Akanor: Tales From Necro Box Set Page 5

  The field is vast towards all directions, except behind me where stump filled Wastelands slumber. Its unknown to me why the fields were smothered, as if a raging fire had bludgeoned its surface for good. I got to thinking if another prisoner like me had ever made it out of this place. Perhaps during his escape it was torn apart.

  Will I make it this time? I asked ma’self as the mist felt pity on me and let me catch a fleeting glimpse of the Tower.

  This is the moment. It’s now or never. If I don’t fight with everything I’ve got, I’m doomed to die in these wretched lands, I thought.

  ***

  I mustered whatever courage I could from ma’ shattered soul. I had to let go of the safety under the shadows of the dead forest, which made me invisible to most of ma’ foes. Only the Bloodsuckers could find ma’ scent, as I was drenched in fear.

  I crouched up to scan the area one last time ‘afore I took off. I had learned that Bloodsuckers had poor eyesight but a good nose. The Shockers had even worse vision, yet I couldn’t figure out how their two electrified heads sensed me. The Compressor was the greatest mystery of all. That one I could never understand no matter how much I studied its behavior. All I’d seen was that it bellowed in your face a sequence of numbers, as if to maintain focus during its attack.

  I already knew I was taking too much time to move out. The field ‘afore me was vast and it would take several sprints to reach the Tower.

  The last times I’ve sprinted blindly into the mist out of shear desperation, I got nothing but misfortune. But this time I’d be patient.

  I recon I’d never seen so much destruction ‘afore ma’ eyes. Ma’ daddy would’ve loved to plow, plant, and harvest the fields. But if he were here then I guess he’d already be dead. This place offers no room for them optimistic cowboys a’looking to a’ride a steer without resistance. No sir.

  As the mist yawned and opened its brutal mouth I could see beyond its veil. Into the core of the fields and up the slopes I saw the Tower beckoning to me. The yawning mist also granted me one more secret: evil sentries looming the fields!

  I caved in on ma’self to avoid being seen by the two headed monster. I studied how it moved like ma’ grand’ma’s beaten Chevy, making noises with its old busted engine. But make no mistake, that thing will chew you up ‘afore you can say cheddar cheese.

  Close by a Compressor loomed randomly in circles like a mad man, yelling it’s godforsaken numbers out loud. It was madness, and perhaps that’s what bothered me most of its sight and attacks: it drove you insane with it’s one, two, three, four, five, six! It yelled with such vehemence you’d swear he’d rip your face off with his foul breath.

  Behind me. Movement made me spin around. A shriek of death paralyzed me. A Bloodsucker was moving in for the kill, screeching like a dying cat. And there were two of them. God save me.

  I was surrounded and they knew they had the upper hand. They knew I wouldn’t dare run into the field, not while the mist wasn’t covering it. They had me cornered. I could feel their yearning to torture me, drain me of blood and cast me back to the abyss. This was a dance to the death.

  I picked up a branch. It was carbonized but not brittle, and was sharp like hell’s tooth.

  The Bloodsucker’s red face was as ugly as Medusa, if you’ve ever seen her. They had black eyes and very long incisors, so long in fact they wouldn’t fit in their humanoid mouths––sticking out like on a wild boar. But these beasts wouldn’t gut me. They would tackle me with their long limbs, paralyze me with their rubbery fingers, and then leech on to me wherever they found running blood. They would suck ma’ life dry and cast me back to the abyss.

  I became feral. You’ve no idea the surge of energy coming from within when you become wild with the fear of death. Dear Lord there was a beast within me, a fact I’ve always known but had been to scared to admit. I’ve seen it go wild in ma’ daddy when he used to get pissed off at me. That rare beast can tear and shear like none other. I let ma’ dangerous nature take control of the situation.

  The Bloodsuckers looked at each other with fright. For the first time I’d seen them flinch.

