The black space stared at Grim,soothing him with it's calm aura.As he gazed back at it, he began to see visions.A giant bull raged, breaking the ground and trampling cities beneath it's feet.A gryphon rested in the clouds, claiming the the heavens as it own.Flames hotter than the hells burned, and a great dragon stood in the center, watching as the fire grew. A giant robed man shined as he sculpted men from to stone, and smiled as they sprang to life.A fox wrapped in shadows whispered to men, convincing empires to go to war, and rebellions to begin.
And last, a endless serpent coiled under huge waves.It gazed up at the ships of men, and began to strengthen the waves.It opened its maw and lunged out of the water, swallowing up a fleet before once again returning to bottom...
----------------------------------------
Wake u-...You mu-...Move...Need to...Eat...-o Eat ...You need to.... WAKE UP
Grim woke with a start. His bones ached and his tongue tasted like iron.When he opened his eyes, he saw the a thick transparent cocoon.Despite there being no air pockets and the cocoon being filled completely by a strange thick substance, Grim could breath just fine. In fact the stuff seemed to warm and even energize him. Nonetheless, he wanted out, and began tearing through the sticky ,elastic membrane.The gooey substance spilled over on to the ground and a sweet, slightly rotten scent filled the air.
He crawled out of the cocoon and coughed up the liquid trapped in his lungs.He sat in a daze, trying to remember what had happened.Memories of a animal attacking and dragging him came to him. He remembered it tearing and chewing his body. The pressure of dozens of corpses on top of him still registered. He remembered armored men fighting his captor. He thought of the flames...No,he shook his head, trying to banish the memories, and sat for while trying to clear his head.
After a few failed attempts and completely eating shit, he finally managed stand up. His body ached and popped as he stretched. He gazed at his surroundings, and saw no life within the chamber.A mound of ashes and scorched bones sat in the middle of the area. Two corpses laid outside of the mound, one from a dead armored man and another that was too mutilated to tell. At a corner of the chamber there was some chests and sacks.
Grim slowly walked out the den and looked around, and saw a dense forest surrounding him. The cave opened up on the side of a hill, and into a small clearing.No sounds of civilization could be heard, only the far cry of birds and the occasional hum of the insects.Winter had passed and spring was beginning yet again, and one the last cold winds of the season passed through, rustling the new leaves as it went.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
He shivered, and realized that he was completely naked.The fire had burned what little of his clothes remained. Not wanting freeze when night came, he shambled back in,over to the dead warrior, and began searching his corpse. The armor was too bent and warped for further use, and his sword had broken in half. The only things he could salvage was a very loose and baggy pair of pants, along with a waterskin, and a dagger.The blade was sharp and drew blood as he touched the tip.
After searching the chests, he grabbed only three of the items.The first was a thick cord that found new purpose as a rough belt, aand the second was a small pouch.The last item was a cleaver that was thick and heavy, and seemed to be able to chop through most things. While there was other things, most were just rags and the other looked to worn and old.
As he got his items in place, he looked back into cave and wondered.Why was he alive?What was that thing he crawled of?Should he really leave the cave and go into the forest? There so much he didn't know, so much he didn't understand. But no, he couldn't stay, not in this place of death. And even if the forest was dangerous, he could at least put up a fight, unlike last time.
He walked into the forest and began to wonder where should he go. Should he try to go directly to his village, or try to find a camp or a road, and hope to find someone to help?
...No...people...too...risky...you ne..eat...
Grim tripped and looked around.Had someone seen him?Did they want to help? Or could they be a...
No one... is there...its just... me... or you...
No,no,no, he couldn't go insane, he couldn't afford to. Not now, not here, that was for damn sure. The last thing he needed was a imaginary friend talking to him while a wolf was biting his ass.
*Snap*
Grim turned and saw a great figure walking forward. He ran and crawled into a hollow in a trees roots and the ground. As he looked out of the hole, he saw a great paw fall onto the ground.Looking, he saw it belong to a great red beast, known as a thrasher bear.They were rarer than their grizzly cousins, but a lot more powerfull. He remembered that they kept away from the villiages, but had torn through the men who had tried to hunt them before.
The bear lumbered over to the tree and began to mark the tree with it's claws.Grim could see the long claws that the paws all carried.The bear's every breath and movement seemed to take a eternity, and he shook with fear.Grim was very much scarred from the cave, and did not want experience anything like it again.
After was seemed a century, the bear walked away, but still grim did not move.Instead, he pushed his body as far he could into the hollow and gazed out into woods. Many hours passed but nothing else came through.As the sun gave way to the moon, wolves livened up the quiet night with their howls.As he listened to them, Grim slowly closed his eyes and fell into a slumber.