"Damn it!!! I cannot believe it..." said Stellan, hanging upside down from an old tree. His senses had not fully returned, and his arms were numb, caused by a lesion in his head. However, he began to focus and could see that he was hanging upside down, from his left leg and the pain was becoming excruciating, now that he had regained consciousness.
“I cannot believe I got caught in my own trap”, he laughed hard at this unprecedented situation in which he had found himself.
He attempted to lift himself and liberate his leg from his own toothed metallic trap, which had bitten into his leg. The other end of it was tied to a branch, but it was all futile. The arms were still numb and all he could do was to wait.
"For how long can I wait? Is time going to favour me?" wondered and baffled by the unpredictable turn of events.
"This is a first for me, and who knows if fate will allow me to learn from it. However, I must cut the tie at all costs if I am to slaughter that damn beast," he cried while attempting to encourage himself.
"Eh, Drogus, what do you think of all this?" he turned and spoke to his horse. But to his amazement there were no traces of his horse and the only thing he could see was the saddle and the guitar.
“Always can rely on you Drogus. I will dedicate my next tune to your valorous spirit.” laughed mockingly while suppressing his pain.
“If all ends well, I will ask double payment from those villagers” contemplated with himself while the clouds dispersed and the moonlight brough illumination to the area.
As Stellan hangs upside down, his mind raced with conflicting emotions. Despite his outward bravado, doubts gnaw at the edges of his consciousness. Was he truly prepared for the dangers lurking in the Forest of Madness? Did he possess the strength and skill to overcome the malevolent forces that threaten to consume him? As the pain in his leg intensified, so too did his uncertainty, a nagging voice of fear whispering in the depths of his mind. Yet beneath it all, a stubborn determination flickered like a flame in the darkness, driving him to push forward despite the odds stacked against him.
He could see better his surroundings and noticed that the fog and darkness had covered the forest and trees were like islands in that dark – grey sea. In the distance he could see some flames and voices from afar came to him and this rekindled his spirit and hope. The torches were only a few hundred meters away, and there was a big line of them walking in the foggy forest.
“Hey anyone, can you hear me!!! Come and help me and I shall share the bounty with you” hoped to attract their attention.
No response came from the voices and he attempted to focus and localize them. To his amazement, suddenly the voices were all over and seemed having their rhythm and life. Suddenly they became distorted and inhuman.
“Well, no wonder this is called the Forest of Madness. I am hunting a beast that nobody has truly seen in a forest that plays with your mind and I am hanging upside down. Talk about cold humour spiced with lunacy” shook his head in disbelief.
The words of the tormented villagers came to him.
"Do not treat it lightly, Stellan the hunter. This forest plays a cruel game with your mind and soul. And it is the perfect dominion for the beast or demon that rules it," worried spoke Albert, chief of the village.
Stellan finished his beer, then grabbed a mug of water, poured it over his golden hair, and spread it through his trimmed red beard. Excitement, curiosity, and ambition took hold as a light blasted from his green eyes.
"You know, my new best friend, beasts or demons are my passion. Removing them from this world is a pleasure. If it won't be scared of my sword, then my joyous guitar will put it in eternal silence," he laughed and assured Albert.
"Many have come, but nobody has returned. We call the beast 'The Hell's Cry,'" said Albert ominously.
“Hahah, that is an amazing name. Imagine my next song: “Stellan makes hell cry”, is so poetic do not you think so Albert” laughed cheerfully while massaging his squared jaw.
“We call like that because sometimes ungodly voices pierce the forest and whoever is already venturing there, goes mad. The old ones say that when it is close to you, it makes you have illusions and after its own devilish amusement, scares the soul in eternity. Some consider it worse than death” attempted for the last time to make Stellan consider the matter seriously.
“Well Albert, prepare your 100 coins and tomorrow instead of endless cries, my new song of victory will pierce your ears and soul” walked towards the door, while giving a last smiling look to Albert and everyone else in the tavern.
