In a small clearing by a nearby village, the village people gathered beneath the eaves of a massive white silk cloth held up by a multitude of beautifully carved wooden poles, amidst the deep of dusk, countless lanterns illuminating the clearing. Small children ran in between talking adults, nurse maids chasing them, promising the switch and paddle. Women and men clapped and stamped their feet as a couple danced in the middle of them all.
The woman's dress was made of the brightest yellow, embroidered with red and trimmed with green. Upon her head was a woven crown of mother's glove flowers, symbolizing a joyful, full future. Her clean, beautiful wheat colored hair streamed behind her, almost shimmering in the sunlight.
The man dancing with her wore a wonderful red tunic, embroidered with yellow, and trimmed with green. Upon his head was a woven crown of daylight velon flowers, symbolizing calm strength. His smile was radiant, full beard animated with his laughing.
The two danced, the laughing, cheering and singing of the crowd roaring with happiness and good fortune to the newlyweds. The couple twirl away from each other, meet back together with their palms together, each one's eyes shining brightly into the other's. The crowd cheered as they came together and the music came to an end. The two pause, breathless, before the vile, black liquid spews from the woman's mouth and onto her groom's tunic and breeches. Her eyes go wide as she tries to catch her breath, before falling to her knees, more liquid spewing out of her mouth, dripping from her nose, eyes and ears.
Her husband catches her and sinks to his knees with her, terror in his voice, calling her name.
'Kelfi! Kelfi, what's wrong?!'
The crowd screams in horror as two women that looked much like the suffering woman, one younger and one much older, rush to her side. The woman stares up into her husband's tear filled eyes, before the life leaves her body. Her husband's body shakes as he holds his wife to him, his screams and crying filling the massive tent. Women turned to their husbands, children were ushered away from the tent, and the bright day descended into an emotional gloom.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
The man paused and looked down, his wife's body twitching slightly. He shook her gently, calling her name, before looking into her face. Her eyes seemed empty as they moved to stare at him.
'K-Kelfi..?'
The man utters her name once more, weakly, as she grasps his throat with one hand and rips it out. He stumbles backward, clutching his throat, blood pouring onto the grass below him. She crawled on top of his shaking form, opened her mouth, and spewed more of the vile, black liquid into his face and exposed throat. He sputtered as he fell back, eyes filled with shock and terror, before his eyes became lifeless. The crowd screamed and began to back away. The woman looked around her and found the older woman nearest to her and sprung for her.
The older woman cried out in terror.
'Daughter!'
The thing ripped into the older woman's face, exposing the muscle, teeth and sinew. She screamed while the creature spewed more of the liquid into the woman's face. The younger woman sputtered in fear and crawled haphazardly away on hands and knees while the crowd attempted to run away, in their panic forcing many to the ground. The woman stood up from the ground, her arms looking bleached white, veins black and bulging under her skin, her face becoming grotesque and twisted. It ran at the younger woman, tore into her, and forced more liquid into the dying woman's wounds before moving on into the crowd.
Not far away, the man twitched and began standing up, his skin quickly losing its color, his eyes leaking the same viscous fluid before chasing down the crowd, tearing into them with abandon. The older woman followed suit, then the younger woman, and more from the crowd rose from the ground. The bodies that fell in the nearby river did not rise, and the creatures that fell into the water chasing more villagers thrashed violently before falling still, floating down with the slow current.
The deep, scream filled night fell to daylight, the light from the sun settling on an empty village.