Black Horizon

November 19, 2018

It's been two weeks since the creature tore through his dreams and his room, leaving behind that mark, that pulsing burn of unnatural energy.

The nightmares didn't stop. If anything, they grew worse. The visions of the ruined city, huge monsters , and rifts splitting the sky felt like a countdown, a warning that time was running out.

Lucas could hardly shake the feeling that something was pushing closer.

Even the sunlight, weak through the blinds, seemed heavy, as if unseen things were growing unbearably close.

➤

One night, there was this pull to the forest.

His mother's words echoed in his mind: "It's was just a nightmare. You're just stressed, Lucas." She didn't see it. No one did. He wasn't crazy.

The mark on his chest was proof. The dreams were proof. The darkness was closing in, whether they believed him or not.

As if the forest was calling him again.

Lucas pushed through the underbrush, the damp earth tangy in the air. He reached the clearing—the place where it had all started. The rift, the chaos, the searing light. But now, there was only stillness.

The vortex was gone. No jagged rift, no chaotic pulse. Just the remnants of its passage. The land was scarred.

➤

The trees stood twisted, their branches gnarled. Leaves, once vibrant, now lay dead at his feet. The touch of the vortex had drained them of life.

A faint burn lingered in the air, not with sound, but with a presence—too close, too watchful. It felt like the earth was holding its breath.

He crouched, fingers brushing the warm soil where the center of the vortex had been.

"Ow!" He felt a heat of the soil. Luckily, he didn't get burned

The scorch marks stretched in a circle, still faintly glowing. The heat from the otherworldly force had not fully dissipated.

Then, his eyes caught something.

➤

A small, smooth object, half-buried in the dirt. He brushed it free. The stone was dark, almost black, smooth like obsidian, but with an otherworldly sheen. Etchings, sharp and angular, glowed faintly beneath the surface.

As his fingers closed around the stone, warmth surged through him. Brief but intense, it filled his chest and radiated outward.

"UGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Lucas gasped in pain, his body tensed due to a excruciating pain

The energy in the stone was alive, pulling at him, filling him with something foreign.

Lucas stood, staring at the stone. A low hum seemed to linger in the air, as though the forest had shifted in response. Something was wrong.

He glanced around. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The forest felt… alive in a way that unsettled him. The trees that had once seemed familiar now felt menacing.

Then, the warmth vanished, leaving only a subtle, pulsing thrum in his chest.

The wind shifted. A whisper of movement caught his eye. When he turned, there was nothing—only the warped shadows of the trees.

Then came the growl. Low, distant at first, then closer. Lucas felt it deep in his bones, like the land itself was warning him.

He held the stone tighter, the warmth returning, but now tinged with dread. The earth beneath him seemed to stir, as if something ancient was waking.

➤

"Lu…ca…s.." The whisper came, distorted by the wind.

| What the?! | Lucas thought to himself, his heart beating twice the normal speed.

He turned around. The trees loomed higher, darker. Shadows thickened, moving in his periphery, disappearing when he focused.

A sudden rustling broke the silence. Something large shifted in the undergrowth, its form hidden by the thick trees. The ground trembled with each movement, as though the earth itself was testing whatever was out there.

"Oh no…" Lucas whispered to himself, panic rising. "Not now…"

But Lucas had to run away

With a final, hesitant glance at the stone, Lucas turned and ran. His feet pounded the earth, breath ragged. The shadows seemed to close in, the oppressive weight of something ancient pressing down with every step.

He didn't stop until he reached the open fields, where the sunlight broke through the trees and the air felt normal again.

But he couldn't shake it. The forest hadn't let him go. Not yet.