standing at my side.
Before I could say anything else, Jake's hands dug into my shoulders and he shoved me forward. Will tumbled into the circle with me.
I fell, huffing against the grass and hurried to my feet, spinning around to confront my twin.
Jack and Mark were gone.
A strange dark forest loomed over us, and a shadow stood at it's edge, waiting, I knew, for us to step out of the Fairy Ring.
Echtrae
The wind picked up, blowing through the tree tops and I pulled my shawl tighter. The lights in the woods scattered with the breeze and disappeared into the darkness.
My heart thumped against my ribs as I noticed a person against the tree line.
"...Leah..."
My name carried on the wind and I jumped up splashing hot tea on myself. I cursed and dropped my cup, and cursed again. Anger overtook fear as my favourite cup shattered against the deck.
"...Leah..."
"What?!" Any other choice words caught in my throat. The being stood in the middle of the field now, and the moonlight played off his long white hair; his pale skin glistened; and his eyes, blue as sapphires, pleaded with me.
"...Leah..."
I tried to speak; I needed a drink, something stronger than tea. I swallowed and tried again. "Yes?"
The man, definitely not just a man, didn't speak. Instead he turned and walked away.
"W-wait," I said, but he kept moving, across the field and into the forest. My feet moved with a will of their own, the cool grass tickling the soles as I followed.
Demons
The door opened and the male slave stumbled into the house, jostling the bags that held his precious food. Did it want him to starve?
He hissed in warning and the slave turned and stared at the room.
"Goddamn it, Mo. Again? You're an evil damn cat, you know that right?"
The
smell of another Demon wafted over him and he pushed himself to his
paws. This human, it was possible that it was the worst one yet,
letting other Demon's scent him. Did it have any idea the danger it
was putting itself in? Probably not. Humans were dumb like that. He
brushed himself up against the slaves legs and let his scent, and his
power, wash over the human.
“Damn
cat. Go Mo.”
Cat.
Long ago his race deceived the humans, rather easily he might add, into believing cats were mere beasts.
Cats aren't mere beasts.
Cats are Demons.
And he was the Great Earl, Furcifer.
Cat.
Long ago his race deceived the humans, rather easily he might add, into believing cats were mere beasts.
Cats aren't mere beasts.
Cats are Demons.
And he was the Great Earl, Furcifer.
Camelot
I
tripped into a small clearing and jumped to my feet, brushing myself
off before someone saw me.There was no one.
Everyone discounted me as fanatical.
But
I couldn't be wrong. Not this time.
The forest around me was ancient, undisturbed. Through the clearing a tree-covered hill rose, a small overgrown river flowed from it.
I blocked out the sun with my hand. Was that a spot of grey?
Flying across the clearing, I pushed my way up the hill. Branches whipped my face and rocks bit into my knees when I fell. Exhilaration drove me, my hope a shining star ahead. I couldn't stop, even when my breath became ragged and my knees weakened.
Warm tingles bloomed within me as I broke the tree line. I sobbed at the sight and with shaking fingers reached out and grazed the coarse weather-worn stone.
Laughter bubbled from my lips like a fountain.
Foliage covered the crumbled wall and I moved around the structure until I encountered a flora-filled archway. I gripped the vines at the edge and pulled until I saw the gleam of rough stone. There craved in the white limestone, faded but still legible in winding cursive; Camelot.
The forest around me was ancient, undisturbed. Through the clearing a tree-covered hill rose, a small overgrown river flowed from it.
I blocked out the sun with my hand. Was that a spot of grey?
Flying across the clearing, I pushed my way up the hill. Branches whipped my face and rocks bit into my knees when I fell. Exhilaration drove me, my hope a shining star ahead. I couldn't stop, even when my breath became ragged and my knees weakened.
Warm tingles bloomed within me as I broke the tree line. I sobbed at the sight and with shaking fingers reached out and grazed the coarse weather-worn stone.
Laughter bubbled from my lips like a fountain.
Foliage covered the crumbled wall and I moved around the structure until I encountered a flora-filled archway. I gripped the vines at the edge and pulled until I saw the gleam of rough stone. There craved in the white limestone, faded but still legible in winding cursive; Camelot.
Bubak
That's
how he preferred it.
All
that was needed was one last piece, one final soul to finish the
work.
“Come
on, it's over here.”
He
froze at the sound of voices and the dark place within him danced
with glee. He stuffed the Soul Garment into a chest at the foot of
his post and scurried back up it. Hanging himself across the large
t-shaped piece of wood and stared across the field, searching.
“Where
the hell is this thing?”
“Old
Man McCormack put the Scarecrow in the center of the field, look, you
can see the light from it's Jack-o-lantern head.”
“Damn,
that things creepy.”
Perfect,
they would make excellent additions to his coat.
The ground surrounding him hummed with vibrations. Within his deep sleep he felt the shift of the earth, heard the soft murmur of voices come to gawk at his grave. The thorn tree had grown monstrous; the root that pierced his chest, and pinned him in place had tripled in width and continually grew. With each passing year his longevity stretched out before him, taunting him. In the early days, people feared coming to his burial site, but as time went on. And it went on, more and more people came.
The
voices grew until he heard them echo through the roots of the
tree. Feminine laughter. The sound was sweet at first. Then soured and
churned within him, reminding him of the laughter of another woman; one long buried.
Like
him, but dead.
Above
the voices changed. Laughter turned distressed as deeper, cruder ones
joined. The earth shook with a thump, followed by a broken scream.
A long forgotten pungent smell washed over him, and he groaned as the blood
soaked into the soil, bleeding into the earth until it finally touched his
lips. Power rushed through him and the tree pinning him to the
ground shook and splintered.