Wind howled in rage, crashing over Esper’s skin like mountainous waves in the ocean. Tumbling her insignificant body around in the black, empty void which was devoid of all aspects of life and death. It was simply empty. She felt the bed beneath her, tumbling and shaking with her, as if it were an extension of her own body. The girl reached out, her arm grasping for anything to stop her fall. The deep darkness that she touched rippled and quivered, as if a stone had been tossed into a lake; disturbing its pristine surface. It spread outward, the emanating wave perplexingly calming the violently crashing storm, as it spread outward.
A skitter came from the dark. The weight of a titanous thing shifting atop countless scurrying legs was crawling through the void. She could feel it and it could feel her. Esper's mind raced, asleep yet in full blown panic, sensing a danger of which it was unsure if it was creating this gestalt itself, or if it was accessing the same plane of existence as it. She felt that deep, primal hook of dread sink into her chest and stomach again, like when the night-people would come. The pressure on her chest, crushing her down felt almost painful. As if chains pierced her body and pinned her down to the bed beneath her with incredible force.
Her frozen body twitched, as she tried to force herself to sit upright. Once more she tried again, her eyes wide open now staring at the shifting in the darkness. Was this a dream again? She wasn’t in the room. She wasn’t anywhere either the living or the dead should be. With great effort, she lifted her body and sat upright, her legs still covered by the dark green blanket. She shivered, as the ancient winds took all heat from her body, her hair flailing wildly about as if she were underwater again. The darkness before her was shifting, taking shape. Altering itself, as something old and ancient was coming into form.
Esper could see them now. The legs. They were like those of a spider, yet so many endless more. It was as if a worm had grown the legs of a spider on every segment of itself and then stretched its long, tubular body from one end of the boundless void to the next. Her eyes rose, trying to follow its impossibly strange, winding form, yet failed to find a beginning or end of the thing. It simply went on in every direction no matter where she looked. The many pointed, sharp legs clattering, as it skittered through the darkness, walking on seemingly nothing. She tried to wake up by wiggling her toes and pinching her arm, but wakefulness would not come this time, only a sharp pain in her head.
Esper pulled the blanket up closer to her face, as she felt that fear in her chest telling her to run. But there was nowhere to run. There was only darkness. Leaving only the act of her eyes looking out into the crawling empty before her. A long, spindly leg now touching the foot of the bed. Everything here was lightless and without color, yet she could distinguish the smooth grooves running up each leg, the chitin shiny and sleek. Her bones ached as her fingers clamped down on the blanket that was violently clenched between her fingers.
For the first time then, she clearly heard its voice. It whispered gently in a tongue she couldn’t repeat or understand, yet the words came to her mind instantly. The voice was soft, and carried with it an emotionless distance, echoing ever so gently after every word. The echo taking the shape of an entirely different voice with every reverberation. Some high pitched and clear, others soft and misshapen, as if they were being spoken by someone breathing in during their conjuration of the words. These imperceivable sounds rang out through the empty and brought to her its messages.
“They come for you.”
Releasing the blanket, Esper clamped her ears shut at the sound of the voice which painfully pierced her skull. The sentence echoed around the void, taking the shape of one voice and then of another, changing for all eternity as it rang out and away into the infinite nothing ranging beyond her. “I have waited long enough,” it rang out. “You must look.” Esper's eyes opened against her will, tearing open as far as they could go, as if someone were forcing them to look. Out of the darkness shone a single eye gazing back at hers.
It was giant. Larger than anything Esper had ever seen. Larger than anything that could be real. A thousand thick, coursing red veins ran through it, pulsating up and down as if by the beat of a heart. The iris was a color of sickly, gangrene yellow. It stared at her, its gaze washing over her with the intensity of daylight sun rays. The girl wanted to cover her eyes and to look away but her body would not respond anymore. The body of the great worm skittered around in the darkness, winding around in shapes that the mind couldn’t comprehend. But the giant eye hung there motionless as if detached from the rest.
“You must hide.” Another eye popped open on the body of the worm above her. “They will kill.” Another. “I want to sleep.” “You must ascend.” More gangrene eyes, each a different size and shape popped open on the body of the worm. Some closer and some further off than she could understand, yet they all saw her clearly and she saw them. “Bring darkness.” Each voice was different and misshapen. “Twelve tolles of the bell.” “End.” “Bring sleep.” “Bring night.” “They come.” “End them.” They rung out, echoing into the void. Esper tried to scream, but her screams were carried away by the wind blowing into her lungs before they left her mouth.
