The Outcasts: Origins

Chapter 3; The Mask

Michael wanders through the woods in search of the source of the mysterious purple light. Twigs snap under his boots as he wanders further and further into the woods, his house getting smaller and smaller behind him. He can see the faint glow in the distance but he feels like it gets further away the closer he walks towards it.

Suddenly a twig snaps behind him. Michael spins around and shines a torch at the cause of the sound, revealing a deer staring back at him. "Hello." Michael says, breathing a sigh of relief. The deer just stares at Michael, its eyes glowing because of the light of the torch. Michael takes a step forward, only to feel something pull his leg back. He looks down with the torch and sees a tendril of black smoke wrapped around his left leg. Before he can even react, the tendril tugs Michael, causing him to fall onto his stomach and drop his torch. The tendril begins to pull Michael away as Michael claws at the ground while screaming for help.

Michael falls onto a floor made of hard rock. He looks up, seeing a cave with a hole in the ceiling. The walls of the cave are covered in shapes is some sort of purple. Michael gets to his feet and suddenly the cave fills with whispers to faint to make out what they're saying. He spins around, his coat flowing with him. In the center of the cave he sees a stone pedestal. On the pedestal sits a black mask with glowing purple eyes and silver tusks coming out of what looks to be the carving of human mouth. The whispers grow slightly louder as Michael makes eye contact with the mask. He feels a strange pull to it, almost magnetic. Michael steps forward, reaching for the mask. He lifts it carefully from the pedestal, the whispers growing louder, repeating a single word over and over and over again, like a mantra. "Host!"

Michael snaps awake in his bed to the loud buzzing of his alarm clock. Michael hits the off button of his alarm before reaching for his glasses next to it on his nightstand. He sits up in his bed, looking around his room, confused, until his eyes land on his muddy boots sitting under his radiator, lined up neatly with the rest of his shoes.