SNAP BACK TO REALITY

Sparrow stood shivering at the edge of a black lake halfway down the mountain. Ice swirled in the darkness of the water. He looked back at the cavern, just a grey smudge on the horizon, and regretted leaving, but knewing staying would’ve been permanent. From somewhere in the whiteness Sherry called for him.

He waited for a large iceberg to float past, then dove into the jet-black water.

His body froze. His mind numbed. All thought left his skull.

A pair of claw-like hands rgrabbed him. He tried to fight. But the claws were too strong. He needed to take a breath, and then he broke the surface.

‘Well done hoo-man.’

Sparrow climbed onto a stony water’s edge and coughed up a mouthful of water. He gazed at the demon, its black scales, fungal infections, and bent claws. It was a damn sight uglier than what he’d spent the last few days looking at. He gazed around him. He was in a dark cavern lit by glowing magma. He was back in the demon realm. For a crazed minute, he wondered if he’d ever left.

‘We had bets on it you see, I thought you would’ve at least lasted another decade in the lust realm hoo-man.’

Sparrow frowned, ‘What do you mean another?’

The demon ignored him, and splashed about in the water until it came up with a jagged gold rock. It wandered over to a frozen pool and used the rock to smash the ice on the surface. Three swings and the rock splashed through, causing a sticky black liquid to ooze out like pus through broken skin.

‘And now hoo-man, it’s time for your gift.’

Sparrow blinked, ‘I thought that week-ah-decade-or-whatever with the queen was my gift.’

‘Oh no,’ the demon smiled, ‘that last one was all for her.’

‘Is she here?’

‘No, hoo-man and we’d better hurry through this. We do not want you here when she gets back hoo-man. That would be very bad for you. Very bad mhmm.’

The demon pulled a large curved knife from the air.

‘Sit,’ it said, ‘Hold out your hand. No, your other hand.’

Sparrow held out his weak hand and the demon ran its fingers down the sinew in his arm, it sliced a single fine line along the skin of his palm. Red blood the colour of Sherry’s lips rolled down Sparrow’s arm and gathered at his elbow.

The demon’s tongue flicked out and licked up the stream, then turned Sparrow’s hand upside down so the next drop fell in the pool.

‘The thing about receiving is you have to give to get.’ it said, ‘Your blood awakens the darkness, and darkness is about to awaken something in you.’

The demon lowered Sparrow’s hand towards the blackness of the pool. Darkness wrapped itself around his fingers. Cold and lifeless, it slithered up his arm, along his chest and then stabbed itself into his heart.

The pain was quickly numbed by the cold. His eyes dilated and the demon’s scarred face wandered in and out of focus.

The demon spoke, but Sparrow had trouble concentrating… everything seemed to be vibrating in a dark eternal dance. Life was coming to him in waves.

‘The darkness has given you soulsmasher, an ability once reserved for the protectors of hell. It now belongs to you and you alone. It allows you to hit the being you choose so hard that their soul will be transported to our realm.’

The demon’s arms shook as they held Sparrow’s fist down in the painful all-consuming blackness, ‘Hoo-man you remember the pain you went through to get here?’

The centuries he’d lived as a snail, the battles he’d been slaughtered in, the pain of leaving his love flew in front of Sparrow’s eyes in the span of a second.

‘Well, every time you activate this ability that is what the recipient will face - only on loop forever. Keep all that pain firmly in your mind, do not use soul smasher often, or at all if you can. The master knows it is better to not strike then to strike in haste.’

Sparrow’s eyes wobbled in agreement, half the words hadn’t reached his consciousness but he got the gist - don’t use unless you have to, and even then think twice about it.

‘And now Sparrow,’ the demon said, ‘it’s time for you to go home.’

The darkness crept in further and further until Sparrow was staring down a single pinhole of light with the black pool at the end of it.

The hole disappeared but below him, another pinprick opened up. Wind rushed through it towards Sparrow stinging his eyes and flapping his cheeks.

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He passed through the end of the hole and into the sky, flames coated his body and he thought about how beautiful the world looked below him. Shades of orange and yellow rippled across a desert landscape.

And then he thought about the fact the world was getting closer really fast.

He tried to fly and felt himself slow slightly - very slightly - too slightly.

Sparrow hit the earth a screaming mass of fire and flapping limbs opening up a crater the size of a whale.

For a long time he lay in agony, waiting as his bones slowly knitted themselves together. While he was happy his powers were returning, he was gutted he hadn’t applied stoneskin before smashing into the earth.

