The team set up camp by a spacious clearance deep within the forest. They unpacked their tents and several other supplies. The sun sunk shyly into the horizon, painting a pale tint of orange hue as it descended deeper into the horizon. Luca lead the small team of elites, the four of them had decided to investigate the odd book he had found while under the bed of his mother's room. A map was attached on the last page of the mysterious grimoire outlining the forest. The four eighteen-year-olds had graduated high school six months ago. This was in a way, their big memory. That which they would keep locked in their hearts, to reminisce and pass on to their children about the bonds and memories they had made. A month in the wilds, hunting for long-lost treasure. Luca was a neat youth, his unusually curly navy-blue hair was cleanly cut and combed. He wore a black hiking jacket with brown shorts and boots with a pack saddled on his back full of his research sorted alphabetically.
"Hey, Rue," Luca motioned her to come closer as he separated a brush of leaves with his foot. The green-eyed girl cocked her head to the side as she scrutinized the object sticking out from under the leaves. "What is that?"
Rue picked up the object fearlessly, she was always bold, one of the things Luca admired about her. She would always go charging headfirst. Shoot first ask questions later. "It's some kinda idol," Rue dusted the small wooden statue.
The tiny branch-coloured idol was carved into a human-like figure. The figure was carved nudely, arms around as if it were hugging itself, with two elongated serpents reaching above it in an attempt to bite or caress the head. Luca felt perturbed just looking at the odd finely crafted thing. '⊑⟒ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⍀⟒⏁⎍⍀⋏' was carved around it, the symbols gave them migraines as they tried to read them.
"What the hell is that?" Kelsi frowned at the small thing. "It's creepin' me out," she revolted, taking three steps back from the pernicious-looking thing.
"Oh come on, kells, it's not that creepy. Some funny kids probs made thinking they could get a good scare," Gael laughed and pointed at the figure.
"Maybe, But I want none of it," Kells insisted.
"Fine, don't worry though, I'll protect you," Gael joked, his bright brown eyes glowing and blending with the orange hues of the sunset.
The group was in high spirits, Luca continued to examine the small figurine as Kelsi and Gael shared a small kiss as Rue made a drawing of it right next to him. They were getting closer, he could feel it. He recalled examining a diagram in the mysterious book. ⟟⍀⟒⎎ ⌇⟟⊑⊬⎍⋏⎍⋏
"Maybe one day you'll be getting some action," Gael winked his bright blue eyes at Luca and flashed a cocky grin. "Doubt you'd find anyone as amazing as Kells though, she's a dime a dozen."
"Don't you two have work to do? We came here for fun and WORK," Rue rolled her eyes at the couple entranced in each other's lips over starting a fire and preparing dinner.
Luca laughed as he packed the idol into his brown satchel. "You have to be joking, Gael has never been one to do any sort of 'work' and I fear he's beginning to rub off on the poor girl," Luca chimed in.
"Ugh, those two need to get a room."
Luca shrugged and started a campfire to prepare dinner. Gael made for an awful cook anyway, you want something done right, do it yourself.
The night fell on the sombre yet happy teens, they shared giggles and the occasional tease, Luca didn't feel…uncomfortable, these were the only people he could open up a little to but for some reason he could feel a gnawing in the back of his head, the idol. He wanted to examine it further, the inner workings, what it was that made him want to spend every minute analyzing it. He waited until his friends fell asleep and wrestled the wooden thing from his pack. He made his way out of the tent he shared with Rue, she understood him like no other, one day, he'd tell her how he felt about her. He wandered a few hundred feet away from the tents and traced his fingers around the idol. The thing felt different, it called to him. I'm not imagining this, am I?
What is that? A rustle from the woods broke him out of his trance as a huffing man stepped in from the darkness. Breathing heavily, the man looked around the campsite and his eyes rested on Luca who now stood on alert as he stared at the man. He wore tarnished white clothes, now coloured a dirty brown from stains, how long had he been out here? He had dirty blonde hair and as he walked closer, is that a nose piercing?
"I-I need help," the man said as he limped towards Luca
"Stay where you are!" Luca pointed. "Wake up, guys, you need to see this!" consciousness.
Chapter 2
The team stared in horror at the unconscious man. Gael eyed Luca wearily, his blue eyes reflecting the campfire. "What the actual-" He trailed off.
"Please, you don-don't understand, they're after m-m-me, we need to get out here," The man staggered before falling to the ground and losing consciousness.
Rue stood beside Luca, her gaze fixed on the unconscious man. Her almond skin glistened due to the flames, ugh, why am I looking at that right now? Luca had been the darkest of the group, his dark brown skin complimenting his wavy curly and rather unusual navy blue hair. He'd been mocked and bullied for it when he was younger but he had grown from hating it to feeling proud of his uniqueness. The sleeping man groaned, forcing the distracted Luca to focus again. His eyes slowly cracked open, he looked as if he'd drowned in a barrel of Ale. Completely wasted.