“Silence.” “They will hear you.” “They come.” “You must hide.” “They won’t let us sleep.” “Kill them.” The largest eye before her grew wider now, the pupil deepening its fixation on the girl, the veins pulsating thicker and thicker, as it nearly bulged outward of the crawling worm. “They fear you-,” cried a woman's voice as all the million voices came together at once, coagulating into one deafening roar. Esper clutched her head, regaining a sense of control over her body. The stinging was unbearable, as if a hot knife had been driven through her as they all spoke at once “- my avatar.” She screamed again and pulled the blanket over herself.
Esper's eyes opened, as she felt the hot blood coursing through her veins. The soft bed beneath her, the wind outside could not reach the small room of the chapel, but she could hear it howling and rattling the glass window. Her heart was racing, but slowly began to calm itself, as her mind returned to the foundations of its reality. She was wet with sweat and threw the blanket off of herself, planting her feet on the cold stone floor, taking a moment to breathe. The icy touch of her necklace on her skin contrasted the heat that her body was violently emitting. She looked around the dark room, the dream sifting through her mind, recessing to that unseen crevice where our dreams are kept. Present, but unreachable by conscious effort.
She has to hide.
The voice rattling the window from the outside tells her.
She has to hide.
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Sister Johanna carried the last bowl of porridge in her hands down the road, until she saw the familiar old woman sitting down on the ground outside of a house. The woman wore the same layered rags she always had on, her straw white hair back in a scraggly bun. Her eyes were tired and worn but shone a little brighter, as she saw the priestess walking her way.
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“How are you doing tonight, Delmy?”
“Ooooh-,” said the old woman, waving her hand with what little effort she could muster. “Old bones, you know.”
“Here, I have brought you something to eat.”
The old woman reached out and took the still warm bowl from sister Johanna. “Oh bless you, dear.”
“Won’t you stay at the chapel? There are beds.”
The woman shook her head and waved her off. “Oh no, no. This is where I belong. If I lay down in a bed, I won’t get up again,” she laughed. “Besides, you mustn’t ask me every single night, must you?”
The old priestess smiled weakly, rising back to her feet. “Very well, but if you change your mind then the door is always open.”
“Bless you. This miserable town would be lost without you.”
“Have a good night, Delmy.”
“You too, dear.”
Johanna turned and began to walk back down the way, sparing a glance at the now empty platform to her right.
She returned to the chapel and shut the door tightly behind her. The last candle light from the few candles remaining before the stone altar and statue was still barely illuminating the room. Looking around to see that nobody was there, the tall woman took the opportunity to raise her arms into the air and stretch deeply. Rolling her head around in both directions to crack her neck. Grunting, as she lowered herself back down onto the bottom of her feet.
It was almost time for her to sleep as well. It had been an exhausting day. Looking down, she saw the great bag belonging to her brother still down in the corner, untouched. He was apparently still out. She shook her head in dismay, seeing that he obviously hadn’t changed as much over the years as she had hoped and went to the altar in the center of the far wall.
Kneeling down before it for her nightly prayer, she took the candles and set to work, replacing the old candles that had burnt low over the day, setting them to the side. Picking up the largest melted candle from the base of the statue, she placed it down and put a new one from below up in its place. Grabbing one that was still burning brightly, she held it to the wick of the fresh smaller candles, lighting them in order.
Having reached the largest one, sister Johanna flinched back, as it exploded with violent intensity. Falling backwards, her hands behind her, she crawled a step back as the flame from the candle towered up on impossibly high. High enough to meet the face of the statue that towered above her. Its features seemed to flicker and waver behind the impossible explosion of fire. An intense light shone through, as if the sun itself were shining from beneath. The touch of its radiance stung her old eyes and skin.
It was impossible she thought, but she knew it to be true. She knew her god was towering before her now, as if a mountain before a seed. Realizing her position, she quickly fell forward onto her knees, her head bowed down low to the ground, as she heard his words and his command. The thought of questioning his order came to her for only the briefest moment, but was dispelled by the grandiose light filling the room and her heart. She knew she could not disobey, she was chosen. Chosen for this moment. The voice. The voice told her so. She heard it. He talked to her, to a creature like her, to something so unworthy of such benevolence.