He went out of the tavern and headed towards his horse that was resting in the stable. The stable was in miserable conditions since there were no morse horses in the village and the travellers were always avoiding to pass through it. The wood was rotten in many parts and in the box where the horse was resting, the bedding hay was not in the best of conditions. However, the horse did not seem to mind about the poor conditions and was chewing the hay in total indifference.
"Come on, old boy, a new adventure is ahead of us and more songs are on our horizon," he said, removing the leather rope and jumping onto the horse saddle. There were scattered people around the path that led to the forest but there was no sign of life in their faces. The torment they had to endure for so long had absorbed their spirit away and all that was left was like an empty shell that was existing without a true purpose. Albert had also come out from the tavern and was staring at Stellan as if wanting to see him for the last time alive.
"Can you tell me why you all still live here even though it seems that only misery and torment are part of your life? Why not flee to other villages?" inquired Stellan curiously.
“We tried to move to the other villages but they are all afraid of us and do not accept our presence. They believe that we are all cursed and doomed to go to hell and nobody wants to share the same fate like ours. In our desperate attempts to find a place, we even ventured in other isolated areas of the forest but it was all futile. The other villagers found out and forced us to abandon the new settlement. Without options, we returned here and since the last six years, we are living our lives in contact terror” explained exhausted Albert
“And what about the men of church, haven’t they tried to purify the forest from this evil spirit?” continued to ask Stellan
"The priest of the village abandoned us many years ago. He is sheltered in other villages of the region, with the excuse that he is praying to God and amassing huge divine blessings. In reality, he has abandoned us and would prefer for our doom to happen than spend a moment here," sighed Albert in resignation.
Stellan’s attention was soon redirected towards a well, and a small kid was standing in front of it, with his back to the road and everyone.
“That is odd. You say that there is no life here, but yet here there is a child. For saying that it is a cursed place and devoid of life, you still have children here,” pointed Stellan towards the child.
Tears flooded Albert's eyes, and he began to sob frantically. Although Stellan was getting used to the ghostly atmosphere around, that reaction caught him by surprise. Albert kneeled and began to weep even more while punching the ground as much as he could. The horse also appeared to get scared by this sudden change and began to move uneasily, forcing Stellan to pull the ropes and calm it down.
He got off the horse and began to walk with it towards the child. Nobody seemed to get close to the child and was looking into the distance as if afraid that something could be happening at any moment. Stellan finally stood above the child and observed him for some moments in silence, but the child did not seem to react to his presence.
“Hey, little one, how is it going? Wanna take a ride with my horse?” tried to engage with the kid, but he continued to stare at the well.
“Perhaps you want some water. I can help you with that if you want,” continued to talk and put his hand over the kid’s shoulder. But still, there was no reaction from the kid, and his hand felt as if it was resting on a frozen body.
Stellan tried to look towards the water reflection and catch a glimpse of the child's face, but he could not distinguish it. As Stellan neared the faceless child by the well, a cold shiver ran down his spine, prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. His footsteps slowed involuntarily, his instincts warning him of impending danger. The image appears blurred, and the coldness from the child made him lose his composure and forcefully turned the child towards him.
A scream of surprise and horror came out instinctively from his mouth from the terror his eyes were seeing for the first time in life. The kid's face, or if it could be even considered as such, was completely wiped out as if someone or something had erased it with a rubber. The eyes and nose were removed, and instead, were morphed into a blank of nothingness, and the only way of breathing was through the mouth. The child did not react or talk and remained “staring” in blankness towards Stellan, who was still in shock from what he had just seen. The sight of the child's featureless face filled him with a creeping sense of dread, like icy fingers tightening around his heart. A knot of unease twisted in his stomach, urging him to tread carefully in this realm of unknown horrors.
“It happened eight days ago. The child had awakened in the night and had gone out unheard by anyone out. Nobody knows how it happened, but the next morning they had found him, laying down on the ground “looking” to the sky next to the well," a voice spoke behind him.
Stellan reacted and turned towards the voice, and he saw a young woman who was looking surrendered and hopeless to the child. She approached them and grabbed the child by the hand and began to walk towards their house. As they were passing by Stellan, he could see that although the head was covered with a napkin, the yellow hair in them was still glowing. Her green eyes were still having a light in them compared to the fainted in the other inhabitants.
