Extreme Heights (discontinued/read authors note)

Katsai: Nightmare

I opened my eyes to a void of never ending darkness. This is odd. I brought my hand up in front of my eyes but they weren't there. I couldn't see anything. My heart started beating rapidly as the familiarity of the situation dawned on me. I quickly stood up, wincing as pain rushed to my head. It was sharp and unrelenting. Oh gods. It hurt so much. I cradled my head in my palm as I tried to calm my beating heart.

    The world was completely silent. No sounds of the forest. No water, birds, trees, and not even the sound of breathing.

    "Kagin? Genesis?" I called, but gasped as a scraping pain filled my throat. I coughed, slowly falling to my knees as the hacking continued. I know this pain. It was way too real. I slowly reached forward, trying to search for something to hold on to.

    "No. Not again." I croaked, my tongue and throat becoming drier by the second. Shit. Need to get lower. This smoke, why isn't it rising?! I let my body collapse to the ground as the heat seemed to build. Sweat now drenched my form as I continued to cough and gag. It was still dark. Nothing could be seen. Not the light of fire or the crackling of embers floating into the sky.

    Realization dawned on me. Am I in the smoke? I lifted my head, trying to gaze around but my eyes only failed me. I am going to die by smoke inhalation. Just great. I let my head fall to the ground as the smoke grew thicker. My body began to relax as I accepted it. Better this way I guess. Hope Galterius got what he wanted. My eyelids slowly closed as I let out a hoarse sigh.

    That was when I felt like I was falling. I gasped, the air clear again. My eyes shot open as the wind rushed past me, pulling and tugging at my hair and clothing. My heart sped up tenfold as my stomach jumped to my chest. I felt my body seize up and my limbs grow cold. No no no no no. Stop, please! The overwhelming fear took over my senses as another second passed by. I didn't want to look down. I didn't want to see how close the ground was, how close my death was.

    A high-pitched whine filled the air as my position snapped. My feet were now on the ground. I felt the need to collapse, to let my body adjust to what just happened, but I couldn't move. God dammit. What now? Let this end. Whoever the fuck is messing with me, quit. My eyes darted around the now barren wasteland in anxiety as my heart reached beating levels that I didn't think were possible.

    "Why didn't you save me, Kat? I was right there, you could've grabbed me!" My eyes froze as the disembodied voice called out to me. My stomach twisted as I tried to turn to look at who was behind me, but I couldn't move. Let me see them. Please. Just this once. Shrill screams suddenly erupted from behind me as I sucked in a breath.

    The screams of agony and pain filled my ears. A deep, booming laughter followed as the screams grew louder. Words could barely be made out, but I recognized each and every voice. The warm, splattering sensation of blood doused my back as I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the tears rise from the bottom of my heart.

    "Failure!"

    "Help us!"

    "You did nothing!"

    The urge to scream clawed at the back of my throat as the insanity continued. Why wouldn't this end? Please make it go away! No sound came from my throat as I opened my mouth in a silent scream. I opened my eyes again to find it dark. The screams had subsided to a background noise as I turned in a circle to find emerald flames surrounding me in a ring. My eyes widened as I noticed shapes in the fire. They were humanoid, but something felt off. They were completely black, no mouth but yellow eyes. My eyes widened as I realized what they were.

    "Are you going to let them die too? How would they react if they knew you were insane? How would they react if they knew you let someone die? How would you feel if they disappeared right before your eyes?" The dark cackles slowly began to fade as the tears finally dropped. The emerald flames began to die as I returned to darkness.