  I lunged at them like a shot from ma’ old man’s deer rifle. In a split second I had pierced one of ma’ foes in the eye socket. I felt a primal rage explode within me. The other Bloodsucker wanted to run away, but I was on it like a cheetah on an injured elk if you’ve ever seen one. Damn did I rip it to shreds with ma’ hands and teeth. I buried ma’self in that things flesh, tearing it apart in a flash. I then understood why they tore up with such ease.

  As ma’ nerves calmed down and ma’ energy plummeted, I studied the body of the fallen and found they had no bones! Them bastards were soft jelly beasts, but hell, they would leave you lifeless if you let them.

  I found ma’self more confident than ever. But that fight had drained and stunned me.

  I crouched again behind the same tree and decided to wait. I had to be prepared for when the mist came back and covered them fields, ‘cause it would be ma’ chance of making it to the Tower and escaping this unfortunate world.

  Wait…I had a brilliant idea.

  I reached back to where the rotting carcasses of the Bloodsuckers lay. I scooped out their jelly-like flesh, painting ma’ body red with their blood. They stank like a skunk’s piss if you’ve ever smelled it. I speculated this would camouflage my scent. If I’m hiding amongst my foes, I figured I had more leverage.

  The mist was near. It ebbed like an ocean’s tides. I saw no moon and couldn’t tell if the mist was lured by a foreign object. I was slowly becoming acquainted with it’s behavior.

  The mist was thick and humid. It moved like a thousand headed worms of peace, delightfully filling unoccupied space. It’s corpus was tremendously big and soft. For the first time I thought I had an ally. The mist covered up the field ‘afore me with completeness. I lost vision of the slopes and the Tower atop it, making me feel a wince of despair. I wasn’t gonna be defeated this easily, not when I’d mustered the bravery to slay ma’ enemies. Don’t get me wrong, to kill a Shocker or even worse a Compressor sounded impossible, yet I knew I could fight ma’ way out of peril like a cornered wolf.

  I rushed out without thinking for long, ma’ body drenched in the crusting blood of a beast. I was catapulted with a jolt of energy, sprinting like a roadrunner, covering a vast distance in what seemed a few strides.

  “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!!” yelled a Compressor not far from ma’ position. They’ve found me!, I thought with dread. This meant the Shocker was not far away…

  SHOCK! SHOCK! The two headed monster was upon me! I sprinted around it, yet one of its wiry tentacles got a hold of ma’ ankle. I fell head first to the arid soil and bruised ma’ skin. A gash opened whence blood a’flowed like the rivers of yonder. Will the blood of the Bloodsuckers infect me with some strange sickness? I thought as I felt ma’ face drench in ma’ own vitality intermixed with the blood of ma’ foes painting ma’ skin.

  Ma’ once feral beast was whimpering like shy dog, which meant I was in complete despair. The Shocker’s heads found me, their smooth, metallic surface reaching for ma’ chest, but their eyesight was so poor they missed several times, hitting the ground and neighing like dying horses. This was it. Now or never.

  I mounted one of the Shocker’s necks, burying ma’ finger nails like claws into its flesh. I rode it like a bull, thanking ma’ daddy for having taught me how to ride. I dug ma’ teeth into it’s flesh and felt it crunch like a ripe apple, hearing it whimper as I did so.

  The thing collapsed on itself and fell to the floor, screeching in terror. I think those things have never been attacked ‘afore. Ma’ old man always said some of your own medicine teach you good. I guess he was right.

  “One, two, three, four, five, six!” yelled the Compressor.

  I rolled away from the dying two headed beast and saw the gigantic boulder-like monster crash into the Shocker’s body. With it’s huge hands the size of picku
ps, the hideous thing began compressing the Shocker at such a fast rate while it counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six!” until it smothered it into nothing but lifeless pulp.

  The Compressor was bathed in glory as it rejoiced in the remains of the felled, and I couldn’t have thought of a better scenario to simply flee into the depths of the mist. I thought perhaps ma’ blood had covered the Shocker with ma’ stench and perhaps that’s why the Compressor thought it was me, and was rejoicing in its victory. The gigantic thing let out a war cry so dreadful I had to stop dead on ma’ sprint. I looked back at it. It was eating the Shocker, binging on its red pulp…

  I sprinted for hours on end, stopping several times to gather ma’ breath. Ma’ legs were half dead by then, the gash on ma’ head was exposed like I was when my mother brought me into the world. Yet it was drying up, because I was dehydrated by losing blood and sweat.

