The Darkest Rising

Beginning of the End

London 2010

  Despite the full moons heavy presence looming over the city, semi darkness pressed down onto the streets. A lone man with hair the colour of driven snow hurried through the deserted backstreet. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead and onto his cheeks. Some strayed into his eyes, he blindly wiped them away.

  Out of breath and panicking he stopped as the lengthy street abruptly cut off into two halves, creating a narrowed walkway. The towering ferns swaying menacingly in the fierce wind, blocking it's occupants off from the rest of the world. He took a glance back, nothing, just more emptiness within the ever deepening darkness, but he knew it was there watching him, waiting. He didn't know what it was waiting for, he sure didn't want to wait around to find out. He knew what savagery this beast was capable of. Seen it with his own eyes.

   Uncertainty creeping in, he rummaged through his coat pocket for his phone, pulling it out and shone the light infront of him. He knew the light from his phone wouldn't make much difference but it was better than nothing at all. He couldn't see any further than his shoes.

  He raced through the darkness as a gut wrenching odour came from in front of him, hitting him head on. Lingering inside his nostrils for far longer than he would have desired. Taking a clumsy step back, he was unsure which direction the stentch was coming from. It seemed infused within the air.

  Nerves quickly taking hold, he flipped his phone and shoved it back into his jacket pocket. Fear crippled him, making his heart skip wildly out of beat. It felt like eyes were everywhere, following him. Like thousands of tiny insect's picked their way deep into his pores. Leaving his skin feeling itchy and over heated.

  Scanning his surroundings, he began to back up. Evil compressed against him. The panic crushed his lungs, leaving them fighting for air. Goose bumps had now formed over his rigid body. He wiped a sleeve across the width of his forehead, soaking up the beads of sweat forming under his thick hair.

  Something lunged at him with immense speed, letting out an unnatural screech. It sent him collapsing to the concrete, as if he weighed nothing more than a feather. The man didn't have time to scream, to cry out for help. His head thrashed back at a painful angle before he could, hitting the ground with a hard blow. Warm blood oozed from his cracked skull. The creature sighed in ecstasy as the irony scent embraced it's senses. It's lizard like tongue rolled from it's mouth, as if tasting the air.

  A pale, smelly substance clung from it's leathery green skin. It's blood coloured eye's were wild without any sense, or emotion. Deep slashes on either side of it's mouth made it appear longer in length, and needle thin teeth protruded out over it's cracked lips, dripping with black tar like saliva.

  Shaking him violently till his body went limp, it then pinned him to the ground. Sharp canines clamped down around the man's neck. Slashing in frenzied strikes at his defenceless body, his skin ripped clean open. The shredded skin clung from his crimson body. With it's free paw and retractable claws held over his throat, it squeezed and crushed his windpipe with one swift movement. The blood seeped from it's mouth, dripping down over it's chin. A dark pool had built up around him. Within minutes it had ravished it's way through muscle to bone. All vital organs gone. It consumed every last shred of flesh and cartilage, but that still didn't satisfy it's fierce hunger

  With it's claws now retracted back into it's skin, it began licking up the remaining blood from it's paws. When a fruity odour caught it's attention. Springing to an up right position, it sniffed out the smell.