"Did we find the prey?" The man mumbled.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Kelsi asked looking rattled.
"Fuck, my head is pounding," the man said as he sat. "Where am I?"
"You tell us, found you in horrible shape by the trees over there, you seemed disoriented and asking for help," Luca answered.
"I…last I remember I was walking in the woods, I think I had someone or some people with me and urgh," the man said as he rubbed his temples. "I can't remember, fuck. I can't remember."
"Could be temporary amnesia from a bad concussion. Rue, help me check for any other injuries."
"This isn't a hospital, Luca, we need to call for help," Gael said.
"You know we won't be able to do more searching for the Idol if authorities get involved, this could be our last chance. We'll keep him with us and check him in when we leave."
"I don't like it but Luca might be right, babe. They'll close off the entire area for who knows how long."
"I have to side with Luca on this one, Gael. We need this," Rue said.
"Of course, you're on his side, you always take his side," Gael said bitterly. "Fine, but he's your problem, I'll be in my tent if anyone needs me," Gael spat.
The man ruffled his hair, his twitching brown eyes made a sharp combo with his tanned caramel-ish skin. "I think my name is Bryan," he said flatly. The group settled in for the night, giving the man the extra tent as the others shared the main two tents in pairs. Gael with Kelsi, the two love birds were inseparable, leaving Luca to share with Rue. The girl was gorgeous. Luca had fancied her, her lively full-lipped smile, her almond skin and her curvy figure. The girl is a distraction, she makes me lose focus, and that brilliant mind to boot. Her intellect was sharper than the edge of any blade. Creative and Intuitive. He entered the tent and found her already asleep, he got in the blankets and shimmied away to keep some healthy distance between them and let his mind drift away into a peaceful slumber.
The next day flew by quickly. The gang cleaned their spot and promptly began searching for the secret location. They marked areas they suspected and kept their new guest under close watch as they did so. Trudging through the unknown forest. Luca wiped his brow as he looked towards the sky, the time was 3 o'clock but the sun still hung noon high, not moving an inch. He watched it carefully a minute longer before sighing loudly and ducking under a tree for shade. "Why is it so hot?" He asked.
"You're the smart one, you tell us, Einstein," Kelsi answered in an exhausted tone.
"Am I the only one that keeps seeing that weird tree or…?" Gael said, pointing at a large tree with yellow cone-shaped leaves isolated from the rest of the fauna.
"I think we've passed it four times now but that doesn't make any sense, we left a trail," Rue said flipping through her map.
"What are you guys looking for?" Bryan asked.
Gael took out the small idol from Kelsi's pack and held it out at the man. "I've seen that mark around," Bryan said rubbing his chin.
"Are you certain? You could be mistaken," Luca chimed in.
"Positive, I wouldn't forget that thing. I know where to find it though I keep forgetting something, something important."
The team continued deeper and deeper into the forest, the more they trudged, the darker it became. The sun tilted over the horizon. "I think we should make camp here," Luca said sighing from the non-stop hiking.
"Is no one gonna answer my question?" Bryan said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.
"Uh oh," Kelsi whispered as the gang walked into a small clearing.
Wooden statues as tall as ten metres decorated the clearing. Strange symbols were carved onto them, the familiar calligraphy of letters they had seen in the grimoire and the small wooden carving but this was different.
The symbols seemed to move around the oddly shaped statues. They appeared to be carved in the image of anthropomorphic bat-like creatures. The group wandered ever closer, a small hut appeared behind a large statue close to a tree with thick low hanging branches.
"I don't think we should go there," Kelsi said almost whispering. She had her blonde hair in a ponytail that bobbed when she shook her head.
"It'll be fine, we need help with directions anyway," Gael said.
Before Luca and Rue could chime in an animalistic sound pierced the forest. A groan that made their hairs stand on edge. It was close too.
"What the fuck?" Gael said looking at a nearby growth from where the sound had originated.
The group of teens took a step back as if preparing to escape. Bryan dropped to his knees, his hands digging into his scalp. "He's here!" The young man yelled hoarsely as if he had strained his vocal cords. Blood trickled from his ears down his neck and he fell to the ground wriggling around like a fish pulled out of the sea. His sick convulsions carried on ceaselessly for seconds, a wide grin plastered on his face. "The wronged will be made clean. They will be delivered, I am a servant. I have brought them to be cleansed under your holy light. I remember. ⊑⟒ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⍀⟒⟟☌⋏ ⍙⟟⏁⊑ ⊑⟟⌇ ⍾⎍⟒⟒⋏. Iref Sihyunun!" was the last word the man spoke before he convulsed once more, a yellow foam decorating his mouth.
