Myriad

Chapter 4

The air around the boy was cold. So cold and unforgiving. Ceren's vision came back to him. He was sat on a chair in the spare room. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "Who's there..." he rasped hoarsely. The unknown figure moved from behind him and into the centre of the room. They were mostly cloaked, just like the woman he'd seen previously, but now...this person-

Cer's eyes pricked with awful tears. "Father?"

There was no mistaking it. He'd never seen his parents, never known their voice, never even truly knowing who they were. It was just his smiling siblings and his masked maid, for seemingly ever in that perfect garden, free of pain. "I gather you recognise me. Ceren...number 18...you didn't make it easy for the servant did you." he droned. His voice sounded synthetic, evil, empty, void of emotion. His face was obscured. "Why now? What do you want? Why..." Cer cried. It hurt so much...he didn't know what was going on, what happened to Charla.

"Leave your old life behind. Accept it into to your soul. This is your fate." The unloving voice said. The room was suddenly filled with a gaseous substance, and he could see it...a terrible shape, contorted and devilish, moving towards him. Dread, fear, disgust and anxiety filled his body, paralysing him, causing the endless stream of tears to continue down his mortified face. Whatever it was, Ceren hated it. It was pure evil...awfully deadly...

And right at his feet.

A face rotting and rejuvenating perpetually, bone, blood, flesh and tears leaking. Lifeless eye sockets with grotesque larvae squirming to get free, a smell of death; there it was, a demonic creature hell bent on consuming him. "No...help me, please don't let it take me." He whispered. Panic swelled within the hopeless boy's chest. "HELP ME PLEASE... DON'T LET IT TAKE MY MIND!" he shouted , struggling , until there was darkness. 

"MY NAME IS SEROTH. YOUR MIND, YOUR FEAR AND HAPPINESS; THEY ARE MINE.            

Say no. Refuse. Keep your love for them. Keep your will to struggle and prevail. But...although he wanted to do this, these feelings were gone. He approached the voice.

"Yes...I will. Why else would I continue living?" Ceren said.

Then, faintly, as if far in the distance, her voice. "Big brother, please!". "What are you doing??", the voice wailed. "I need you Cer!". "I want you to always be my special brother!" they finally cried.

The terrible world Ceren was trapped in shattered like a glass mirror around him. Charla! Ceren thought. She was gripping tightly to his waist, as if she never wanted to let go. Light encircled the both of them, creating an impenetrable shield. Charla no longer had her eyepatch on, and it seemed as if light itself was beaming out of her newly uncovered eye. 

"What is the meaning of this?" the evil figure sneered. "What stopped the absorption?". He looked towards the girl, searching for an answer. "Charla, listen to me, we need to get out of here, far away from this house. Do you understand?" Ceren said. She gave a nod. Pure determination filled her eyes. "Where's Corem?" Ceren urgently whispered. "I don't know..." his sister replied. The door was open, Winterwrong collapsed in a heap on the floor. Without hesitation, the children began to run. They were only just out of that awful room when they heard a bloodcurdling howl. Behind them, an animal of hell was approaching fast. A huge hound, pitch black with red lava-pool eyes. Teeth glistened as saliva dripped onto the floor. "RUN!!!" Ceren shouted. First, they had to find Corem. Ceren burst into his brothers room. He was shocked to see his sibling sitting there on the bed calmly, back turned to his brother.

"I know this might sound insane, but I just met dad and he tried to posses me or something...I don't really understand but I do know we have to get out of here now; there's a monster after us!" Cer had said it all in one breath. There was absolutely no time to spare. "Cer, I can hear it coming..." Charla said nervously from behind him. "I...I...he-" Corem was shaking, stammering. "What's wrong?" Cer ran up to him. "Corem are you okay?" Within an instant, Corem had his hand around Cer's neck and slammed him onto the floor. "What on earth?!" Ceren choked. "Corry!" Charla desperately cried. " Don't you see?" Corem muttered, staring straight into his older bother's scared eyes. "This is all we are...we aren't anything else in this world...we-" he suddenly released his grip. "Corem..." Ceren muttered. Tears were streaming down his younger brother's face. "Go..." he quivered through his tears. "I..I can't come now, please; trust me." Through his shattered facade, Ceren could see determination in his brother's gray-blue eyes. GRAWWW... they heard, a beastly sound approaching fast. "Ok...I'll come for you" Ceren told his most beloved bother. He grabbed Charla quickly and ran out. "CORRY!" Charla cried. She didn't understand.

They made a frantic scramble for the door. Hours of playing and hiding had strengthened their stamina. Ceren smacked the full weight of his body onto the door but it didn't move at all. "Come on, come on, come on, stupid door!" Ceren gasped, sweat running down his face. "Brother, I can do it." He turned, and fell back in shock as once again, the almost holy light was streaming out from with his sister. "What is this Charla?" he stammered. "I...don't know. All I know is that I have to protect you. Ceren wondered when his sister had grown up so quickly.

Then it crashed into the wall, maybe only fifty meters from the helpless children. The demonic dog stalked toward them, pure malice filling its eyes. "Charla, no pressure, but we have to get the door open now!". A resonant sound filled the air as she put her hand to the door. It made Cer feel warm and protected. The door flew open,  crashing in its frame...and with a great dash, the two siblings bolted out of the only home they'd ever known.