Opening her eyes, which were wet with tears, she gazed up in awe at the statue of the good lord and master, who had granted her such excess in life and saw, as the flame of the candle sunk back down to its true size. To that of a single glimmer among the rest. Sister Johanna rose to her feet and turned right towards the kitchen. She would get a knife or some other implement. The girl needn’t suffer more than she already had. The poor thing. Opening the door, sister Johanna rummaged through the drawer and took the large, sharp cleaver that she would use to cut meat on the rare days they received some as a donation. Turning around, she shook her head wondering what the universe wouldn’t do to a poor child.
It was a mercy though, this act. She nodded to herself, the other road the child could travel having been made clear to her now through the vision the light showed her. It was better for her. For her and for everyone else. Another tear rolled down her face as she returned to the large chamber and looked at the bag sitting on the side. She was so blessed. Still, she felt a pang of deep ache in her heart for what she was bound now by servitude to do. But a smile broke out at the boundless mercy her lord offered. She understood his wisdom. Sometimes a fire must rage for a forest to regrow.
She turned towards the door to the sleeping quarters, cleaver in hand. Placing her other hand on the latch, she quietly turned the key and opened the door slowly. The light from the candles beside her shone in past her, almost as if ignoring her body and going through it. As if looking for the girl on its own. Sister Johanna stepped into the room and felt the touch of air from a draft on her skin. All the beds were empty. She stepped into the room looking around the vague darkness.
The door had been locked. The window was intact and yet the girl wasn’t here. Bending down, she looked under the beds that raised well up off of the floor. Nothing. She moved further into the room, looking for some clue. All of the covers lay flat on the beds, as if they had never been disturbed; showing no signs of anyone lying beneath. Something lumpy and shapeless was on the far right, on the floor beneath the furthest bed in the corner.
Sister Johanna walked towards it and bent down to pick it up. Her hands clench at the dry mass. It was straw. Dry and old, from the inside of a mattress… She turned around, as the realization hit her, but it was too late. She saw the tiny silhouette scamper out from beneath the bed closest to the door. Sister Johanna lept towards the girl, swinging the heavy cleaver, but was met with the heavy door slamming into her face. She reached for the latch, but heard only the silent click from the other side, as the key had turned. She screamed in rage at her failure and smashed against the wood.
“Let me out girl!” cried sister Johanna with fury as she smashed into the door with the cleaver, which sunk only an inch into the thick wood, lodging itself there firmly. Esper stood in the large room, panting, staring at the rattling door behind her. ‘Thump’! She stepped back, as the creature on the other side struck it violently. Turning around, she ran towards the front door of the chapel, with only her necklace and the fresh nightwear undergarments on her, the oversized robe in her hand. Her eyes caught the great bag of the tall man who had brought her here and she knew instantly that he wasn’t coming back any time soon. She understood with silent anger that he had abandoned her just like the rest, just like mama and papa, he left. His absence now in this strange hour was proof enough for that.
Turning her head back, she saw the door shake again. Quickly, she ran towards the giant bag and took out everything that she needed as quickly as she could and placed it on top of the far too large robe that was spread out wide on the floor. Her old dress lay next to it and she threw the old crusty thing on as well. Esper placed the jar with the breakfast goo and her old torn bag with the stone knife on the robe. The door rattled again as the thing behind it screamed enraged. The nicked wooden bowl she had brought from the Burrow had fallen out sometime during the journey and gotten lost in the chaos inside of the bag. There was no time to look for it. ‘Thump’ There was another satchel too, the size of her own fist. Finally, the little lantern on the side of the bag, she took that as well, leaving the rod and throwing everything into the mix.
Satisfied, she quickly wrapped the robe together with all the contents inside, eying the door that was still shaking. Ignoring the familiar shouts of the thing behind it. It seemed to be holding well. Looking back to the bag one last time, she reached into it once more, taking a single mask out of it. She wasn’t sure why. The draft that was blowing through the cracks beneath the door told her to do so. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but smile at the one fate had given her. She looked at its hollow eyes and nodded, the skull mask looked back to her and nodded in return. The pact was sealed.
Limping as fast as she could, she took her load over her shoulder and hobbled towards the large front door of the chapel. Having to press hard to pull down the latch and to push it open outward to exit into the outside world. A gust of heavy wind blew against and past her, rushing inside of the chapel as she opened it. The intruding gale blew the candles on the altar out in an instant, quickly dissipating the puffs of smoke that released as darkness was returned. Stepping foot outside, she shut the large door tightly behind herself; the screams of the thing inside of the room now muffled and quiet.