Hadagery (Book 2) Creeee...eeeee..eeee..ee. The door behind Hadlin creaked open. "That's impossible." He thought, "I barred that door shut." Then turned around just in time to hear it click shut again. Standing just inside the entrance was a blacken...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chapter 1: Reckoning
At the heart of every forest is a darkness that bides its time. Hiding and waiting beneath the canopy. Among the twisted bracken and brambles clawing its way out. Out emerged a blackened mass. Oozing as it unfurled from a fetal position. Taking on what appeared to be a human-like shape. A willowy human. Holding its arms apart from its body in disgust. Hardly able to stand upright. Stumbling amid this dead of day. A day foreshadowed by the breathy whispers of the trees.
Another noise warbled betwixt the timbers. As if something were following the human. The human jerked in the direction of the sound. Fearfully crying out, "Who's there?" Eerily a breath had blew across the back of their neck. In that instance someone whispered in their ear, "... you're not even real." The human rubbed the offensive spot. Looking to see that they were quite alone in these woods. How could they feel anything covered in bile? Maybe its all in their head. An even better question, how did they get here in this state? Could this be a dream? A paradox of imagination, a slice of reality, or an echo of madness? No. They believed that it had to be a nightmare. Soon they would awaken from the infinite folds of darkness. Anxiously repeating the words, "Wake up. Please wake up." While they wondered how a dream could be so lifelike. Right down to the breath on their neck.
Then some other sound caught the humans attention. Drawn to the whickering breath of the Khadaver trees. Evil looking black trees. The human was quite insignificant against the imperious giants. Each trunk deformed into a face, limbs contorted into arms, and roots twisted into legs. A most horrifying thing to behold. Making it worse was that the monstrous things stared back. Ominously moving its arms in the humans direction. Creaking back and forth with the disquiet of a coming storm. Every creak twisting into syllables. Syllables into words. The words weaving into murmurs. There is a darkness that hides in the night, like all monstrous things just out of sight. The human shivered. Convinced they'd heard that childish rhyme before. Why can't they remember?
Uncomfortable they dared not look away from the faces of the trees. Reminding themselves that it was silly to be so fearful of trees. What are they going to do attack? I think not. However the glares seemed much more threatening than previously. Even as the faces were veiled by the failing light. How long had I been standing here? It was getting dark. The most troubling thing was how fast it was getting dark. Worried about all the evil things that come out at night. They had to get home. The question remained, which way was home? All they could see for the life of them were trees.
Seeing the branches thrash, and the leaves rustle. Even as some of the leaves detached. Those leaves fluttered gracefully towards the ground. One leaf drifted close to the human. Curling and uncurling as it fell. The human held out a hand to catch it. However the leaf distorted into wings, and flew away. "How odd?" The human was quite amazed. It had to be a greenie. They searched the trees for more of the unlikely green fairies. Sure enough among the leaves and vines were all kinds of pillywiggins. Coming out of every orifice and crevice in the forest. From Vairies, Sprites, Farisees, Brownies, Pixies, to Hobs, and Gnomes. All seemingly agitated. What could bring them out of hiding? Even stranger than that was the meandering Shrooms on the forest floor. Mushrooms alive? How?
