The Rogue World Of Dostira

The Fight and The Fall

An echoing hiss filled Charlie's ears, like smoke streaming its way into his head and trying to push past his eyes from behind. He winced and twisted his back as he felt himself being pulled  into a restless but deep spellbinding sleep.

"Charles Binko" the voice began, "Come to me".

In the darkness he saw a tall mirror, it had a silver frame that was decorated with leaves, and as he walked towards it he saw himself in a bloodied state. He lifted an arm to see his reflection do the same, and as he frowned he suddenly felt a shooting sharp pain travel down his spine. Pain like a needle, stabbing and swerving while pulling on his skin, contorted his face as he let out a muffled scream. He stretched out his hand to touch his back, only to feel thick hot blood oozing out of his skin and his beige feathers tangled with the blackened blood. He shakily brought his hand to his face, inspecting it in horror, his eyes widened and filling with tears as the darkness surrounded him like a numbing cold cloak. He lifted his eyes and looked into the mirror to see scratch marks on his shoulders with blood leaking out of the torn flesh, the sight of this making his throat begin to pulsate with nausea. He blinked hard as his blurred vision faded to reveal the patches of blistering burn marks that lay across his calves and knees, the smell of burnt flesh filling his nostrils as he couldn't help but gasp.

The voice began to whine in his head, drowning his every senses like the blare of an alarm as he fell to the ground covering his ears with his bloodied hands. As his knees hit the floor, they felt moist soil and twigs under them as the voice fell silent. His worn eyes observed his surroundings to see the darkness had vanished and he was now in what looked like a forest. He snapped his head around, his body frantic and trembling until he saw it; the golden weeping willow.

He lifted his body up off the ground, and his shaking legs walked towards it as if in a hypnotic trance of desperation. He reached out his hands, pushing its low sweeping branches to the sides as he stood staring at the textured ash coloured bark. He circled the trunk of the tree, to see a hollow opening filled with pitch black darkness. Like it was a gateway to hell, he stepped away from it until his back brushed against the willow's blonde branches. He turned away from the gaping hole within the tree trunk to see a large fields of darkened green below him, his stomach dropped as he realised exactly where he was.

"You know the place Charles Binko" the voice hissed, it buzzed in his ears as he nodded slowly in response.

"You know the pain" the voice continued as Charlie grimaced from the torn flesh lining his spine, the blistering burns on his legs and clawed flesh on his shoulders that all began to ache and throb.

"What do you want?" Charlie spat, his voice croaking from the agony.

The echo of the hiss silenced, as the voice became clear and familiar to him, "You."

Charlie felt rough hands grabbing at his skin and pulling his body back as he fell into the dark hole that lay within the golden weeping willow. He could feel himself falling as he screamed out into the silence, his hands hopelessly clawing at the air that slipped through his fingers.

Charlie jolted awake, his body sweaty and his heart thumping hard in his chest as struggled to breathe. Although he was awake the painful voice remained and swirled in his ears, he quickly stood to his feet and made his way into the bathroom.

His fingers lazily switched the light on and he stared at the broken mirror, remembering when he had hit it only a few hours ago as he turned on the tap letting the cold water flow into the sink. He splashed the icy droplets onto his face, hoping it would snap him out of his terrified state, but as he lifted his eyes and looked back in the mirror he saw a face. It was disfigured because of the broken glass, yet he could see her dark caramel skin and the large smile that grew on her face as Charlie stepped back quivering.