THE WORLD THAT TOOK HER

The clouds turned golden brown in an instant—looking more like the gates of heaven were opening and stretching as far as the eyes could see. He looked around in panic with a thought that everyone around had noticed it, but to his surprise, no one noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere—to be specific, no person was present during this strange phenomena. He held his sister’s hand to calm himself only to realize the cold sweat running down her delicate palm.

In a blink, a cold gust of wind swept their feet of the ground—as if there was a change in gravity pulling the both of them towards the seemingly endless heavens.

“Grab my hands!”

He said; screaming at the top of his voice; stretching forth his arm, wild and trembling, as though the act alone could change fate. Almost immediately, with a horribly deafening sound, the heavens which seemed to have opened as if receiving something into it let out a blood curdling screech.

Shrieking in agonizing pain, they both covered their ears with their hands because the noise sounded so distorted that it felt like their eardrums were forcefully ripped out through their ears, dragging the brain along. As the noise intensified they felt it in their bones. Emerging from the heavens were tentacle-like objects—upon closer inspection they looked like human hands but they were so dark that a shadow compared to them would appear gray.

Two of the tentacle-like arms immediately grabbed onto his sisters legs, dragging her and at the same time squeezing and twisting it. A horrified expression enveloped her face as her wailing intensified at every “crunch” sound her bones made.

“It hurts!”, “brother, it hurts!”

She said; wailing in agony, grinding on her tongue to end herself immediately. Blood flowed endlessly from her eyes and mouth as she kept her gaze on her brother whom with a breaking voice called her name endlessly; desperately trying to reach her. To her, death felt like a far more reasonable choice. The infinite number of tentacles began dragging, ripping and tearing her body apart. Slowly. Piece by piece. Limb by limb. Every second it took to crush a bone felt like an eternity.

His eyes wide open, sobbing out in agony, frantically trying to reach for his sister—whom had gotten reduced to only a head. As soon as he grasped the only remains of his sister; the heavens turned blood-curdling crimson, the smell of iron and bile filled the atmosphere. He heard an agonizing whisper in his head—distorted and unclear, he couldn’t fully understand the words, but beyond all doubt; it was the voice of his sister.

“You and your blood-kin have been transmigrated” …

Hearing the voice endlessly in his head left him a heartbeat away from madness. Emerging from the heavens; a dark phantom haze began veiling him as he let out a manic, anguish laughter. The memories of his sister’s demise, kept replaying in his mind, as the voice reverberated in his head. Easing into him—through his mouth, nose and ears; the phantom haze, seeped into every blood stream in his body, he could feel it spreading slowly and painfully—like being bit countless times— in a flowing pattern by velvet ants. It was painful but he didn’t scream: He had lost his mind.

Slowly, the same hands that took his only family, dragged him into the abyss of heavens. It grew darker and darker, submerged in a see of Blackness, it felt like light was gently being erased from existence: and then, he heard it again, his sister’s voice—but this time more clear, subtle and calm.

“You have been blessed with the curse of a dead eternal; will you fulfill its will?”…

He couldn’t answer; with a lifeless eye, he could only stare into the abyss which slowly embraced him.

He snapped upright, torn from sleep like a drowning man ripped from black water, his breath ragged and chest heaving. He looked around in confusion wondering were he was… but that didn’t seem to bother him as much as he is for his sister.

He immediately got on his feet, lunging towards a metal door to open it, but it had no handle, he tried pushing the door but it didn’t budge. Then he snapped, face squeezed in anger, he said in rage and a deafening loud tone while frantically hitting the steel door.

“Hey!, who’s the idiot that locked me in here, let me out!”.

No one answered, the entire surrounding was quiet… wanting to scream again; he heard a deep voice from behind saying in a moderate tone, and in a foreign language that he strangely understood,

“You fool, shut your mouth, you’ll anger the guards”.

Turning back in bewilderment he was shocked to see that he wasn’t the only one in the room, he was certain that he didn’t see the strange bald man wearing stripped clothes when he awoke.

He asked the bald man,

“Who are you?…”

The bald man looked at him, bewildered, then he said in the same moderate tone as earlier,

“Ah, you’ve finally lost your mind, I thought you could hold on until the day comes”.

As the bald man said those words, Clerk felt a throbbing pain in his head, as if a sharp object had pierced his temple, twisting it in the process.

Feeling dizzy—he fell backwards hitting the steel door behind him. Closing his eyes, he saw memories of events he didn’t live, that’s when it hit him…

“These memories are not mine”… “so as this body”… Clerk said to himself as he observed his body.

He realized that he wore the same striped clothes as the bald man, but he’s were marked with a red stroke.

His eyes widened in horror, cold sweat running down his pale face… he said in a low, shivering tone,

“Im in prison!, to be executed the next day”…

The bald man laughed out loud like a maniac, shouting in a mocking tone,

“He has finally returned to his senses!”…

The prison yard which had been quiet suddenly chorused in thunderous mocking laughter, as they all began raining insults on Clerk.

Clerk dropped to his knees as he realized, he just had till tomorrow to live, to top it off, the mocking laughter and insults raining on him made him feel more depressed, making him nauseated.

He felt more dizzy than before, the world around him seemed spin fast, cold sweat endlessly sliding down his face, His stomach convulsed violently, a wet gag tearing from his throat. Then it came — a foul, chunky flood that splattered onto the floor with a sickening squelch. Half-digested meat and strings of bile dangled from his lips, thick and reeking like rot.

After he was done, a circle with strange glyphs, runes, and patterns appeared under the spot where his puke laid, and in seconds the puke vaporizes, then the circle fades away.

Clerk paused from being depressed because he was shocked at the sight he just saw. He screamed,

“Magic!”

Pointing at the direction where his puke was wiped off. He asked the bald man, whom is still laughing; to please explain to him what magic in this world is. The bald man asked,

“What is magic, is that a word?”

Clerk stared at him, baffled. The bald man then shouted,

“He’s a total dum-head!”

Again, the prison yard chourosed with nerve-racking laughters.

In a distance, Clerk noticed something approaching at full speed, he tried warning the bald man, but all the man could do was insult and make gest of Clerk.

Before Clerk could realize it, the object had already broken through the veils that guarded the prison, slicing off tops of the prison’s fortress and finally crashing onto the walls of baldy and Clerks cell rooms.

Clerk jumped quickly to the side, but Mr baldy barely had time to rise from the corner. The object of radiance split him from hip to shoulder in a flash, the cut so clean that for an instant he looked untouched. Then his body peeled open like a butchered carcass—one half slamming the wall, the other slumping to the floor. What had killed him looked similar to the circle that had vaporized puke, but this one had a different color and it was a lot bigger.

The prison alarm went off: everyone in panic and many escaping. The prison guards were divided, some where sent after prisoners who had escaped; to kill them on the spot. Some were sent to go investigate the source of the circle, while the rest stayed behind to take care of the situation in the prison.

Looking at the broken walls in front and ahead of him, a wide smile appeared on his face, probably because he had an incredible luck, he knew that an opportunity like this would never come again. He said to himself smiling,

“This is my only chance to escape, and find my sister”.

“Don’t worry Martha, big brother’s coming to save you”.