The Raven

The Gruesome Encounter

After everything, I had done to get to where I was, it seemed a bit hypocritical of me to think that I had the right to decide if anyone was worth saving or not. I didn't deserve to be saved. What made me qualified to judge others? I did some morally wrong deeds in my journey to redemption. The only thing left for me to do was try to stop my enemy from winning, whatever that might entail. 

Ethical issues aside, I had to think about all the truly innocent creatures in the world who didn't deserve the fate worse than death, that awaited them if the Dark Lord were to rule the world. I focused my thoughts on all the cute animals and the newly born babies that were truly pure and innocent. 

Focusing on all the beauties and good things, had another positive effect on me. It made me strong enough to go on, to go through the forest of my nightmares and to focus on my goal without considering the moral issues that I might encounter. Single-mindedly going on was my only chance.

Suddenly, there was a hair-raising howling much closer than I expected, as I finally exited the ominous forest. I assumed it was another monster, or demon, or whatever they were. I had a strong feeling that the creature I defeated was a demon and that the one that awaited my arrival was a monster, although the difference wasn't completely clear to me and didn't actually matter. 

The important thing was to be prepared for anything because my weak human mind couldn't even imagine all the petrifying things Hell had in store for the poor unfortunate souls doomed to stay there for eternity. 

I drew out my sword, much more confident now that I knew it could hurt them. My self-confidence boost was short-lived since the next thing I knew, I was face to face with a huge six-headed beast. Its heads were slightly similar to those of a dog. 

Well, I didn't expect that! The growling sounds coming from its huge black body were telling me it was not a nightmare, and that I was in grave danger. All of its six heads were huge, and the moment it saw me, it started growling showing it huge, razor-sharp teeth.

I wanted to do the same thing as before, but it had too many heads, and a similar maneuver would obviously be inefficient. 

It started stalking me as I was contemplating my next move. It was playing with its prey, knowing I had nowhere to go. I tried to chop off one of its heads and I missed. As a consequence of my failed attempt, the beast was close enough to use its huge red tongue to wrap it around my neck. Maybe it just wanted a taste of its next meal, or it wanted to strangle me, I wasn't sure. 

The feeling of its slimy tongue on my skin was more disgusting than anything I had ever felt before. It started to writhe its tongue and that somehow made the sensation even worse. Warm slimy saliva ran down my neck, as I shivered in fear. 

At first, it wasn't painful, but then its tongue started constricting my air flow and suddenly there were a lot of small suckers on the surface of its tongue sucking my blood. It was like tens of leeches from hell feasting on my neck. 

Could somebody die if they were already dead? 

As it continued to lap up my blood with that head, it tried to adjust the other five heads to be able to do that with its other tongues, as well. I knew I had to do something, or I would be dead, or whatever was the equivalent of dying in Hell.

I raised my sword once more and managed to cut off its tongue. That, in turn, helped me start breathing freely, unsure why my dead body had to breathe. Putrid black liquid started pouring out of the foul creature's mouth, but it seemed more angry than hurt. My action didn't actually help me, it only made the fiend angrier. 

Playtime was over. It decided that I had to pay for causing it pain. From the look on its faces, I guessed what the punishment would be. I would be, slowly and painfully devoured. Since I hurt it, it would probably want to hurt me even more. 

The look in its eyes told me that I was right. I got this vivid picture in my mind of me lying on the floor and the monster eating my intestines, slowly and with fervor. Devouring my liver, while I watched alive and aware. I could even hear the blood-chilling screams. All of its heads were feeding on different parts of my body. 

One was chomping down on my thigh, the other one was gnawing on my fingers as if they were some delicious carrots. But all of them ate slowly and patiently to keep me alive, to watch my body being slowly devoured. 

The picture, sent to me telepathically by the monster, lasted only for a few seconds, but it was enough to make me want to beg for mercy. 

I knew there would be no mercy as the heads hounded me.