The way down the craggy ravine wasn’t a walk in the park. It was much harder than Kiano expected, given the macabre circumstances. The strangest thing, however, was the silence that settled over the entire vicinity as soon as he regained his footing.

Mind, he was expecting the shadows to surround and pursue him until he ran out of breath or tripped over his own feet. But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing!

He raised his eyes to the nocturnal sky and stared at the edge of the ravine from where he had once stood and watched over the Land of the Beasts, befuddled by all means but alive against all odds.

It was a miracle that he lived to tell the tale. He had slipped more often than not and barely made it thanks to the spells his mum taught him; there wasn’t even a hint of doubt in his mind.

Thankfully, he got off with only minor scratches on his hands and arms. But his back was shredded, as was his attire, but those were the least of his troubles.

A great menace hung over him like the sword of Damocles. He couldn’t see where the bridge was now that the monstrous shadows of the giant mountains and massive trees blocked his view. He had no option but to wander through the dark with no end in sight and wish upon the stars for a miracle.

The tree made a big mistake, he thought, while feeling his way through the sordid forested area. But the tree wasn’t entirely at fault for his mistake. He followed the old man on his own accord, as foolish as he was. It was too late to rue the day and cry over spilt milk.

Surely, there was no way he could’ve predicted that the gigantic tree would devour him. What troubled him the most was the old man’s disappearance.

They went inside the tree at similar times, and it was blatantly obvious that the strange man couldn’t have climbed down the rugged ravine on his own and vanish just like that. He frowned and couldn’t help thinking: had the old man purposefully lured him to the grove?

Kiano was so engrossed in these crippling thoughts that he didn’t even notice that the moss beneath his feet guided him through the perpetual darkness with its dim glow.

That is, not until the moss grew dimmer as the seconds passed and shrivelled entirely at some point. He turned around and saw the trail lit up in shades of green as far as his hazel eyes could see.

It was then that he noticed a glimpse of what appeared to be the edge of a fork, hidden behind a thorny bush where sapphire alpines bloomed. But it wasn’t the fork itself that drew his attention or prompted him to turn back.

Something bright caught his attention through the thorny bush, but it was not as visible as he wished. Whatever it was, it was hidden deep in the bush.

He found a gap in the wilted leaves and peered in only to jerk back. The stench of rotten flesh pierced through his nostrils as if he could smell the grisly sight. He retched in place and spat out what remained of the stink in his throat as his stomach turned upside down.

Thousands of petrifying thoughts raced through his mind. He was caught between fantasy and reality, unsure of whether he saw the truth or a veil of lies masked as the truth before his two eyes.

He spotted something in the mud, you see, something severed and mutilated, like savagely butchered dog meat. The spectacle was too morbid to forget. The dim brightness that arrested him came from what remained of the cadaver’s disfigured palm. It was a glowing thistle. It looked as if someone had placed it there on purpose, for neither blood nor dirt had tainted it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He recoiled and frantically looked around in the dark. A spine-tingling screech pierced through the silence and permeated the entire place. Blood rushed to his popped-out veins across his face, and his limbs went numb.

For what seemed like an eternity, he couldn’t breathe or move. The strange din died out. Panting, he spun around in the ominous gloaming and let his anxious eyes explore every nook and cranny.

Then… he felt it. He felt how the ground beneath him quaked as if the end of Yiraál had arrived far too soon, and—he gasped. Footsteps! Something approached him in the dark, and whatever it was, it was not human.

His eyes widened; the sinister ravens emerged from the shadows and cawed dolefully like it was the end of the world. Kiano knew right away that they were luring the beasts towards him so that he, too, would perish like the cadaver in the bush.

Afraid to slow down or look back, he bolted wherever his feet took him as the ravens flew at him. At one point, he couldn’t resist the curiosity and peered over his shoulder, straining to see where the mysterious quivering came from, but the darkness revealed nothing.

The naked trees arched down, one by one, as he passed by and twisted like weeds, at great pains to block his path and force him to run straight ahead with no way back.

The footsteps, just like the screech, faded away as quickly as they appeared from the deep shadows. He slowed down and glanced at the sky where the ravens had just been as if it were all in his head.

Even the quivering, strange as it was, had let up. Stooped over and out of breath, he rested his hands on his thighs and peeked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the darkness. What in the world…? Silence. Everything was… hushed.

He straightened his spine and wiped the sweat off his forehead. His legs shook so violently that he thought they would give way under his weight at any moment. He couldn’t focus.

There was no way he had imagined all of this! There were footsteps, he was sure, and he did feel the earth shake out of control beneath him. So, how come everything perished as if they were never there in the first place? He drew a deep breath as the silence persisted.

The dry air, coupled with his little adventure moments before, had tired him out. He scanned his surroundings again, hoping to find something to quench his thirst when one of the arched trees returned to its original spot high in the air and exposed a way out of the dark.

He glanced back unwittingly before studying the odd gap surrounded by hunched trees and dense bushes. He gulped and carefully advanced towards the opening. His heart thumped like never before as he came to a standstill.

Someone was lying on the ground. It wasn’t the humanlike creatures. This was a person, a guy, just like him. He took a step towards the sobbing guy and looked around himself as cold sweat trickled down the sides of his head.

The creatures were nearby; he was sure, perhaps watching them in the shadows. They shouldn’t make any sounds. Crouching down, he silently turned the boy over to examine him. The other stopped crying as they locked eyes.

Kiano was about to tell him not to make a sound when a shadow passed somewhere to their left, followed by several others. They both stopped breathing as the beasts of Lordôm drew closer.

Just as he thought everything was over and nothing could top the horrific situation they were in, the stranger stifled a gasp and covered his mouth. Kiano, taken aback, asked what was wrong in a hushed tone when the guy raised his trembling arm and pointed at something behind him.

He barely turned his head to see what had frightened the other when two ravens appeared out of nowhere, snatched him from his collar, and lifted him hundreds of feet off the ground.

A menacing shadow fell over the vicinity as he tried to fight off the ravens, and he broke off and peeked over his shoulder to find an egg-headed giant stoop and save the guy he found from the flesh-eating creatures on four legs.

And as if being snatched by some stupid birds wasn’t enough, the wicked ravens released him just as suddenly as they had snatched him! It was like falling into the tree all over again! This time, however, he landed on something as hard as rock, yet slimy and sweaty.

He lost his footing and was hurled around from side to side, inches from falling to his death when he clutched to something rough and bushy for dear life.

A blood-curdling roar pierced through the chaos at that moment, and he lost his grip. But he didn’t hit the ground and become mush. He looked up as the giant picked him up and sat him down on its sweaty palm next to the guy it saved just moments earlier.

His darting eyes wandered to the ground as the giant growled one last time and scared the beasts away from it and, ultimately, away from them, too. He locked eyes with the other guy right then. They were both confused.

And in the distance emerged the Hezakhal Dungeon in all its glory. No living being had ever set foot there, not until now…