10 Months

Craugher trekked silently through the woods, the raven flew above cawing annoyingly every five steps. He could only walk according to the caw of the raven, letting the caws tell him he was on the right path. He had learnt through intense trial and error what would happen if he strayed off — splitting headaches and a pain in his chest that felt like a hand squeezing his hear till it wanted to pop.

He continued his trek and soon the stench of blood wafted into his nose. The trees became denser and the smell of blood followed suit. The smell of rotting corpses as well crept up on him.

He pushed through the dense ring of trees — constantly fighting against his gag reflex and the ever worsening smell of rot — and into the clearing at the other side.

His spirit resonated with the magic causing his senses to become heightened but his body resonated with the scene before him causing him to shiver and almost vomit.

Bodies were piled upon themselves stacked up to his waist, killed in all sort of vicious and barbaric ways. Some lay with their heads bashed in — flies gathered and fed on the exposed brain matter — others with lacerations across their stomachs and their intestines around their neck.

A stone pillar rose up from the ground to his right and slowly his eyes were drawn to it.

GERALD BAY SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIA

We're inscribed in bold letters on the pillar. Craugher shook with every breath he took, but the horror didn't stop there. The raven descended from the skies, growing larger the lower it descended. Soon it was three metres long and it easily picked him up.

Craugher rose higher and higher until the air was thin and the large area covered by the school was reduced to the size of a mere model. Yet the mounds of grey corpses stood out like a sore thumb, spelling out the words that caused his heart to tremble.

10 MONTHS

Then just as the raven reached the point where the air was so thin he thought he would black out, it dropped him. And down he fell, kicking and screaming, wishing he wouldn't join the throngs of dead on the ground below. Then just as he was about to hit the ground, he woke up.