ANGEL

CHAPTER 2 - MORTUARY

The night was as dark as his famished and black eyes.

The full moon hovering up at the sky, one unwelcome thing to hunt through the nights, but nothing could be perfect, then, what he had better to do it was stay as motionless as possible and get ready to any attack he could do, these was his best skills as hunter and he wish he could to be remembered forever for that, at least.

The mortuary forest, the most famous and scaring forest at the same time, received the name of their world to be the amusement park of all the hunters and hunts both. One place where everything could happen and even one helpless leaf could catch and trap you, one place where everyone look and watch everyone, you cannot run fast because the leaves, the sound, the wind and other creatures of the forest betray you at the same time, it was like a game, but many times, even the winner could lost.

But not for me, Logo thought, I am no man to lose anything and besides, I have faced that forest many a time, I am no amateur, but that moon looking down defiantly to me, it let me with a uncontrollable fury, the first time I was into a complete darkness and it was at my benefit, I could sneak and twitch back and forth, up at trees and down into the sticky and soft mud puddles, always watching and seeing, I felt as if I was with eyes all over me, at my front, at my sides and my back, I mean, my tail.

That´s what I was meant to do for, all my life, hunt; with my sneaky and treacherous essence, I always got what I want, but it was not so with Grona and that makes me feel sometimes so enraged and wild as when I am inside that forest, trying and fighting for something, that pinky flakes always changing and swaying on her, the little, arrogant and gloomy yellowish eyes…

No Logo, get control, you´re inside the mortuary forest and one wrong sneak here, you will straightforward to the mortuary itself.

I begin to sneak and crawl again, but that time slower and more watchful, always moving my head and tail both, back and forth, so that I can feel the smell, approach and mainly fear of my hunts; the forest itself it’s very silent and that can be to my benefit or not, here even the leaves of the trees are dark and they´re rustling and whispering something I realize it’s not very good, even so I keep moving on, and my eyes are restless, swaying back and forth, its yellowish balls changing to one deep, vivid and hard purple when I am under attack, a dark green when a monstrous fury take hold of myself, but most times, only black, all my eye as I am now, just watchful and wary, always waiting for the better or worse.

My fangs are very sharp too, but even knowing that it could show a scaring and menacing look to me when facing my enemies, that´s wiser keep my jaw shut close, it only would serve to shoo away a lot of curious and prying birds that make their nets up at the top of many limbs of trees, that despicable ones have a ocular sight that allow them to see anything far till a twenty meters away of distance, I prefer don´t take that chance.

At length, I catch sight of the voracious swamp before me, but the swamp didn´t received that name due its gloomy and dim look but its uncontrollable desire to attack and devour anything, alive or dead at a matter of seconds; once myself almost was aim of them and with my experience of sneaking for long years through that forest, I can tell certainly that terrible plants are almost as dangerous as the very monsters and creatures that inhabit this place and just look at them, you realize that it recognize you at the very moment you put your feet inside their habitat, that´s exactly my case, but I know it don´t want welcome me, I don´t expect this.

The trees that bend and twist its roots amidst the swamp and into the waters, are not green, healthy and livid, but ugly, wilting and scaring, its leaves at the top, dark and very dry,  the world of Mortuary doesn´t know the light of day neither the sun, then, the trees and plants survive only with the water of the swamp, but it´s not reliable too.

There are many loose plants fallen down on the extension of the whole lake that more resemble one huge puddle, the water it’s not clear neither drinkable, the appearance it’s terrible and once in a while, the water begins to boil and let out many a time, hot bubbles that explode out when touch the surface, the bubbles are so boiling that just pull your scales in it, and they begin to itch and let go immediately, but with the skin, the consequence its hundreds times worse, just once one human being entered inside these swamps around here because Mortuary doesn´t have many, but once a year, another worlds send hostages to their neighbors and Mortuary its close from the Earth and Gray, then mainly them send some stupid, weak and appetizing people to come here and live amidst us, the last thirty people of the last thirty years, died butchered and swallowed immediately by some enormous lizards, snakes and crocodiles as me because we had not patience to teach anything to them, what one Tonda do, only one true Tonda can do, no one else, namely, hunt, sneak through the swamps, lakes, muds and high trees, but specially, have a sense of smell, perception, boldness and confidence that never can be completely passed to one foreign, they would never learn or at least, never the way we do, it would be fruitless to go on with that.

But to our surprise, the last year, something changed.

A man, rather an intelligent parasite, being of Gray, came to our world as one more hostage and were welcomed anyway, even knowing that he would be not one more hostage, but one more delicious meal to our bellies and appetite, we couldn´t help, we are hunters by nature and our instincts say us that one meal should not to be wasted for nothing, especially when this meal in question it’s one helpless and fool person that has nothing to do neither show us, then we simply remove it off.

Coming back to the man, he were in the hands of Grona, the queen of the serpents, the most supreme being of our world but for her wise and counsellor snake that always stay about her neck, always saying and whispering falsehoods, plots, schemes, intrigues, gossips and one mortal poison that´s so powerful, corrosive and lethal that if Grona were not one true snake with a true blood of snake running through her veins I could swear that she would have been dead already and the very woman that I always see before me were nothing more than a copy, but I know it’s Grona, I always know and I know that every time I am close at hand, she pursue me with those eyes of hers, at times enraged and poisoned, other times, compassionate and resigned, trying to find something, trying to find me…

In short, Grona took possession of the man and aside all of our wishes and requests, she conceived to that man, a gift of the reptiles, that´s about the meals all the snakes and sneaking creatures of Mortuary takes weekly and involve the number of reptiles and the number, weight, burden and time to make their digestion, as that digestion was very slow just few days before he comes, that meant all the snakes were satisfied and Grona could spare him if he show to us something interesting and profitable or convince us that he should deserve to live between us and so it was, but before long he blurt out that he were one of us already, he were one Tonda, he said he were a son of one Spemin( the inhabitants of Gray) and one Tonda, in case, us of Mortuary; the queen of the serpents became so furious and uncontrolled that she demanded he were throw to us, the crocodiles, into our dormitory, the dark dungeon at the very moment, but before the lizards raise up their tails and coil it around the prisoner and doomed to death, the counsellor snake at her neck, whispered something into her ear and instantly she changed of mind, the man only were threw into one narrow and tight cell, down at the hall of the ruin, there he remained for long months, but what the snake told her, no one else know but Grona and even knowing that she there inside likes me, she never would tell me, I know that too.