King of Gods

CHAPTER ONE (RICHARD)

I wake up feeling groggy and disoriented; where on earth am I? I try to get my surroundings but all I see is a thick fog that obscures my vision. The only sensation i feel is the slimy feel of mud beneath me. I stand and decide to explore when something wet and cold wraps around my right ankle. As i look down, I see the most horrifying thing i have ever set my eyes upon. A hand grasps my leg- though hand is a bit generous a term to use. The skin around the hand is grey in colour and the grip is so hard that i don't think there is anything more to it than skin and bones. The rest of the body seems seems to be obscured by the fog and I find myself feeling oddly grateful for that small favour. I hear a loud scream and it takes me a few seconds to realize that it comes from my mouth but I can't seem to stop.

 I fall on the wet ground and my body sinks almost a foot into the mud as i sit up and yank my foot away with all the strength I can muster but it holds on. What it this thing? Luckily though, it doesn't try to drag me away, only grasps me hard. I kick at the hand with my left foot, over and over again until I feel its grip loosen slightly and then, I yank my foot again. This time, it lets go, and I scramble away. Then, I throw up – or try to; all I can manage are dry heaves. By the time I'm done with this, I don't even have the strength to stand and so I just crawl away from the direction of the hand which has retreated into the fog. Once I've moved a few feet, it occurs to me that all I can see of my destination is a thick fog. There could be something even more sinister waiting where I'm going. I sit back on the ground and run my hands through my head. What sort of a place is this? The worse thing is that I don't even know how I got here. No, scratch that, the worst thing is that I am here. The last thing I remember is... I don't even know. It feels like my mind is scrambled. The lost train of thought brings a wave of panic. Well, if I'm going to die, I won't make it easy for them by walking to my death. I'll just sit here. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I hear a chuckle. The sound is faint and yet it seems to come from all around me. I hear it in my mind and in my ears. The feeling is unlike anything I've ever felt and is quite disconcerting.

"Who is there? Who are you?" I ask, feeling foolish

I AM EVERYTHING. 

"That's not creepy at all" I mutter in a terrible attempt at sarcasm. In truth, every word resonates through my being and for the second time, I have to work to control my breathing."What do you want?" I finally gather the courage to ask

COME TO ME

As if in response to the words, the fog begins to clear before me, creating a clear path for me to pass. I only hesitate for a moment before moving. I don't know how long I walk for; it could have been a few minutes of a several hours. For some reason, I seem to have lost all sense of time. After a while though, I come into a sort of clearing and the fog around me is suddenly gone. Like one moment I could see nothing and the next, I could see all around me. I feel a dizzying rush and have to squash the urge to scream again as my eyes take in the scene before me; I am surrounded by strange trees, and on the trees are large snakes. Interestingly, the fact that there are snakes hanging on the trees like leaves is not the most scary part. The trees themselves are worthy of a horror movie. The bark is a sickening grey and large black veins run through the length of it and i actually see the veins pulse, almost as if the tree is alive. I take a step back in fear and disgust. 

DON'T WORRY, MY CHILDREN WON'T HARM YOU HERE

There's that voice again. It has a soft melody; almost like soft chiming bells but is much too reverberating to be described as feminine. Once again, I feel, more than hear the voice come from all around me. Then, a woman comes out from beside the tree. Beautiful does not even come close to describing her as she has a sort of captivating sensuality that I've never seen before. She has an ethereal other-worldly magnificence that seems to surround her and it's almost like the entire forest seemingly dances around her. My eyes focus on her and I'm struck dumb. Her skin is the darkest shade of ebony I've ever seen on a person and the gown she wears looks like it is made of nothing but darkness. The darkness seems to shine around her, sucking out what little light there there was from her surroundings. My eyes go to her face and I find that her eyes are a solid pitch black, like the sort of deep black that seems to suck out all the minute traces of light around it until the whole world is plagued with endless darkness. There seems to be an endless reservoir of knowledge hidden in those depths and yet her eyes are nothing but an empty void. I slowly lose all sense of being as I am consumed by nothing but darkness, i find myself floating among grey clouds covering an empty globe and... she blinks and the spell is broken as I fall on the cold ground . I have to blink a few more times to get my bearings though. By the time I focus on her again , she seems almost normal. She is still quite dark, but she no longer seems to suck the light from everywhere.