A grey streak rushed past the teens faster than they could perceive. A meat-ripping sound was all they picked out and their heads slowly turned to the scene. There Kelsi stood, her mouth wide open, words failing to escape. A long greyish tendril lodged in her abdomen. The thing wiggled as blood poured from the hole it had made in the girl before it violently pulled out her entrails.
"Run!" Rue yelled as the teens dashed through the forest. It must have been hours as they continued to run. Tears streaked down Gael's face as he stopped before heaving his breakfast into a small nearby bush.
"We have to go back, we can't just leave her there!"
"She's dead, Gael, we can't go back! That thing, whatever it was, it'll…" Luca couldn't finish. He had seen it effortlessly rip open a close friend, tears fell down his face too. He'd looked back as they were running and he caught a glimpse of the thing.
"So what, we just leave her there?!"
"It's the most logical choice, even if she survived somehow, we can't help."
"Fuck you, that's all that matters to you, isn't it? Screw your logic, you think you're better than everyone"
"What I think doesn't matter, facts are, if you go, you'll end up no different. I saw the thing, Gael. Whatever it was, I don't think it's even supposed to exist"
"No shit, Sherlock, It had like a fifty-foot-long ass tendril!"
"You don't get it. I'm not talking about that. It has these colours that I've never observed before. They had shapes, I could hear them too, It's like its very skin was going in and out of itself and, I don't know" Luca trailed off as he recalled it. He couldn't describe it, But he saw it.
"If you two are done bickering, we have to move. We need to get to the main road, maybe someone will give us a lift. Gael, I'm sorry about Kels, I know you loved her but she's gone. We'll mourn her," Rue said as she gently squeezed his shoulder. Rue was calm but the sweat and tears marked her visage, which she had tried to hold together. Luca was inspired and nodded his head in agreement.
As they wandered at a speedy pace further a familiar cry rang across the forest. Kelsi's voice, Gael bolted towards the cry, Luca and Rue ho on his heels, "Wait!" Luca yelled. Gael sped up, as the screams rang louder, she was close.
Gael was hit with something heavy square in the face and fell to the ground, his head cracking open leaking out some brain matter. The creature Luca had seen stood above him, its clawed hand pressing his head down. Kelsi's voice escaped from its mouth, A cruel lure. It opened its mouth revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth circling the inside as a sharp long proboscis shot out of its mouth and pierced the corpse in its grip, it made a slow sound of joy as it drained Gael of his fluids and colour. It cocked its head to the side as it fixed its eyeless gaze on Luca. The familiar creature had two openings where its nostrils should have been and four tendrils protruding from its back, each with blade-like claws. The visceral image of it made Luca heave as he tried to process what he was looking at, its colours went through him as if they were sound, they had edges and turns that phased in and out. Luca bolted.
Laughter rang behind him as he ran. He could feel its gaze, it knew him and he knew it somehow.
"You can stop running," Rue said standing in front of him as he came to an abrupt stop.
"How did you?"
"Get in front of you? Don't play dumb, Luca. We both know you're smarter than that."
"No, it's not true, you couldn't" Luca panicked.
"Oh I could have, I wanted to even. Those two were so annoying. I didn't though."
"How?!"
"The book. I gave it back to you, you wrote it after all, as a gift to me." Rue said stepping closer to him. "You worshipped me, called on me. So I answered. I came here to deliver what you wanted," She stood inches from him now, her voice a sound that gnawed on his subconscious. His brain ached as he wracked over her words, were they even words?
"I didn't, No. I- you're playing tricks on me !" Luca retrieved a small blade from his pocket.
Rue giggled as the pocket knife flew out of his grip and jammed into his thigh. He cried sharply as the pain stung his entire leg. "Cute."
"You've been writing that book ever since you were your father. That was my gift to you. For aeons that work passed down until it was time for you and you are the last for I promised you bliss. Complete and beside me," Rue said as she shifted her appearance it the creature that devoured his friends.
Luca shuddered as he took a step back, Rue dug her claws into his shoulder and a long worm-like white tongue shot out from her proboscis and sunk it in his throat touching on something primal within him. She touched it, the carnal desire, he'd been here, many aeons ago. But, when? His thoughts drifted as she carried him up, ascending to a higher plane. His headache now a sharp migraine had vanished as his mind shattered entirely, morphing into its primal state. He had missed her, she had called to him and he had answered his bride. Her journey across the miasma of realms, infinitely scattered across the bastions of countless ruined civilisations and dead behemoths to find him and awaken him from his slumber. He knew his name and finally, he spoke it in the first tongue, his own, ⟟⍀⟒⎎ ⌇⟟⊑⊬⎍⋏⎍⋏.