After walking with the child, she stopped and turned her head, looking at Stellan. Slowly she began to move towards him until she was in front of his face. With a sudden movement, she kissed him, and he could feel the faint warmth of her lips seeking to connect with him. She moved away from his lips and, looking at him, she grabbed his hand and held it.
“I am sorry for the kiss, but you might be the last man I can ever have the opportunity to feel. All the people here are like walking dead, and I feel that soon I will be like them. I want to keep and cherish this last emotion for as long as I can,” she apologized to a surprised Stellan.
“Why are you still staying here? You are the only young one I see here. Why don't you run for your life?” asked Stellan.
“I am bound to this place, and I cannot abandon my child. Even though he is not human anymore, I still love him and will care for him until life leaves me,” she said, looking at her child and then at Albert.
“He used to be so hopeful and combative, but all of this has taken a toll on him. He has also become a shell of himself, and seeing how his child has changed has totally drained his soul,” she said as she began to move away from Stellan.
“Run away from here and save yourself. Money and glory are not worth it if the price to pay is losing your humanity or worse. I plead with you, go and forget about us,” she gave a final warning with tears in her eyes.
Stellan seemed to have recomposed himself, and looking at the young woman holding the faceless child, he felt a surge in his soul, and determination took over him. If so far he had only cared about the thrill of adventure or the golden coins, the matter seemed to become more personal for him. Also, the woman's explanation only deepened the mystery, leaving Stellan with more questions than answers.
Walking to his horse, he jumped on him and whispered a command to ride towards the forest. Stellan began to play his guitar, and the smile returned to his face.
“Hey Albert, prepare your 100 golden coins because tomorrow they will be mine. And you, young lady, wait for me tomorrow. I still want to have a kiss from you,” shouted cheerfully Stellan. He mounted his horse and spurred it forward, determined to uncover the truth lurking in the heart of the forest.
Albert jumped in front of the horse's legs, in a final attempt to halt Stellan, but the other villagers who were witnessing the scene came by and took him by the arms, dragging him inside the tavern while he was still crying out loud and giving the last warnings to Stellan.
“You are walking towards your doom. Don’t go there!!!!”
Listening again to the last words of Albert felt like a cannonball in his soul, Stellan attempted to unsheathe the sword from the mill. The grip had become stronger, but while trying to cut the chain, the pain grew worse as the teeth pierced deeper into his flesh.
“No avail, need to improvise,” he prepared to face the voices as they were getting closer from every direction.
His eyes spotted a faint movement almost twenty meters away, and a darker shadow was engulfing the trees.
“Perhaps hell is opening the door for me. After all, it's craving me after increasing its population,” he stared point-blank at the increasingly darker-than-night shadow.
At that moment, an idea came to him, and he began to move his body. If he could not cut the chain, perhaps he could cut the branch.
After some desperate attempts, he managed to cleanly slice through the branch. He fell like a rock, feeling the teeth of his trap slice into his leg. He released a scream of pain, but there was no echo to it, and he also didn't hear the sound of himself falling. It was as if something like an invisible blanket had covered the area, and only the distorted voices in agony could be heard. Grabbing the guitar, he sat on a nearby rock and began to play some tunes, wanting to distract himself from the pain in his leg and shift the focus to the blackest shadow getting closer.
“I should have asked for double the coins,” he laughed while increasing the speed of playing the guitar and entering the void of battle. The moon again lit the area, and he could sense and feel the soulless shadow of a shape-shifter right in front of him. He couldn't distinguish any particular traits so that his brain could process what he was fighting against.
Standing up cheerfully while playing the music, he laughed strongly. “Yep, I should have asked for double…”
Unsheathing his sword, he took a fighting stance ready for battle and grabbed a small porcelain orb from his belt. The dark orange orb had some strange engravings on its surface, and once he smashed it on the sword, it ignited instantly. A chilling cold pierced his body, and from the change in the voices' tonality, he presumed the shadow was preparing for their inevitable battle. The cries of grievances and agony were morphed into battle cries filled with ungodly lust for flesh and soul.
