CH7 - Sera's Escape

Lily walks through the forest, feeling the tingling sensations of pinpricks traveling throughout her body. Each step forward brings a sense of something familiar yet foreign as she walks through the woods. There is an ever-present fog as she travels a familiar path moving forward.

The soft echoes of voices command her to leave. Telling her that she isn't wanted. There is nothing she can do to stop it. The whispers are soft, and the comments mundane on their own. But the constant whispering of thousands of reminders of her failure. Taunting her that she could have saved them. She could have rescued Sera.

Spinning in her heels, Lily looks into the darkness, "I could have saved her?"

"Yes," the disenchanted voice whispers in different pitches and tones a thousand times.

"How? How can I save her?" Lily asks and cringes as the sound of echoing laughter is her only reply.

The light from the sky slowly fades as the cackling laughter grows quiet. Feeling the wind shift, Lily sees a red mist moving slowly forward. The scent seems almost metallic as it passes her view, staining her white cotton dress as she stands still.

As the mist sets in, a familiar presence is seen at the edge of her view. It is Sera clutching a small child bundled up in the fabric of her shirt as Sera remains at the edge taking her child. The sounds of Sera's mind boom in the night as Lily recoils at both the softness and desperation of her thoughts.

"Please, I must get to her by all that is holy. Only she alone can save and hide my child. Only she can save us all. Why didn't I heed her warning." Sera's shoulder lurches forward as she sobs, feeling her child reach out to her hungry. Wanting to be fed by her mother, enjoying that bond of everlasting love.

Lily tries to see beyond Sera and, for the first time, sees she is standing at the face of a cliff. Her feet are firmly planted upon the ground, but a massive mountain, unlike any Lily, has ever seen, looms over her.

Lily knows that death only awaits her, as it awaits everyone. But still, she deserves better, as the child does as well. Closing her eyes, Lily tries to envision the mist clearing and waking up as she feels rather than seeing Sera take off in a dead run towards the forest carrying her child.

There is a soft scratching in the back of Lily's mind as the voices reappear, commanding her to open her eyes. As she does, she sees the edge of the cliff remains a large demonic temple carved within the stone face of the mountain; as she watches with terror, a tall, slim woman, or what can be best described as one, step forward with a slight limp.

The elongated hands and the spikes sticking from her back make her appear more ghoulish. Yet her hauntingly slim frame and petite breasts give the appearance of a woman cursed by the Gods.

Without even looking, Lily realizes that Sera is running toward her. Running towards the clearing that Lily herself is standing in. She wants to distract her attention from the cursed creature as Sera draws near.

She wants to, but she can't. There is something familiar while disgusting about the disfigurement of the monster as it appears flesh hangs from its face as it howls in the night, its mouth splitting apart at the base as a black viscous spit out in the scream.

The creature bites down on her elongated claw and moves towards massive gargoyles carved into the wall. Their bodies appear to be melted together, an amass of bones intertwined.

Rather than monsters, the human remains, except where the skull lies, an unfamiliar face of a singular bone with a hidden collapsed center of the head and the chest. Nothing to chew food with, just a mixture of bones and the emptiness of its soul, as the artist didn't have a vision.

As Lily watches in horror, the creature hovers her hand over the face of the gargoyles and lets her black blood drop into their faces. In a moment, the most horrifying scream is heard as the bodies slowly pull themselves free.

Untold numbers of singular creatures rip themselves from a distinct mass as they take off running on all fours on the scent of Sera.

Their howls are unleashed as shrieks of hunger reverberate throughout the forest. The ground shakes beneath Lily's feet as the monsters take off in a dead run galloping on all fours toward them.

The demonic sounds were not those of wolves but horrors. Gods be damned, Lily wishes they were wolves. Wolves she would understand and could explain to the village, but this, this horror no one would know unless they saw.

As the bodies untangle and the fused flesh is torn away. Coughing, Lily barely remains standing as she lurches forward, vomiting. Her body trembles as she grasps the nearby tree to steady her. As her eyes focus back to the world right before her, Lily blinks back tears as she stares into the face of Sera.

"Please, Lilith, promise me you will!." Sera asks desperately.

"Promise?" Lily asks.

"Thank the Gods. Please take my child and run. Save her from this life of ours." Sera says as she turns to run.

Lily vomits once more as she tries to question further. Where is the child? She didn't see anything a moment ago. She heard voices but was too caught up in the horrors to notice as Lily stood in the empty clearing with the sounds of monsters approaching, gnarling, and howling in the wind.

She wishes she knew where the child was. But where could she run to? Is it even possible to save the child? Gods, she curses; she wishes she knew where the child was hidden.