  I had lost much strength and was quite sure I wouldn’t survive another battle like that one. I still had to climb the gigantic wall of the Tower. But if I bled out before getting there I would die and would surely be back at the abyss, and you already know how much I dread that unholy place.

  ***

  I trotted like a race horse without spirit, feeling I was acting out of pure automaticity. Ma’ feral beast was half dead and ma’ intelligent being was silent.

  I crashed and broke ma’ nose. Shit, it hurt like a thousand porcupines embedding their needles in ma’ face. I closed ma’ eyes to let the pain clear out and leaned against a cold, stone wall.

  A wall!

  I’d made it to the slopes and had been running on them without noticing! I must’ve been so exhausted I failed to notice I was a’running uphill. No wonder I was so goddamned tired. This must be the base of the tower!, I thought with no less glee than ma’ little sister when she turned fifteen.

  I opened ma’ eyes and inched closer to the wall. The mist was so strong here you couldn’t see beyond your nose. When I got close enough to the surface I could almost taste the stone’s minerals. And I did. I licked it out of pure savagery, as if I could restore ma’ body’s missing elements.

  The stone was salty and musky, albeit it was stale because ma’ tongue was dry. I licked it again and even tried to bite it, but found the second taste was worse than the first. But it awoke me, brought me back to ma’ senses and made me realize how tired I actually was.

  There was nothing more here for me than to relax or plow onwards like ma’ papa on his fields. Ma’ mind wanted nothing less than to be at the highest room of the Tower, where I figured an exit out of this world must lay.

  Heeding to ma’ natural instincts I searched around for possible sources of nutrition, finding nothing but the stellar emptiness of a dead and forgotten world.

  Where am I?, I thought as I studied ma’ surroundings. Everything is so desolate…why? I had no answer to ma’ own inquiries. I had only the faulty vision of ma’ waning consciousness.

  A gust of wind struck me on the face. Oh, how refreshing it felt yet I didn’t contemplate if the wind was blowing here it would blow elsewhere too. Such was ma’ energy state I forgot elemental things.

  I delved into the pleasure of being caressed by the cool air at the heights I found ma’self in, letting its hidden tunes carry me towards the unknown. I was mindless for some time, flying with the notes of forgetfulness. I didn’t know how high a price I would pay for ma’ deliberateness.

  ***

  The gust of wind had been temping the mist while I was being cherished by it, yet from what seemed to happen in a blink o’ an eye the mist suddenly vanished. I opened ma’ eyes upon feeling the grey light of this world hit ma’ face with the spank of nature’s wrath. I felt naked without the cloudy veil covering ma’ body.

  I knew I was doomed, but ma’ demise had nearly begun. Had I continued, however tired I was, I could’ve probably been at the top of the tower, or at least half way through. Laziness had become the angel and the devil on my shoulders. Life seems to have two edges everywhere, with the dangers and havens intermixed in a way you’d never tell’em apart.

  The wind seemed to caress me no longer. Shit, I thought. Ma’ camouflage was gone thanks to ma’ sweating. I’d better get a’climbing or I’ll be a’dying soon enough! I would’ve knocked on wood if there was any, for I knew luck was no longer at ma’ side. It had remained too long and I’d wasted it’s juvenile presence.

  The climb was harder than I imagined. The stones were simply too big for me and the crevices between them too shallow to grasp with ma’ bare hands. At first I moved as fast as a juicy caterpillar. It was horrible and I felt groggy from such laggardness.

  A thousand clanging forks and spoons would never exemplify what I heard while I was climbing that wall barehanded, yet such example is the best picture I can paint of what I perceived. I peered to the slopes as I hung from the wall, and found a hell sent message, perhaps a Hello kiss from the abyss itself. I could already tell it wanted to possess me zealously, otherwise it wouldn’t have sent more than a hundred Bloodsuckers to fetch me. Those things cannot fly yet they’re fast as angry spiders and move like so when ticked off. They squirmed towards me and I knew I had to move as fast as I could to survive this feat.

