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Jared

Jared

The warmth was stolen from him. Wisps of blue and grey and purple slithered across his vision.

Another lucid dream. Fantastic.

Jared clambered to his feet, wrapping his lanky arms around himself and let his eyes wander.

I’ve never dreamt of this place, but woah it’s beautiful.

He gazed about the monochrome sky, the hazy air and ethereal ground as the artistic gears in his head began to turn. “What color even is this?” he wondered aloud, kneeling down and running a hand through the wisps.

He inhaled slowly through his nose as the painting took form in his mind. Jared already knew which brushes, what paints and which canvas to use.

“This isn’t a dream,” came a voice.

Jared spun to see what had spoken, then was instantly petrified.

“This is not a dream,” the creature said, floating a few feet above ground. “You are not on earth.”

Jared’s mind screamed at him to run, but his body refused.

“My name is Volthrigrax,” it told him, moving closer. “You mustn’t be afraid.”

Words meant to be screamed were clogged in his throat.

The demon moved again, drifting as if being held by a wire that stretched forever upwards. Volthrigrax circled the frozen boy. “I must show you somewhere,” it began. “We, both you and I, are in danger.”

But before it could continue, Jared’s muscles thawed and he dove forwards, letting out a scream of disgust.

Volthrigrax moved out of the way as Jared scrambled away, his lanky limbs grabbing at anything to propel himself further.

“You mustn’t run!” the demon called after him.

Wake up! Wake up god damn this is a nightmare!

Jared fled down the slope, nearly tripping over his own shaky legs, and barreled onwards until there was no sign of the terror that had approached him. “Aw Jesus. Damn. Christ, what… freaking hell,” he panted, doubled over with his hands on his knees.

I escaped. It’s not following me. It’s…

As he raised his head, his thought process stopped. More of them. Dozens more in all shapes and sizes littered his field of vision and dotted his peripheral view. Some drifted, some ran and some slithered.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Is that a living?” something called.

Oh no.

Jared took off again, sprinting blindly into the distance. He weaved through snarls and hisses, ducking under things that might’ve been trees and leaping over things that somewhat resembled stones.

He tripped into a large, fluorescent fern-like plant, with thick, gelatinous leaves, crumpling into its center.

A demon shaped like a melted almond with a fleshy maw and dozens of glowing eyes pressed against it like a rabid wolverine. Jared scrambled out of the plant just as it squeezed through the hefty leaves, but then he found himself sliding.

“No please…” he said as gravity wrapped around him with an unbreakable grip. The slope was moist, and he couldn’t see through the fog. No amount of scrabbling and grabbing at any turgid outcrops could stop his fall.

He tumbled once or twice and came to a rest in some form of a demonic swamp. Warmth pulsed through the watery mush that he was submerged in giving him the feeling that…

… this swamp is alive.

He picked himself up, his long, usually tall hair now smacked against his face, forcing him to push it aside. He moved like a toddler in knee deep water, drunk off a cocktail of terror and disgust.

When solid ground at last met his soaked foot, he gasped in relief, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands.

Wake up! Wake up already! Damnit. Damnit this isn’t a dream. It’s that demon. The demon that took Tom. It’s taken me as well and now I’m going to be stuck here forever.

He noticed a large cave, a few paces away. He crept towards it, heartbeat racing with fear of whatever demonic entity my lay within. But there was none. The cave was shallow and not as cold. He ran his hand over it’s edge to realize that it was dry, unlike anything else he’d found.

Jared slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. “C’mon,” he muttered. “If I go to sleep in a dream then maybe I’ll wake up.”

“Hello?” came a voice.

Jared was on his feet in an instant.

What? Was that a human’s voice?

“Hello?” the voice called again.

“Who’s there?” Jared called back.

A small figure took form at the mouth of the cave. A woman… or a girl, with wet black hair and pale skin. Her small arms were wrapped around herself as she visibly shivered.

“Who are you?” Jared asked. “How did you get here? Do you know where this is?”

She shook her head but didn’t move. “My name is Vanessa. There are these… these creatures everywhere outside.”

“How did you get here?”

Vanessa blinked and a tear trickled down here face. “I… I don’t know I just…”

“It’s ok,” Jared comforted. “It’s warm and dry in here.”

She tentatively walked into the cave. Jared instinctively put his arm around her. “You’re so cold,” she said quietly.

Jared swallowed, suddenly self-conscious of the fact that she could likely feel his ribs beneath his shirt. He held her in silence for a moment.

“Thank you,” she said after a while.

Jared’s response was his own heartbeat against hers.

“Do you have any idea how you got here?” she asked.

He chewed on his cheek for a moment. “Yeah. My friends and I… we tried to summon a demon. I’m not sure… we didn’t think it would work, but then it took on of our friends. Now I think it’s taken me.”

Vanessa was silent for a moment. “That means your friend is here too?”

“Maybe,” Jared responded. “Who’s to say of he’s even alive. Did you see all of those demons out there?”

She nodded, shivering again.

Jared pulled her closer. “Do you think we’re going to die in here?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I don’t want to.”

“Ok… well maybe we sh…”

And then Jared vanished.

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