Creus(Full Book)

Part 21

When he woke up, he saw pale green mushrooms. Blurry shapes walked near him, and he heard his heartbeat, but none else.

"You're awake", Bernard nodded. He lifted David, and lay him against the wall. "Manuel has saved us all."

David nodded a little. He squinted, and saw two broken cages standing near them, Osmond's birds, and then a sandal, outside of the ring of light. He stared at it, Darrell's shoe, it was Darrell's shoe. He shook the dirt off of it, and crawled forward. Another shoe passed it, and then a body outside. A body, caked with dirt, lying motionless...

Osmond held both of his birds, two of them beside the cages, lying motionless in a heap across the ground.

"A week, and they're dead!", Osmond held one of them up to the light, "Dead forever, chirping in vibrancy. All dead... all dead..."

"Darrell's dead...", David said,"Darrell... Darrelll..."

"It's a shame...", answered Bernard.

"Darrell's dead", David shuddered, "His soul has gone, and he's dead! He's dead...."

"It's a shame... Gone to the Afaration, but not in the Abyss..."

"He's dead, he's gone! Bernard, he's dead!"

"It's a shame..."

"Now, there's nothing we can do. Nothing! Nothing we can do!"

They both stared at the motionless body. Rickman had killed him, pushed them into the endless night, where things lived outside.

"You're awake! All of you were lying across the bed of sand, snoring and snoring", Someone walked toward them. He turned around. Not a pallid, eyeless, creature. Although, weak and hobbling. He watched the old man stand under the light, staring at them. With a beard. An old man. He heard the old man step forward. He turned to face the old man fully.

"You dropped from the sand into the Abyss," He pointed upwards, "Nothing great about falling into this pit of despair, but you've been lucky enough to fall into the light."

David stood up. He looked at the ring of light. He stepped forward with unease but walked over to the old man. He sat down in a slump, staring at the ground.

David went into the old man's hut. A small water pump stood beside the entrance and a warm fire by the wall. The door opened behind him.

"Your friend's alright now," The old man said," Perhaps, stricken in the heart by something. Have some water."

The old man pushed a bronze cup of water towards David. He drank it and put the cup down and lay back.

"How did you fall into this place then?" David drank from the cup again.

"I fell while at sea after a nap in my boat. The sea carried me into the Abyss when I awoke. Then I built this house with the remains of my boat. Now, I live here. There's water and there's food. A good life, and a good home."

"There's a city near here", said David, "full of demons that shift their shape. They are the people of the Abyss. They become the people, shapeshifters..."

"I'm not a shapeshifter. They're tall and strong while I remain weak."

"Manuel is a frail old man", Bernard walked inside the home, "He could never hurt anything..."

"Here", Manuel gave him another bronze cup of water, "The heat in the Abyss becomes unbearable 'till this house seems made of fire itself."

"Wait", Bernard stepped outside, "Let me get Osmond."

His thoughts meandered and then dissipated as his eyes closed and he slept. His dreams hammered in his mind, releasing themselves as he slipped into his dreamscape.

People. The demon and his pallid skin. Sharp teeth. Crimson. The changes. At the beginning when all the towns were big and rich. As he traveled and wandered around, looking at the sights of bustling marketplaces. But, now, filled with the Plague as bugs crawled in water and the cart for the dead rolled past. They scrambled as grainy images formed in his mind. No sound. Through the depths of his mind, he traveled. Flying with imaginary wings. Below were indiscernible figures. Up the trees and into the mountains that extended past the cosmos. Trying to reach the sky. Above the ground, dragging him below. But, he looked down and saw he was going up beyond the ground. He was wobbling in the air, going up and down, and sideways.

Crimson pools. Raw red. Gnashing teeth. Rusted iron. Water. Through the disjointed dreamworld, his eyes saw. Lungs with air. Cold. The dark. All fear. Swallowing him up. Into the depths of red. With salt that stung like whips. Pallid skin and teeth...Dizzying. Chaos. Like a sinking ship. Seeing through those sailors. Short lives. Sailing, and sailing. Boiling water flecking through the air. Wood that bubbled down. No light. Nothing to illuminate. Into the void. Never to be discovered. Screech, and animal screams. On a boat floating through the dark waters. Above nightmares, but below reality. He wanted to wake up. To see light. The boat bobbed below a sky of water, intertwining with other streams of water. That's what he saw, but it appeared through streaks of light. Flickering in and out. In and out. Out and in.