This did not faze Stellan, and he grabbed another two orange orbs and threw them towards the epicentre of the voices, trying to find a location to strike the shadow. From the lighted fire, he managed to see an empty space appearing like a void. The fire orbs he threw began to circle around this void, but beyond it, he could not understand what was actually battling him.
“Never seen such a thing before. Is it even from this world?” he wondered while running to strike with his flaming sword at the shadow creature. Even though he managed to land a strike, it appeared as if he had sliced through air. But what amazed him the most was seeing the flame from his sword being absorbed by the void and filling the area again with impenetrable darkness.
“Curious thing you are. The more I fight you, the more I want to know what you are,” he expressed aloud his wonder and amazement. He grabbed other orbs from his belt, but they were green in colour, and once he threw them against the shadow, they immediately ignited. Their green light appeared to impact the beast as louder screeching sounds were heard immediately.
“I got you. Finally, I found what hurts,” exclaimed a thrilled Stellan at the successful strike. Jumping again and running towards the beast, he quickly smashed two other green orbs on his sword. Striking again towards the empty space, he managed to land a strike and could see a lightning crack appear there. The crack quickly closed, and from the void, he could see a black sphere with dark thunders being created.
“I don't know what that is, but I am not going to be stopped by it. I will use my sword to block the attack,” he encouraged himself while breaking another two green orbs, making the sword glow and pierce through the darkness. The shadow creature appeared to be ready for its attack and unleashed the sphere towards Stellan.
Stellan took a defensive stance and held the sword in front of him to intercept the sphere. The moment the sphere struck the green sword, he felt an unbelievable surge of energy coursing through his body, shaking him to his core. It was as if the sphere was composed of pure energy, permeating his being. However, Stellan's will and strength were at their highest, and he managed to remain on his feet until the black sphere disappeared.
“Hahaha, you are weaker than I truly expected. Perhaps I overestimated your power, and you are nothing at all. I am going to get rich and become a legend in the country,” he said, his confidence soaring.
Suddenly, he felt as if the air around him was changing, and an invisible force was pulling him towards the screeching void. Stellan countered by waving the sword towards the creature, and again the lightning crack appeared, accompanied by the intense screeching of despair and agony.
“Now you are mine, nameless being. Get ready to go to hell,” he said as he grabbed the last orbs and threw them at the formless foe. As he prepared to leap to a nearby rock to throw the orbs, his attention was caught by a shining object on the ground.
“What is that orb doing there? I threw all my orbs at the creature, and in my hand, I have the last two,” surprised and shocked, Stellan reacted to this unexpected situation.
A bit further, he managed to see another green sphere, and when he turned his head completely, to his horror and utter shock, he saw his body lying on the ground, staring blankly towards the sky. The sword was broken in half, and there didn't appear to be any physical wounds on his body.
“No... This... Is not... No,” panic surged through him, and terror stabbed his heart.
Suddenly, the voices around him became clearer, and he could hear for the first time what they were screeching.
“Mark the sacrifice for the Invocation of Voidance.”
Shivers and coldness conquered his being when those words filled his empty soul, and he saw the black void increasing in size while absorbing him. It seemed as though he was witnessing a metaphysical manifestation of his spirit being stripped from his body and absorbed into nothingness.
There was nothing further that he could do, and only accepting the impending doom was the most logical action to take. His senses reeled as if caught in a cosmic whirlpool, his very essence drawn toward the void of the creature. It was as though his soul was being devoured, consumed by the darkness with the same voracious hunger that a black hole devours light, leaving nothing but an empty, echoing abyss where once there was life and vitality. In that terrifying moment, he felt himself slipping away, his consciousness fading into the infinite depths of the creature's insatiable hunger.
Closing his eyes and accepting his fate, he smiled for the last time. When he felt himself entering the void, he smiled and uttered the final words:
“At least I had a kiss,” he murmured, never abandoning himself until the very last second.
Bio:
Being born and raised in different countries has given me an opportunity to admire and meet many cultures and learn languages and their histories. These have influenced me with my imagination and creativity and bring short stories to life.