The Craving - A Skyrim FanFiction

4. Curiosity

It was black. Black and empty like the hollow, callous colour of darkened coal. There was no gentle golden glow from the blistering sun. No tender blue spreading across the sky. It was black. Dark and harsh, with a wicked chill that nipped and clawed at skin. It was vicious, uncharted; cruel. And if wandering eyes were to look to the sun, they would not see the beautiful, golden eye that had once serenely watched over Skyrim’s lands. It was a horrid red and black hole! A chilling black abyss that had swallowed up any gentle light – ripping anything light and pure away from the land. Arianna looked up at in despair, shaking to the cold and grinding her teeth at the brewing sickly sensation that slithered across her skin.

Cries and screams of terror surrounded her - yelps of pain and shouts of confusion and dread. There was a clatter of hisses and roars and screeches and wails - drawing the girl’s attention away from the blood darkness that polluted the sky. Around her squealing mortals fled, scrambling through the scratching grass; racing towards love ones or rushing out of burning buildings. Capering after them, hissing and snickering, were swarms of dark, sinful creatures with glowing eyes and corpse-like skin. They had the swift movements of a ghost as they glided through the biting air. They were the sinful predators that enjoyed the unnerving cries of pain and anguish. They fed off fear, and enjoyed the taste of it.

Arianna could only watch, tears swelling in her eyes and pain freezing her body to stone. Her body shivered to the low rattling of a deep chuckle, and the hairs on the back of her neck became erect when a flash of warmth touched her shoulder. She needed not turn; she could see the phantom who caressed her forming in her mind, even without casting her eyes on whoever stood before her. She knew exactly who it was, and shock did not engulf her when the phantom swiftly spun her around, with the flick of his hand. He took her by the chin and lifted her head higher through the air.

The explosions of cries and shrieks of agony filled her ears, and crushed her heart as the phantom pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her body, with them tightening around her frame. The chilling screams seemed to grow louder. The sky seemed to darken. Skyrim slowly crumbling beneath her…

The swallowing softness of the mattress beneath Arianna’s body seemed to keep her locked in a slumber, though a pleasant sleep it was not. Her body tossed and turned, with her head rattling side to side; her body thrusting itself deeper into the bed she lay upon. Sweat gathered on her brow, trickling down her arms and sticking to her neck and breast. Again she fidgeted, sharp grunts spitting out from her lips. Minute by minute, her body thrashed more chaotically against the bed with her muted squeals gradually growing louder as they erupted from her mouth.

At long last Arianna’s eyes sprung open, with her body jolting upwards; her ragged breath rattling in her throat. Heavy bursts of air spurted from her lips, as she bowed her head to her chest, causing a curtain of her red hair to fall over her face, with curling strands scratching against her knee. With her hand, she wiped away the clammy droplets of sweat that crudely clung to her porcelain skin; raking her fingertips roughly through her hair and softly gnawing onto her bottom lip. How long had she been out? Where was she?

She cautiously observed around her, her body shuddering slightly from a wicked cold that nipped at her skin. She could feel the clinging, hot clammy hands of agitation pinching at her, mustering droplets of sweat on the back of her neck. She snapped it away with the swift, abrupt motion of her hand and vigilantly slipped off from the bed she had been left on. The floor beneath her was like ice, and the callous coldness rushed up her limbs like a zap of electricity – making a blanket of ghastly shivers sweep over her skin. When she looked down she noticed how she was bare footed, with her small toes reluctantly prodding at the chilled stone floor.