A sulphurous smell clung to the air and plumes of steam billowed from yellow fumaroles that lined the crater. Olive green water lay deep at the bottom of the pit, covered in froth and bubbling away like a witch's cauldron. To one side of the crater, amidst twisted and gnarled black volcanic rock, lay a vent that had once spewed molten magma to the sky. The gaping maw, with its jagged rock teeth, was known simply as Hell's Ditch.
It was early morning and the sun struggled to crest the mountains to the East. In the shadows of the desolate landscape, a shambling figure moved slowly along, seeking the life-giving warmth of the hot pool.
'Djan Ghodar, Beras, Na-Kiel, Mellacra, Numelleor, Elkira... Eylana Visharl.' Strange words croaked from the throat of the shadowy creature. At the crumbling bank of the bubbling pool, old clawed hands fumbled with a belt. The heavy cloak that covered the figure fell to the blackened ground. In the pale light of dawn an old crone stood naked before the waters. Wisps of steam played around her sagging breasts and withered thighs. A purple vial on a silver chain was the only colour on the grey body of the woman. The shaking clawed fingers unscrewed the cap of the vial and raised the small glass bottle to the crevassed and gaping lips above. The potion slipped into the dark cavern of the old woman's mouth and the glass vial dropped to the ground... to shatter into tiny shards of light amidst the dead black rock. A hoarse cough wracked her throat and she fell, broken, to her knees. The sharp rocks drew blood, in feeble trickles, from the woman's body... drew blood as if it were hungry for the last vestiges of life that remained. Slowly, and oh so painfully, she crawled forward over the cutting rocks, then tumbled, like a grey bag of loose kindling, into the boiling water. Froth and bubbles swallowed the wasted remains. All that was left was the heavy woollen cloak and the shards that sparkled in the darkness.
From the dark cleft of Hell's Ditch a strange noise carried on the air... the rustling of leathery wings and a strange hissing. Dark and forbidding, a living shadow, with eyes like red coals moved amidst the darkness of the crater and stood to gaze upon the green waters.
YOU ARE READING
Chenga
VampireTwo heroes become three, but against them are all the foes from your worst nightmares. Their goal is to save a girl, but they end up forced to save a world. From the depths of a dungeon, to the strange Isle of World's End, known simply as Chenga;...