  Forbidden from the peace of logic, I was stabbed several times by fear. I thought ma’ energy would never surge from the deep wells they were quelled at, yet you’d never imagine the pulse of energy I felt rising from some hidden cove within me.

  I thought ma’self dead when this blast of force took over me. This blast of pure survival rage bloomed and made me climb that wall like a hare fleeing from an eagle.

  Even when deteriorated, your body will attempt to survive at any cost, to sacrifice whatever organ to make a last stand. I felt a stab of pain on ma’ right flank and was quite sure ma’ body was sacrificing ma’ kidney. As brutal as that sounded, I simply rode the tidal wave and joined the forces beyond ma’ comprehension. Some things in life are meant to linger unquestioned.

  You could’ve sworn I was a gecko if you were there to see me, such was ma’ agility and speed whilst climbing. I bet hell never knew how elusive I could become. It sent it’s worse, but I did ma’ best and managed to evade its clutches.

  ***

  After what felt like an hour elapsing in a nanosecond, ma’ calloused hand finally grasped an opening on the tower’s wall. It was a window, I noticed, as I stepped through it into a vast room.

  I was awestruck to find ma’self midst its warmth and treacherous decor. It simply didn’t make any sense with the world outside.

  I peered through the window and saw them Bloodsuckers were now running away as fast as they’d come. This is very odd, I thought. The Tower was so tall I could gaze at the world beyond me with ease…but there was not much to see.

  Far beyond the slope and the field I had crossed a’running for ma’ dear life, lay the shadows of the Wastelands and its rotting trees. And somewhere within those shadows lay the abyss whence I escaped from. That blackness…the pitch’s despondent stare of nothingness drives you mad. I’d rather be chewed alive by a Compressor than return to that ungodly place.

  The room was very strange and did not make sense with the dreadful world outside. It was as if this setting existed with the sole purpose of providing some type of overseer with an excellent view of the exterior world…

  I felt a sudden flare of distrust. If this place was indeed an overseer’s quarters, this meant he or she or it might be somewhere around. I had to be careful.

  I moved from the window to what seemed to be a living room with couches the color of marble. They reminded me of something I had seen in another place and time…in what appeared to be another dimension.

  I moved with the shyness of a ghost, looking at the decor. There were pictures hanging from the walls of people smiling, whom I could’ve sworn I’ve seen in another place and time…

  There was a dinning room. The table was wooden and unpolished. There was room enough for six, four at i
ts sides and two at the extremes. The chairs were neatly pushed in. The table was set, forks and all, plates and mats. I walked around it, amazed to see and contemplate an overseer of such a terrible world could actually sit down and eat with his companions whilst others suffered.

  I recon I no longer felt scared, only angry. I felt raw and sick from fleeing. And all that while some custard devil was a’watching me suffer. I needed to find that sniffer and beat the jollies out of it.

  Anger clouded ma’ judgement. I took one of those pretty table knives in ma’ right hand and prepared ma’self to kill the overseer, whoever or whatever it was. I peaked at the four corners of the room and found only an empty closet and…no doors! Who the hell lives in a place with no doors? This means…the only way to reach this place is through the window…

  I froze. If this is true then where is there overseer? Why is the room empty? Is he in some sort of mission elsewhere?, I thought in ma’ anger.

  I decided to sit down in one of the chairs at the dinning table. I thought: If I were the master of this domain, I’d sit on one of the extremes. The King has only one place, I thought.

  I guessed such a seat would be the one that permitted the person to have a broad view of the quarters, the same ma’ daddy had occupied while I was a child and lived in his house.

  I sat down right there and made ma’self at home. Indeed I had a good view of the room. It was cozy and warm…and it reminded me of something…

  A vision invaded ma’ senses. I saw a brown haired woman walk towards me with a warm smile. I flinched violently upon seeing her, but then I relaxed as she walked away as if discussing something with someone.