Echoes of the past

The bushes rustled noisily in the darkness until Eli's head broke through the hedge into the inky midnight light of the half moon. Eli squinted into the darkness ahead until he could make out the silhouette of a small bush located on a hillside across the clearing in front of him. He waited patiently looking at the bush until he saw a light appear to the side of it, then he launched himself off his knees and ran bunched over, as if anyone would see him at this hour, until he reached the bush.

The light beside the bush was actually coming from a hole in the side of the hill just big enough for an average size man to shoulder his way into.

Once in the hillside, the tunnel ran a short distance and widened into a hallway high enough for someone to walk while hunched over and just wide enough for two people to pass if heading in opposite directions. A small torch was stuck in the dirt of the tunnel wall flickering smoky shadows as his eyes adjusted to the light.

A figure wrapped in worn burlap robes and a loosely wound turbin, waved him forward to move further into the tunnel.

As he made his way down the passage, which had begun to slant downward going deeper into the hill. Eli began to make out the faint muttering of voices. The muttering slowly turned to chanting as the walls abruptly changed from dirt to stone which had obviously been worked by human hands, creating a smooth even surface.

Further into the tunnel the walls were carved with images of people. Mixed with the images was lettering that Eli wished he could understand.

The tunnel opened into a round chamber with the same hand worked stone walls and torches evenly spaced around the room. In the center of the room were two tables.

A figure stood between the tables, dressed in burlap similar to everyone else in the room with the exception of faded symbols following the neckline of the garment.

Eli knew him as the leader of the group, but could never remember his name. He only knew it kind of rhymed with cantaloupe, so that’s what he called him.

Cantaloupe held a long dagger in his hand. If Eli was close enough, he would have seen symbols on the blade matching those on the walls. Eli took his place in the back row and joined the chanting.

On the table to the right was a body wrapped in worn burlap with symbols stitched along the neckline, down the arms around the waist and along the bottom edge of the robe. The lower portion of the face, not covered by the robes hood, was wrapped in bandages that were far from recently placed.

The second table held another body, which was not dressed in burlap, but rather a beautifully made white gown with decorative lace at the neck wrists and hem. In the lace could be seen more of the same symbols on the walls. The girl in the gown was in her early teens, her dirty face streaked with tears. She looked back and forth from the body on the other table to Cantaloupe, short sobs escaping her lips.

The chanting changed and began to get louder. Cantaloupe began to speak over the rest of the group, in a tongue that Eli did not recognize. It was different than the language of the chanting, having a harsher more gutteral sound to it.

Eli was becoming excited like many of the others in the room, his breath quickening As he felt the energy in the room growing. The hair on his arms began to rise and his skin broke out in goosebumps. The chanting began to pick up pace but remained lower than the speech of Canteloupe, who was growing louder with each sentence. He began motioning toward one or the other of the tables and then toward the sky or the group in general.

Eli noticed that the room was getting hotter as the ceremony went on, to the point that sweat began to trickle down the back of his neck. He quickly wiped it away as he proceeded to chant, not entirely certain what was happening.

He only understood that this was something important and that it would change the world. He was both excited and proud of being involved in a world changing event, but he also didn't truly understand what this ceremony was supposed to accomplish.

The robed figured on the first table represented Brynn the Black, a figure from the past who, if the legends were to be believed,was more god than man. He lived in a time when the world was in chaos and he somehow brought order with his deeds and actions.

But that was such a long time ago, who knows what is true and what is fairy tale. Eli didn't care, the world was in bad shape again and needed a hero. If believing in Brynn the black would help the people work together that was fine by him.

The heat in the room was becoming unbearable, sweat dripped into Eli's eyes with a salty sting that caused him to squeeze his eyes tight. In the moment that happened, the chanting ceased and cantaloupe screamed in the center of the room. Eli opened his eyes just in time to see him plunge the knife into the girls chest. Eli screamed out, but no one seemed to notice.

As Cantaloupe pulled the blood soaked blade free of the young girls lifeless torso, the symbols on her gown began to glow as did the symbols on his own robes. He looked in amazement at this, obvious to all that this was an unexpected occurrence. The glow grew to the point of becoming painful to look upon, but none could turn away.

The heat in the room unbearable already, grew even worse as the symbols glowed white hot.

Cantaloupe began to tearing at the robes in a frantic attempt to remove them but could not. Soon, he was screaming in agony at the searing pain the symbols now caused him.

The worshipping group looked on in terror, as Cantaloupe began not to burn, but desiccate before their very eyes. Only after the dried out husk of his body hit the floor, did anyone notice that the robes of the the Brynn figure had begun to glow now. Softly at first then with a growing heat just as Cantaloupes robes had done.

There was a soft stringy glow flowing between Cantaloupe’s body on the floor and the body of Brynn the Black on the table. As the glow in Cantaloupe’s robes faded, Brynn’s grew brighter.

Just before the glow went dead on Cantaloupe, a new string of light shot from Brynn. It hit one of the men standing near the tunnel entrance in the chest, he screamed in agony. When his screams faded another string shot out into the chest of the next man. This rapidly escalated until the room was awash with ropy lights and the agonized screams of the worshippers. Eli was stricken with fear and fell backwards over the man behind him who writhed in agony, the mans skin took on a subdued shade of the light that sucked at his chest. Eli's fear nearly unhinged him, as before his eyes the man’s cheeks began to pull back into his face and his skin took on the texture of leather too long in the sun.

Eli pushed himself to his feet then, with a strength he hadn't realized he possessed, he forced his way through the panicked mob of worshippers toward the tunnel entrance. Throwing men bodily from his path.

He made it to the tunnel and stumbled for a moment on the dessicated husk of the man with the turbin, a whispy curl of smoke issueing from his gapping mouth.

Once free of the body, the tunnel was clear and Eli made a mad dash to the crawl space entrance. He paused for a moment and looked back, the continued agony of the group remaining in the chamber, pouring out like so much venom. The air felt tainted and almost took on an acrid taste. Eli recovered his senses and began to crawl out of the tunnel.

Eli's head and arms pushed out of the entrance and he fell freely onto his stomach, his breath coming in ragged gasps he sucked in the pure night air, the screams muffled but still audible from beneath the hillside.

Eli pushed himself to his feet once again and began stumbling blindly through the underbrush in the direction he thought was home.

He had only gotten a short distance when a rumbling vibration felt through the ground made him stop and turn to look behind him. A thundering crack and blinding light erupted from the hillside in which the chamber had resided. The concussion from the blast knocked Eli off his feet and slammed him to the ground completely knocking the wind out of him. He pulled himself into a sitting position while fighting to get his breath. Just as he did, a robed figure enveloped in a net of ropey light climbed from the crater that had been the hillside to stand atop the rubble with outstretched arms.

It let loose a peel of laughter so evil it made Eli's skin crawl. Eli was so overcome with fear, he began to sob like a child. Then he realized the broken and battered bodies of the worshippers began to appear. Some had lost limbs and either hobbled or dragged themselves from under the dirt and debris of the hillside explosion. Others had lost sections of torso or half their faces but still seemed able to function. The bodies emerged from the dust and debris all moving in Eli's direction.

His fear was so all consuming that all he could do was sit and cry in a puddle as he wet himself uncontrollably.

The twisted bodies surrounded Eli, and as the they closed in, his last sounds were screams of the purest terror.