A little warning would’ve been nice, he thought as he watched his arm contort from a floppy sausage into its usual shape.

Midway through his recovery, he heard footsteps heading his way. They were light and nimble.

A pair of boots appeared on the edge of the hole, and then a little girl’s smile, ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘Healing,’ he grunted. One of his shoulder sockets slipped back into place with a wet sucking sound, ‘What are you doing?’

She shrugged, ‘Just playing.’

‘Playing?’ he staggered to his feet, one of his ankles was still broken, and so his foot jutted out at an awkward angle. Sparrow gritted his teeth through the pain. It would disappear soon enough.

He climbed the side of the crater he’d created and gazed out over the barren landscape. There wasn’t a tree in sight.

‘You’re playing… here?!?’ he turned back to the girl, her face was pale, far too pale for someone who’d been in the desert for even a day, ‘This is a wasteland.’

‘A fun wasteland. There’s toys if you know where to look for them.’

Sparrow rubbed the side of his head. The skin and bone there had healed, sure enough, but he wondered if any damage was permanent - after all, the mind has to live somewhere, right?

He looked back at the girl, ‘You’re not a hallucination, are you?’

She gave a big smile, ‘I don’t even know what that means.’ and did a little twirl, ‘come play.’

‘Okay - that’s exactly what a figment of my imagination would say.’

He spun in a slow circle, trying to spot some subtle change in the desert expanse - something to indicate there was more than sand in that direction.

He cupped one hand over his right eye and balled the other hand up to his left, leaving a telescope-like view shaft in the centre of his left hand. Just below the burning sun was a small black shadow. It could be a mirage, or it could be a little oasis.

Sparrow decided it was worth the risk. He needed water, badly and the heat was almost as bad as the demon realm.

He took off, flying towards the oasis and leaving the girl beside the crater.

His body was healed. But the healing had taken a lot out of him. Sweat gathered on his brow and despite the speed he was flying the air around him was so hot it did nothing to cool him.

The closer he got to the clump of shade the more sure he was it was real. A cluster of palms and date and fig trees stood against the desert heat.

He touched down in the tiny oasis in a cloud of sand and felt instantly cooler. A small wind blew through the trees, removing the sweat from his face.

He wandered the oasis, trying to find a pool of water, but there was no pool, in the centre of the oasis stood an upside-down pyramid.

Instead of stretching into the sky the pyramid was more of a hole - a set of giant stairs carved into the ground.

And in the centre of the upside-down pyramid was a golden box.

Sparrow nearly cried.

All he wanted was water. Just some plain old, simple water, yet here was some stupid golden box in the middle of the desert. He bet it had some magical protector and…

‘Are you going to open it?’

He turned, the little girl was standing behind him. In the darkness she was slightly seethrough. Like a ghost.

Sparrow shook his head, ‘No, I don’t think I will. I’ve done a few of these magical object things now and I’m thirsty.’

‘It’s a box from the gods.’

‘And what’s in it?’

‘Something powerful.’

Sparrow humphed, he wouldn’t mind something powerful. Like the ability to create a glass of water at will. Or to turn anything he touched into a cool river.

‘You don’t want to open it.’ the girl said.

‘I want water.’

‘There might be water in there.’

The girl walked over to the box, picked it up and tried to prize it open. The tiny veins in her arms bulged. But they were lean and there wasn’t enough muscle there to rip it open.

She threw it to the ground, exasperated, and then pointed a finger at Sparrow.

‘Why are you standing there?’

‘What?’

‘Open it!’

Sparrow slid down the pyramid and picked up the box, it shone under the shade of the trees. It was heavy for its size, and when he shook it there was no sound from inside.

‘Who are you?’ he asked the girl.

‘Me? I thought I was a figment of your imagination.’

‘My imagination isn’t this good.’

She laughed, ‘Well, I’m a poltergeist then.’

‘A what?’

‘A ghost. I used to be a little girl, and then I died horrifically, and now I sort of just haunt this place.’

‘Right.’

‘And I want you to open the box.’

Sparrow shrugged, it was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea. Hell, whoever had built the upside-down pyramid knew it was a bad idea - they’d left a little inscription in the bottom of the pyramid with an X running through a picture of the open box.

But Sparrow really, really wanted to know just how bad of an idea it was to open the box. So he bent down and tried to open it.

At first, he tried with just his hands. The lid was stuck on - not quite welded, more just clinging from old age. He tried fire, stoneskin.

The veins in Sparrow’s arms throbbed, and the stoneskin started to ebb. He grunted and gave one last heave.