The Light

Can you escape the darkness? Held hostage you flee towards the light but is it the salvation you hoped for?

The corridor was long and dark and I stumbled weakly down it, towards a sickly green light which flickered at the end. I had lost track of time, following the endless stone walls, with no windows or reference to the outside world to gauge how long I had been running, but now there was a light.

Forcing my legs to move, I continued down the corridor, my hands clammy against the cool stonework, sounds beginning to penetrate my tired senses. There was a chittering sound on the edge of hearing, it grew louder with every step and I should have been afraid, cautious even but I had not the strength left to spare for such concerns. How long since I had been taken? Since I had been shackled and left to rot in the dark? I shake my head to dispel the rising panic, escape, find the exit, and head towards the light.

The chittering was intense now, the sound of a million flies swarming and joining with it a sibilant hissing. The light seemed to be pulsing stronger and it had not the warmth nor colour of the sun rather it reminded me of the light given off by fungus in caves and what it illuminated at the end of the corridor gave me a moment’s pause.

I saw, not a door but an archway, carved stone the height of a tall man, inscribed with runes, of what I cannot say for I am not a scholar but, bathed in the light, they did not seem welcoming. I hesitated only once as I crossed the threshold, there was no were else to go apart from forward, or I had to go back to wandering the dark halls in which I would surely perish from starvation, when had I last eaten?

There was no gatekeeper to take a toll but I think the price of crossing the archway was my sanity, which fled me instantly as I beheld the scene before me and the source of the light, that terrible light. The cavern was huge, the light did not reach the edges and shadows flickered and played along the edges of my vision. Stone steps, cut into the natural rock, led down to where a huge white stone construct occupied the cavern floor, a beautiful artisan’s work of smooth stone, carved with deep grooves forming more of those runes.

Kneeling in a circle around a central plinth, were 12 hooded and robed figures. Their cloaks were threadbare and tattered, I could see their faces not from my vantage point, but the hissing sound was coming from their throats as some sort of hideous prayer to the thing which occupied the centre of the room. A black vortex spun above them, spanning into the heights of the cavern, the chittering sound was a deafening roar emanating from the darkness and in the centre of the maelstrom was the creature.

Made of green light, the thing writhed and screamed, its form an approximation of a man, it shone out through the whirlwind of darkness, pulsing hypnotically from the heart of the storm and all the while the men hissed their chant, calling the being forth.

I don’t know how I found myself upon the steps, I should have fled screaming, I should have risked death in the warrens behind me but the pulsing light pulled me down. I thought myself beyond fear, mad with terror to the point of breaking but I was wrong. Two of the chanting men stood as I reached the base of the stairs and slowly walked towards me, faces hidden by their cowls, still chanting as they walked.

I did not resist their cold, emaciated hands as they reached for me. Nor did I struggle as they led me towards the alter at the heart of the runes, I had no more will to fight, my exhaustion complete and my senses almost overwhelmed. I could not take my eyes from the pulsing creature that fought its way into being above me, I barely noticed as my guards placed me upon the alter, staring up into heart of the vortex I could see nothing but that sickly light and the roar of the storm of darkness was deafening such that I tried to put my hands over my ears to block the noise but the guards restrained my arms.

I think I knew my time on this Earth was over, I could not comprehend a fraction of the scene before me but I knew these beings did not mean me or mankind well. The sibilant hissing grew louder and all the men stood around me, pulling back their tattered hoods and revealing the final hideous test for my psyche.

If once men they had been, corpses they were now. No man’s skin was that sallow, their slack jaws moved not as they screamed their hideous whispering prayer through dead lips but their eyes, oh God their eyes. They shone with the same vile green light that emanated from the creature above me, the creature that even now was staring down at me through the eye of the storm.

I did not even realise I had begun to scream, my head thrashing as I tried to look away, anywhere but at the pulsing hypnotic light and thus in the crescendo of the chanting the 12 corpses each drew a blade, and as one, plunged them down into my body.

My screaming intensified, as my blood flowed down the alter, through the groves in the pure white stone, the slowly filling crimson runes a hideous counterpoint to their stark appearance. As my scream subsided, I realised there was no sounds, no chittering, no maelstrom of chaos above me, only the creature looming over me, its glowing skeletal hands caressing my face and as darkness enveloped me a voice, I think there was a voice.

“Rise my child, Rise.”

At the command of the voice I opened my eyes, there was no pain, and no weariness or terror, there was only a world of light, that beautiful green light.

Author's Note

This is the first thing I have ever written so i hope people enjoy. I'd quite like this story and other like it to get better so critique away.

Reviews

[Frank Miles]

Lovecraftian in its imagery and I mean that as a big compliment. Powerful and compelling voice. I would love to see this scene enfolded in a wider story in which we get a more in depth reveal of the narrator and his history and also a few more elements of plot and character. That said, what is here is truly gripping.

The author has wonderful descriptive powers and I look forward to seeing them put to good use in larger pieces. An excellent and a very promising start.

[Neil P]

Good Morning Frank and thank you for your review, you have made my day at its only 9am.
My main character is a little flat, in truth I wasn't sure if i could write the character as well as the scene but some back story and not just a cheap "how did i get here" would add depth.
I have started work on solidifying the underlying lore so I can expand around the theme of the story and tie it into other tales, so watch this space :)

[Frank Miles]

Keep up the great work. I look forward to seeing more.

[¿]

And you succeed in giving a reader a bedtime story...ok I've to be honest that I learned a new word Pulsing! And added that to my dictionary...
Thanks to your wonderful story...
And thanks for sharing😊

[Neil P]

Thank you for your kind words, I am glad you enjoyed it :)

[¿]

Wc😊........!!