Pitch Black Threads

As I stared between my feet, vision blurred, and watched the hazy dark green shape of my puke expanded as it dripped down the stairs. My breathing became uneven and my body went numb. Something truly disgusting was ahead of me. I felt a gentle warmth pat my back as I was bend over. I looked up in the hazy and saw the shape of Magdeline's face looking at me.

"I'm truly sorry, I've assumed that thou would've seen such a sight by now." She said.

I tried to respond with something reassuring, but the words were unable to escape me through my messy breaths. I closed my eyes, still bent over, waiting for another wave of vomit to come spewing out, though none came. I stayed like this for a bit, still keeping my eyes closed, praying it was just a nightmare, but the stench of rot always brought me back to reality. We must've stood still for a while because Magdeline decided to interrupt the silence.

"I knoweth now that thou is ill-suited for such a sight, but we must push on. Worry not, thou may keep thine eyes closed, for I can guide thou." She said calmly.

Her offer overwhelmed me with a feeling of uselessness, a feeling that somehow felt very familiar. I appreciated her offer, but taking it knowing that I would become dead weight didn't sit right with me. I shouldn't be a burden on her, so I opened my eyes and stood tall. In my view, I saw the aftermath of a grotesque massacre. In the dim light, the silhouette of an unimaginable dark form took shape. It's surface glistened slightly in the hint of light, similar to exposed flesh. It's shape was jagged and twisted and it covered the entire ground ahead, leaving only a few splotches of exposed ground within its entangled and overlapping nature. Black spikes jutted out in all directions from its markings on the ground. At the base of each spike, webs of black treads intertwined with the ground and protrusions. The growth was still and seemed inanimate, but had the texture and shape of something that was a cross between giant crystals and once living flesh. Though this "thing" was grotesque in its own right, it was what it had taken over that made me sick. Embedded in its jagged roots were the blackened bodies of decayed corpses. There were many scattered throughout the growth, all in different positions. Some were seated with their skeletal faces exposed, others had their arms reaching out, and some had even been dismembered with their parts suspended by black threads and stakes. The smell of death was putrid throughout. It was a sight of pure misery.

Magdeline gently grabbed my wrist. "Cover thine mouth and eyes if this becometh too much for thou." She said quietly. She began to walk forward, gently tugging me along and I followed. As we continued forward, the ground beneath my feet went from the familiar stone bricks to the uneven, pitch black growth. We stepped carefully in between its vines on the few exposed areas of firm ground it had left. I glanced sided to side at the exposed corpses that jutted out from the black masses. Their bones were clear as day and their flesh barely hanging on to the little structure their skeletons offered. Both the bone and flesh had been blackened to the likes of the mass, with some even taking its form. Jagged vines grew from the withering bodies and threads hung between them and the black crystal-shaped masses.

I kept my nose plugged in between my thumb and pointer. Magdeline covered her face with her other hand as she still kept a clasp around my wrist. Though I could power through the sight of it all, the stench was unbearable. From the smell alone, it felt that this sight has been festering for years by now. It was sickening.

As we continued stepping over the growth, it gradually thinned out as we neared a few buildings. Magdeline made it safely onto open ground and waited for me. As I lifted my foot off the ground, something must've snag, because within a split second my vision began turning. Instinctively, I turned to grab something. I black thread that hung from a grotesque spike just so happened to meet my fingers. I felt Magdeline tug my wrist as she tried to pull my back, but I had already fully grasped the web of darkness in my hand. It's texture was warm and somewhat stiff, though it was hard to describe the sensation at my finger tips as it instantly began to subside. My vision suddenly went black and I began to drift. Then, in an instant I felt a tug at my wrist and my back hit solid ground. My eyes opened, and I saw a familiar tan stone ceiling above me. I heard the sound of heavy breathing just behind me. I turned onto my stomach and propped myself up with my arms to get into a kneeling position. I looked up and amber yellow eyes stared back at me.

"Art thou alright?" She asked.

I hesitated. "Uhhh... yeah."

"Thou has startled me! I couldn't thinketh what would happen if thou touched such a strange looking, hmm... thing." She said trying to come up with a word.

I got up to stand and the woman followed suit. "Right then, let us march forth!" She said trying to relieve the tension. We turned and continued walking, leaving the blackened landscape behind us. I stayed close behind the woman as we continued onward into another array of stone buildings. We took a right and walked out of the shadow and into the light. We continued along the edge of the ground where it had collapsed, between a dark town and open air, allowing the light to provide its warmth to us. Fauna crept over the sides of buildings and draped over the ledge, and small streams of water gently flowed out from the crevasses dripping over the edge. I stared at the back of this woman all covered in dirty white cloth and couldn't help but think to myself, what was her name again?