In a space devoid of life, except for the intermittent thunderbolts that illuminate the desolate, grim terrain.
The sky, engulfed in darkness, briefly flickered with each lightning's sinister glow, offering glimpses of the gloomy realm. Unearthly creatures roaming around. Twisted amalgamations like a tortoise form sporting a grotesque cow head, its cracked shell oozing with a putrid dark liquid. I
t was a world far different from the last time Morningstar had been here while practising QI. The sky was completely black, and the only light came from the sporadic strikes of lightning that briefly illuminated the dark land.
And there were beasts, hideous creatures that seemed to be cobbled together from pieces of different animals.
A cat with a chicken's head, its skin oozing with dark, putrid slime could be seen pecking on the rotten flesh of a snake with a wolf's head, its fangs still dripping with venom.
A spider with a human face, its eyes glowing with cruelty as a cute smile shows on its human-like face as it hides and looks at a tiger-like beast, but with eight legs and a single eye on its forehead. Its mouth stretched all the way to its neck, revealing sharp yellow fangs dripping with greenish saliva that releases sizzling sounds while touching the floor.
Some meters away stood dark fleshy plants that used their roots like spears, impaling any animal that wandered too close and draining them of their blood.
Some plants even had sharp teeth and could drag their prey into their maws, chewing them up like a monstrous Venus flytrap. The entire landscape seemed to be designed for death, a world of horrors that no 'weak' living thing could hope to survive in.
Even some part of the ground itself seemed to be alive, its dark red soils moving like liquid. Creatures would be swallowed up by the ground and dragged into the earth by the sentient soil. The ground was like a hungry monster, always on the hunt for prey.
The very air itself seemed tainted, smelling of decay and death. It was as if the world itself was corrupted.
In other parts of the world, skeletons of all shapes and sizes roamed, their green, fiery eyes glowing with a hunger for blood. These undead monstrosities shambled around aimlessly, but when they saw a living creature, they would give chase with frightening speed. Their empty eye sockets seemed to burn with hatred and rage, their bones rattling as they ran.The air around them crackled with energy as if even the laws of physics had been corrupted in this twisted world.
Meanwhile, in the sky above, demonic-looking birds circled around, their red single eyes scanning the ground below for prey. They were creatures of mist and shadow, their bodies insubstantial and ethereal.
But when they attacked, their razor-sharp talons could rend flesh from bone in an instant. And as they flew, the lightning would strike, illuminating their dark forms for a brief moment.
Suddenly, right then a dark rift covered in mist about 5 meters wide opened. The birds didn't even expect it and right then corpses, tens, hundreds and even thousands of them started falling out. The stunned birds still flying didn't expect it but they swiftly reacted by turning into mist, making the corpses not hit them. Just like that, with lightning flashing across the sky and corpses pouring from a rift up in the sky, it painted an awe scene. RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!!
RUMBLE!!!
Suddenly, right after a single corpse which might be the last corpse fell from the hole, the thunders didn't reduce, instead their might increased, and the rate at which they struck or flashed shot up. The mere sound of thunder's rumbling was enough to deafen weak beasts or humans. It was like the thunders were scared or happy about something which was coming out of the hole next and right then, two corpses or it should be said, living beings fall from the black rift. One of them had two black wings which were twice bigger than his body wide open as he fell.
It's clear he was unconscious. The other was clearly screaming as his hand kept flapping widely as he fell too and following him was his sword. With the lightning flashing around, Kofi was able to have a glimpse of the ground as they drew nearer. Looking down, he knew if they did not slow down they might hit the corpses and he felt like being stabbed by a bone might happen. Looking left, he saw Morningstar who was half-conscious. Before he could scream though, a lightning strike and following that, both Morningstar, Kofi and his sword disappeared.
:::::****:::::
Regaining consciousness, Morningstar felt all his bones hurting him, it was like each movement he made made them release a rattling sound. Curiously he looked around and discovered he was on top of a mountain. Looking closer he discovered it was made of bones but unlike how he would have instinctively reacted with shock.
This time he didn't. After undergoing a race change, this might be a side effect of it, fewer emotions, plus he already was someone who had fewer emotions and this race effect added to it. Definitely, it was bound to reduce Morningstar's emotions to close to zero. Calmly, he looked around and discovered Kofi who was sitting nearby.
"Thank God, you're awake," Kofi said as he stood up and helped Morningstar up.
It was at that time Morningstar discovered why his backbones ached due to him laying on what he suspected to be his wings. A bit happy he looked behind him and saw the wings.
"Men, I kinda envy your wings yuuno," Kofi said as he saw how Morningstar was giving the wings a look. At that moment he felt like the pain Morningstar went through for the wings was worth it.
"Where are we by the way?" Morningstar calmly asked after having a good look at his wings.
Oblivious to the change of Morningstar's voice, Kofi replied. "I don't know, the last thing I remember was us being swallowed by a black rift which opened while you were undergoing your evolution. Right then, we and the heaps of corpses were thrown into this world and before I could react, I saw lightning striking us and when I regained my sight. I found ourselves right here. Ah, what a rollercoaster of events." Kofi concluded his explanation with a sigh.
"That's odd, I wonder how we ended up here," Morningstar mumbled as he looked around. "I brought you two here."
A deep thunder-like genderless voice echoes startling Morningstar and Kofi.