Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 29: The Never-Ending Nightmares

Jay was running down a dark, ancient hallway in an attic, where the shadows were thickest and the voices following him were persistent. Flickering silhouettes followed him, haunting him relentlessly as he ran, whispering and murmuring strange words. Though he could never rest his eyes on any one of them, he felt their malignant gazes burning on his back. They despised him, they loathed his presence, and yet they fed eagerly on his fear and raced after him.

No matter how many different hallways he dodged, no matter how many times he tried to thwart this invisible threat, still they gained on him. He ran with all the strength he had, and yet the shadows kept their smooth pace and never seemed to tire—if anything, his futile attempts to escape made them run faster and near closer to his flying heels.

Several times he would turn into a dark, narrow corridor where a tall, shadowy form would fly down from the rafters with a scratchy hiss and swoop at him. The ghoul would strike so quickly that Jay could never make out its form, even though the thing would run into his face. The impact always felt like icy sand lashing, as if the creature were some kind of sand-ghost one could run through, and Jay cried out and struggled to get away from the whirling phantom. Abruptly the figure would disappear as soon as it came, but it made a point by letting his victim see it long enough to witness the phantom melting into the floor and vanishing, so that Jay would fear that it was flying beneath the floorboards beneath his feet and waiting for another chance to strike.

Jay was so scared that he didn't have time to freak out hysterically as he normally would. His heart felt as if it might burst out of his torso from pounding so hard, yet strangely, never once did he scream. He was too scared to scream; his cry might lure other phantoms from the deepest shadows to him. So he ran as fast as he could, still hearing the voices in the dark. Doorways flashed by his vision. He stopped at one to tug on the handle and bang desperately on the door.

The door handle suddenly melted like molten metal and burned his hand. When it dripped away onto the floor Jay realized that a thin, transparent blade was sticking through his palm. Frantic, he swung his arm through the air and smashed the blade repeatedly against the wall, yet still it stayed. There was no blood; the blade had merely pierced through his hand and was stuck there.

Something cold and bony grasped Jay by the ankles, and he felt himself feeling yanked to the dirty floor. The hands dragged him deeper into the shadows of the corridor.

Whirling around, Jay saw a grotesque being grinning back at him. It looked like a soldier from the Skulkin army, but its bones were ancient, a dusty brown, and peeling. Stringy, oily black hair framed the otherwise hairless skull, and dark, empty sockets stared back at him greedily. Its jaw hung open in a soundless cackle.

Soundlessly the floor gave way beneath him, and Jay fell down into a pitch-black hole. This time he cried out, and when he hit the ground he dimly realized that the strange blade in his hand and the weapon in his throat were gone.

He scanned his surroundings, but all was black; it would have made little difference if he had closed his eyes. What was odd was that Jay caught snatches of faint light from the corners of his vision, like far-off, twinkling stars, but when he searched deliberately for the pinpricks of light, they evaded his sight.

Something from behind Jay chuckled sardonically and shoved him to the ground. He whipped around and glared into the shadows, but could see nothing. Then a low, raspy voice spoke. It spoke not from the shadows, not from above, not from below or beside Jay. It came from inside his head. The voice reverberated in his ears as if Jay himself was speaking, and he was convinced that this new presence knew his every memory, his every emotion, and his every thought.

"Poor little child," the phantom purred. "So lost. So alone. Your heart is filled with fear, isn't it? You can't help but feel scared, and it eats away at you. Feeds on your mind."