The blonde-haired woman Jace had thought of as Xena, blinked and stirred in her cell. Torturous screams echoed through the damp dimly lit corridor outside her door.

She had heard nineteen other voices, when first she’d woken in here. After being jumped by the horde of wretches she’d fought desperately to escape them. Only to run head first into the enormous creature that slithered through the halls’

It had swallowed her whole, and inside it’s body she’d been encased in a thick glue-like slimy substance that held her against the inner lining of its undulating body. Others had shared the space with her. Even a few undead.

The substance had harden almost immediately. Even now, days later she was still covered in it. She had thought that creature to be the end of her nightmares, but no, her nightmare had only just begun.

“If only I hadn’t tried to betrayed him,” she muttered. Her mind had played back and forth over what had brought her to this point.

Every night. Her dreams were plagued with life that was both familiar and yet estrange to her all at the same time. She shuddered as she thought on the other dreams shown to her. The ones were the other people she had woken up around. Were dragged out from their cells, taken deep down to a room filled with corpses and blood red arcane symbols everywhere.

The weird fucking squid people, had the person chained on a viscera coated slab face down. Then they would chant and wave their tentacles through the air. Symbols would manifest with each final pass.

The ritualistic symbol on the slab would glow a deep hungry red, and the person body would begin to contort. Change and take different shapes and form.

Sometimes the person was used as a nexus, and thirty to forty zombies were corralled around the sacrifice. Then they would merge and take on a horrific monstrous shape.

Xena had had that dream three times so far, and wasn’t looking forward to the next one. The other dreams were of young squids, that reminded her cuttlefish, being planted into their brains.

Slowly taking them over, without them even realising it.

She wasn’t sure of how much more of this madness she could take.

Her night riddled with nightmares and whispered voices that she was certain were in her mind. Her days—at the least the hours when she was awake—were filled with the horrendous screams of the others.

Today, they were down a voice. Fourteen others left.

Which of you want’s your freedom?

Xena cried out as the voice shrieked through his mind. She crumpled in on herself, her rough spun trouser soaked as she unintentionally pissed herself. She clawed at her face and her dug jagged nails into her cheeks. The pain help as a distraction from her mental prolapse.

She couldn’t keep doing this.

Well? No takers. Curious.

“ME!” a voice screamed out from another cell. It was quickly joined by others.

“TAKE ME!”

“I’LL BE GOOD--”

“PLEASE LET ME OUT--”

“I DON’T WANT TO BE HE--”

“KILL ME--”

“KILL US--”

“LEAVE ME ALONE--”

On and on it went. Everyone but her screaming pitifully. Couldn’t they see there was no escape. This was but a new form of torture. Let them think they had their freedom, and just as they start to convince themselves they had a chance. It’ll all be ripped away from them.

She deserved this. If only she hadn’t tried to split from that man. If they had stayed together then maybe- Her thoughts were cut off as a cell door opened. The squeaking hinges tearing through the din of yelling voices.

Suddenly, all was quiet.

Bethany. You will be our messenger. Our god choses you.

Xena’s whole being spasmed in pain. It flared up her spine crippling her, and making all of her bodily functions go ridged.

Through her terrible screams, she saw the squid-man-thing reach out and place it’s tentacle-hand over her eyes and everything when black.

Then her awareness came to a screeching halt. And she found herself in a dark misty place. The only light illuminating her surroundings was a blue glow shining through some broken ground a couple of yards ahead of her.

Four of those squid men were crowded around it.

Without hesitating she turned tail and ran. Her legs were weak, but her fear and terror pushed her onwards. Yet every time she looked over her shoulder. She realised she was no further away from them than before.

Patience, dear child. A voice boomed across the landscape and Xena eyes were rooted to the ground. In fact it wasn’t just her eyes, but her whole body was suspended in motion.

She wanted to scream inside her skull. To bash her head against the ground. To end this fucking nightmare once and for all.

Face upon what I am, dear child. For I am a Fragment of the Prime. NOW. LOOK UPON ME.

It roared not in anger, but in some form of sick and twisted triumph. Her head slowly wrenched upwards until her eyes fell on the dark clouds in the sky. Purpled lightning shot through them, and its passing illuminated the horror above her.

Then the thing unfurled itself. And the clouds swelled as they birthed a thing of horror and madness before her. Then her mind began to faulter, to crumble. Then exhaustedly, dejectedly, she gave up her fight and surrendered to whatever came next.

~*~*~*~

The once tiny speck of evil and corruption burped and spat out a whole pelvis. Its form now was fairly humanoid, if not lacking in any actual human features. For one it was made entirely of black moving ooze. The surface of its’ body in constant motion.

Its sense of it’s environment had gotten greater over the passing of days. It had finished consuming the bodies in the fields. First relishing the new experiences it felt when consuming their brains, then moving on to devouring them slowly. Savouring its meal.

And now as its stomach burbled, it was hungry once again. Crawling out onto the road, it caught a scent. Two of the scents were similar to the things it had eaten already.

The others though were entirely new. From its stomach burbled up an sense of thrilling excitement. With its nose to the ground, the once speck of evil and corruption. Followed on the path towards Oedrin.

A path that would lead it right towards Jace.

End of part 1.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]