They trudged forward. Bernard went last, slumping forward as they walked up the mountain. The ground slanted, hills sprung forcing them to climb. The road turned into dirt, clearing inside the forest. Green tangled inside trees, and topped every branch, covering the sky with grey.
Darrell talked sometimes, but most of the walk he was quiet. Osmond seemed to like talking about his journeys. Osmond journeyed everywhere. But now, they were all here for the Prophet like him.
As they walked, the road grew wider and David watched as it turned into bare earth instead of brick.
"Look at that. Ha-ha!", Bernard grinned, looking above the trees, "The sun shines to all of us. Look at the luck we've gained! Ahead is the Gates!"
Bernard strode, straightening himself, past the rest, with arms spread out, basking in the sun's glory.
"We're near the Gates, then", Darrell examined it, "It seems tall enough."
"You can see it peeking above the treetops! There it is!", Bernard said.
Bernard pointed at a huge wall, that extended past trees and into the clouds. But then, the wall thinned and crumbled. Flora filled each split in the wall with vines, and detritus poured from every hole.
The Gates stood covered in arches, buttresses, and clay statues. Both sides of it extended for miles, curving and then stopping suddenly over a cliff. In the center, a gate stood open, waiting for all of humanity to rush through in crowds, albeit there were none. Nobody stood below it, only them, staring at the Gates.
Osmond took a sketch. Flipping the page with the temple away. Drawing with the same detail as before, albeit no color. David looked at the large Gates. Trees crowded their view, reaching into the sky, and the road continued in darkness.
"C'mon!", Bernard beckoned.
David stepped forward, Bernard followed, Darrell went in after them, and Osmond stopped, turning back, but reached a toe in and walked with them.
They went into the open Gates.
It swallowed them in. He saw all dark, nothing in the eye's view, no depth, no sound, no light, no sun. He couldn't see, he blinked, trying to see if his eyes were closed, but no, not at all. All sound had died, fading, turning away from his ears. He felt his feet stepping across dried leaves and dead twigs.
Darkness shrouded his eyes, throwing his vision into the endless Abyss, leaving him crippled and unable to continue with ease. David yelled for Osmond, Darrell, and Bernard, shouted their names, but no echo, no semblance of sound.
He moistened his lips and walked. He seemed to grow heavier with each step. He turned to watch for light, but none. A glimpse of light, a brief shimmer, but the forest had left him in isolation.
He stepped, walking in the lightless oblivion. The minutes passed, sparks of red, blue, gold, all of it, danced, wriggled, curled, in front of his eyes. His body dragged onwards. But his feet endured to move forward.
He stopped. He could hear his feet drag along rocks, a deafening sound, but he could hear it. He could hear the sound of rocks, animals, everything.
He watched a deep white light enter ahead of him, and he was out.
Nobody stood beside him, he turned around, pitch black, covering his eyes again, he turned around again.
Winter, summer, spring, autumn continuing everywhere, hills and valleys expanding and forming, trees stretched upward and then shrank. Blue and red hovered ahead, gold tinged the rays from the sun. All the seasons moved into each other, the ground turned into sand, solid ground, gravel, brick, the road ahead undulated with the changes, moving up and down slightly. The sky remained the same. Curving a bit as it touched the ground.
Someone rushed past him. He turned, passing the dark, and saw Bernard.
David gave Bernard some water, and he watched as Bernard drank it greedily.
"Thanks", Bernard said through gulps. Osmond stumbled into the clearing. Red and huffing, Osmond walked to him. He pulled a loaf of bread and shared it with Bernard and Osmond as they waited for Darrell.
Darrell came out, looking pale. He walked to them, and lay down on the ground. Observing the sun.
"I saw a corpse...back there", Darrell pointed backwards, waving his finger to the forest, "Something...Look..."
He pointed to darkness, and a shimmer, a glimpse. He walked closer. The forest glowed ablaze with orange light. Heat washed over him, he stumbled over something, and then rushed into the forest. He saw a body. On it, a backpack full of food and water. A lamp lit the area, Denton, the same face. Osmond ran to him.
"A dead Denton...", David pulled the backpack off of him and held it up, "With all of our supplies..."
A large tablet with stone carvings, a red figure, and then thousands of heads. Thousands of grey bodies, crowding around each other to watch the center figure. One carving in the middle glowed. A face of red appeared, covered in ears. A perfect sphere held them in place. He stepped back. Bernard bumped into him.
"What is it? What do you-", Bernard stopped and stared at Denton's body. David paid no heed, staring instead at the face at the center of the carving.
It was a face of madness and perpetual anger. Its feet held claws. Each of them grimy with age. The creature was empty of humanity, life, and energy. Multiple fingers and the sinews that throbbed inside it. Around the carving, it glared red like fire, but with pallid skin.
Sweat dripped down his face. He fell into panic, his body felt frail, weak, light, easy to break, nothing stopped him from collapsing, but he stood as an unsteady monolith. He beheld more demons, masking themselves, pallid faces behind those masks, and then...
Two more faces, one of an eye, multiple eyes, crowding around a body of decay and damage. It stood on weak legs, but glowed blue. Behind it was an army of similar things. Grey, pallid, but taller, with teeth, and limbs spreading chaotically across its figure. Another face stood in front of them, a giant snake, slithering, and three tall snakes supporting it, hissing outward. Salgon and Salugren....
"What do you see?", Osmond asked. His voice was faint.
"Come take a look for yourself." David said.
He heard Osmond's footsteps and they stood there looking at the body.
