Astral Flow

Chapter 53

Dark.

Damp.

Freezing.

The cave felt suffocatingly isolating, more than anything Lily had experienced up until this point.

The sudden drop in temperature setting off all kinds of alarms in her mind as she walked deeper and deeper into the dark.

Every inch of her was screaming to turn around, but she couldn't, the trail in front of her kept leading deeper down, and so she had to follow... she had to know if they were truly waiting at the end of this path.

Yet she could not put herself at ease, for each step she took she felt further separated from the new world, from the old, from everything.

This felt like something beyond comprehension.

Neither reality nor the space between worlds.

A fading space that should not exist, something both real and not.

All that kept Lily moving was the red and blue lights before her, their music box tune keeping her focused and moving through the dark.

Each step taken seemed to only take her further and further from everything.

Her mind raced with questions, how did this happen?

Why did it happen?

What was this place?

Why did it even exist?

"Just relax and keep moving." Six's calming voice spoke into her right ear in an almost hushed whisper. "You're not alone now, remember that and just keep walking, I'll explain everything later."

Slowly Lily nodded, trying to stay focused on walking forward.

Whatever this place was it seemed to not have any sense of time at all, she didn't feel fatigued or tired despite walking for what felt like hours.

It just felt like nothing, similar yet different to that void where she met Six.

As she keeps walking the sound of the music box begins to grow louder and louder as she sees two familiar figures off in the distance.

Aida and Vonder, both passed out on the ground with no clear sign of injury.

Quietly she walked up to the two, lightly shaking them to try and get them to wake up, but to no avail.

Then she heard it, that sound from the trail again.

That fear inducing music box... but how was it playing when there was no trail?

A fierce chill washed over her as she heard the sound of bones snapping and something approaching from behind, the music box growing ever louder with each passing second.

She needed to prepare herself, to be ready to fight, but her body refused to move no matter how hard she tried.

Stuck in a perpetually frozen state until she felt the creature right behind her.

Lily could hear Six calling out to her, but couldn't make out a single word as her body moved on its own, slowly looking back at the darkness behind her.

Standing there was a twisted, malformed creature that looked like a man fused with a scarecrow.

It's mangled form stood taller than she could've predicted, easily 9 feet if not taller.

Bone and wood seemed to merge together as it snapped and shuddered, hunching over to gaze into Lily's eyes.

Though it had a sack for a head there was an unusually large grin painted on the bag for a mouth, it looked almost real... and its eyes shone a vibrant and unnatural ruby red in the darkness.