"It's Denton... Denton.... Denton's an Abysian... And...", Osmond said, looking at the tablet. He looked at the body, he recognized the face too. " The Nalrath...The Nalrath, then Salugren, then Salgon... With the demons of the Abyss, all crowding around at the clay tablet... Then more.... More..."
Osmond let it drop onto the ground, it tumbled, bouncing on the floor. Osmond picked it up again, and threw it down onto the ground. It broke, shattering, breaking into dust. Osmond took hollow breaths, and stepped away.
They ran from the body, no time to pick up their stolen supplies, but that didn't matter. They ran into the instability, into the changing biomes until they reached a crossroads. The sun had gone and the moon had risen. The stars didn't come out. David looked up, all he saw was a night sky. It grew blue the further he looked up. The forest trees blocked his view partially.
As they walked, David tried to think about things other than the demon. But, it resonated through his mind. The face of the demon was in his mind forever. The lack of emotion. No eyes. It was hard to describe what he had seen. But, he knew that he would never forget it. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He racked his mind with different thoughts. Thoughts of youth. Good memories. His mind wouldn't let him forget.
When they stopped to rest, Osmond looked behind to the Gates. David drank water, Darrell ate bread, Bernard said nothing, staring down again, not talking, not muttering... Silent....He'd changed yet again...
"Only forward", Osmond nodded, "No matter about the Abyss... No matter.. We only must travel a few more miles, not near the Abyss", Osmond shivered, "I can see the Prophet, and only a few more miles..."
"A few more miles. A few more miles. We've repeated that in our minds, and there it remains. Over and over again.", Darrell stood up, "It's time to go home."
"Not yet, only time. Only some time until the Prophet arrives." David nodded.
"What about the Prophet? I haven't seen anything from the Prophet, just signs, and signs. But they fade as we grow closer to Pnoaphales and the lake. Let's go home."
"Yet home is a distance far, far, away. Better to not let this be a failed journey", Bernard stood up, and stepped forward, "Follow me."
"A few more days then...", Darrell grumbled, standing up, "Alright then..."
They walked, passing sand, river, earth. The biomes here lay strange, but new, with tiny sprouts populating areas, and trees barely reaching the sky. Here, he saw red wisps, mixing and intertwining with blue and gold. Galtrand, Gotund, and Quand. Before, it lay invisible to his eyes, but now they went past him in colorful lines. A flock of ravens flew past them. The sky seemed like a grave. Rushes of grey from the sky faded into black when it touched the ground. Some snow covered their steps.
"Village!", Osmond pointed ahead. Ahead of them were thatched roofs and grey walls. A large crack had split the wall and rocks were tumbling out.
David wrapped his bag around himself. They hurried across the trail and into the village. Buildings filled with gaping windows populate the place. Silence again and again like a consistent noise, but it emptied instead of filled. The afternoon turned into evening as the sun fell from its pedestal and a dim moon replaced it.
Osmond made a torch that illuminated the village with weak light. Broken furniture littered the ground. Some stained with a crimson red. Some with a sick yellow. David stepped over a pile of ropes.
"Is there any...?", Osmond whispered. David shook his head, and they stood in silence, forming a silent ring, that silently shuffled backwards and forwards. Below him, not a sign of rats, no dead bodies, but the furniture told him something else.
"I don't know", Bernard murmured," Maybe... I... I don't know."
A mountain of thick ash piled up ahead of them. It stopped as the wind rushed down and pushed the climbing dust down onto the broken wood. David saw a silhouette at the top. He squinted, and Osmond set the light forward. A telluride sitting on the ash. Osmond looked up and climbed over the ash and toward the telluride. David clambered after him. Thick sheets of ash rolled down the pile. He ran forwards and looked at the telluride.
The telluride held a shriveled twig. Osmond shook him and repeated.
"Hello? Hello?"
Osmond stopped and looked at the flock of ravens that had gathered around the telluride. The telluride's hands were limp, and the skin pallid. It stared down at the mountain of ash. It stood empty of eyes, ears, and thousands of little marks, like fangs, covered him. The Abysians, the Abyss... David stepped away...
He looked away from the dead telluride... Death... Death again.... It wouldn't happen though, David reminded himself as he covered himself with his arms, it wouldn't happen... There was time, there was still time... They all had time... But he saw their eyes wrinkle, with everything sagging, and the Plague covering them with a shadow... The Plague covering them all... Death and death... With a shroud... But no.. No... It wouldn't happen... He knew... He would let them all live...
He wished for life upon them all... He wished away those piles... He wished away the Abyss... Only in his mind, it was... For he faced death in it's empty eyes now.... David covered his face with his hand... No, no.... He knew it wouldn't happen, Death, but he'd spent too long sitting around... Always time... Always time...
He wanted to enjoy life now... But always the same reminders... And if the Prophet had no immortality, then what was the use?... But it wouldn't happen... He knew it wouldn't, the Prophet had the answer he'd sought... The Prophet... the Prophet did.... The Prophet did...
He looked down. Darrell and Bernard sat at the bottom, waiting. Bernard and David ran downwards. He almost tripped on a broken chair but only stumbled.
"There's nothing good here. Let's go", Osmond beckoned forward. Darrell stared and looked.
"What happened?", Darrell said, "There's no one... The emptiness."
"Let's hurry. This place is reeks of plague. Better to leave this torturous place ", said Osmond.
"Right", Darrell nodded, "Let's... Let's go..."
They walked away from the village. The snow continued and landed around them in quiet mounds. Rock rose and diverged into two walls that stood on either side. They walked into a canyon. Large rifts filled with rock split the ground. Darrell walked behind them all. Osmond led the way with the glowing lantern.
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