The sky albeit spoke of an overwhelming darkness, split by lights that grazed the canvas of black that gushed out in many layers.  Darius faltered as another gust of wind blew against him. He shook, the white fog throwing up walls against his sight. The frigid temperature ripped talons against the clothing that hugged his body in thick layers, the scent of thick wool flooded their nostrils. The howling wind drew past them in the cold winter air. Another gust of wind carried the deadness that often came with winter's path. Darius raised his hand instinctively, shielding his eyes from the chilly wind that forced tears down his cheeks. A pull on the rope tied around his lanky waist told him of his companion's inclination to keep moving.

A frosty breath escaped his throat, adding to the fog that swirled around them as the pelting snow fell. Darius trudged on. His boots echoed against the snow white ground. His boots fell deeper and deeper as the storm grew thicker. With the help of his flashlights, he could dimly see the skeleton of tress that shrivelled away, dotting the barren landscape of white. Darius' heart hammered in his chest as his nose wrinkled under the nose mask. The weariness of all the hours before kept him staggering, boots falling in too deep, nose itching to get the mask off, back aches from the load and cold fingers staring back at him as he led the way past this Iceland.

His head thrummed with a head ache. His fingers twitched, numbness flooding down their length. Heavy breaths escaped his mouth, the shallow notes of death singing dimly before being overshadowed by the blizzard. It seemed endless as everything began to blur. The white of his surroundings drew Darius in, the cold tantalizing in its call and pursuits. The flickering torchlight trailed to its left, bringing to a light a tiny indication of life that they hadn't seen for the few hours they'd ventured here. Footsteps.

Darius'eyes widened. Darius changed direction, turning as he followed through with the footsteps. The abrupt change caused the rope to go taut for a second.  Darius walked as fast as he could, yellow light casting against a rhythmic waltz of footsteps that graced the snow with tight leather marks. Darius exhaled, willing himself to fight against the urge to fall down, to give in to the snow covered floor.

After some minutes of walking through fits of disorientation, Darius finally found the footsteps end at a ramshackle cabin. Its four walls looked as though they would close in on themselves. The dingy cabin had a wooden stairwell that looked far more vintage than normal and having one too many breaks, a wrap around garden that splayed across a large expanse towards the cabin's right was filled with dead plants, icicles waiting at the weather's beck and call.

Darius refocused, strutting up the rickety stairs for the door. As soon as he reached it, it slid back on its hinges, revealing warm orange light. The eerie silence that hovered above this place didn't sit well with Darius. A wooden hallway was laid out in front of him, bearing rows of doors, three at each side. Opposite of him was another staircase, fenced with faintly rusted railings entrenched with tiny marks. Darius squinted at it, confused.

I thought it only had one floor.

His eyes scaled up to the ceiling which looked to be in very good condition, furnished with dimly colored tarps hanging around in bundles of reds and greens. A chandelier stood at the centre, strands of diamond rings emblazoned with deep inscriptions entwined with the candles that burned with hollow golden flames. Surprised by the good condition in which Darius found this cabin in, his concentration was only broken by a stumble.

One of his two companions, Vesper was sprawled on the floor. His long blonde curls were wet and damp, almost thinner than the voluminous ones that he prided before. His knapsack lay right beside him. Alarm immediately seeped into Darius' veins as he rushed to him, his footsteps muted against the dark wooden floor. Cast opposite Vesper was Cali breathing heavily, just as shaken as his other companions. Darius immediately drew on the leather rope before loosening the tied ends from around his waist, allowing the rope to fall to the floor before repeating the same process on his companions.

Darius knelt over Vesper, careful not to lean too much on him as he noticed his lips had taken a blue tone. His pale skin had lost all natural color. Eye bags spoke of the hours they had spent, wandering endlessly through the maze they had found themselves in.

Now that I think of it, this place is warm, a bit hot.

Using his eyes to travel for the likely source of heat, Darius found one of the green doors, nearest to the staircase, ajar, a faint creaking noise careered through. Fighting through the chills that crawled up his spine, he hooked both his large palms underneath the crook of Vesper's pale arms before pulling him. A trail of water slid down from his clothes already as he cautiously stepped backwards, casting glances before he finally pushed himself through the green door which opened up to a tiny room. Another collection of green and red decorations covered the entirety of the ceiling, encircling another similar looking chandelier.

The hearth of a furnace pushed to the north wall crackled with wild orange flames, matching the color that emanated from the chandelier high up. Two trees stood at either side of the stone furnace, thin yet healthy evergreen trees that held up an army of ornaments mixing between pine like green needles that slanted back bringing in a woody scent. Darius pulled Vesper towards one of the cushioned seats that sat directly in front of the right tree, his footsteps loud against the multi colored mat that was draped across the floor.

Darius dropped him, his eyebrows knitted as his chest rose and fell from exertion. The crackling flames filled the silence, splaying a drowning noise that buzzed with the eeriness that entwined the setting. Darius allowed his tongue to moisten his lips, blisters throbbed underneath the intrusion. Darius clicked his tongue, the warmth spread a satisfying chill up his spine. He ran a hand through his jet black hair, stray droplets bolted down his fingers, grazing them with freezing temperatures.

A loud clicking noise pierced the silence. Darius turned at break neck speed, his heart in his throat. A large shadow splayed across the hallway, shrouding the warm orange glow. A dim hissing and stirring flooded into his ears. Darius backed away, his throat bobbing with the patting of his equally damp boots. The light above shuddered, sprinkles of green and red falling out of the ceiling, swirling downwards with a dim ferocity.

Suddenly, the lights blinked off. Darius' heart began to palpitate  rapidly. His breath caught in his throat, clouded in this array of darkness, a spectacle of eyes gleaming with red blood lust punctuated the darkness. Tension kept Darius silent, his limbs shaking from the trepidation that coursed through his veins. A low rumbling filled the silence but within the next second the lights shuddered back to life. Sweat slid down his spine as his eyes skittered from left to right.

Cali staggered with a heavy knapsack and other supplies in hand, his loud breaths gave rest to the silence that almost choked Darius. Cali threw the bags to the side before sliding onto the chair next to him. His brown skin was no longer covered with wet clothes but instead interestingly warm clothes. The thick linen held his small yet moderately plump frame snugglely. Even though his semi tired outlook still remained unchanged, he looked rather calm, too calm especially because of the heart pounding scene mere seconds ago.

"Didn't you see that?" Darius' voice croaked, a result for barely communicating for a couple of hours. Despite the hoarseness of his voice, Cali didn't fail to notify his confusion with a raised brow.

"See what?"

"That thing with the red eyes that appeared after the candles went out.." Cali's look of confusion barely registered in Darius' brain as nervousness overtook him. His fingers twitched, goosebumps erecting themselves on his arms.

"The lights never went out." Cali regarded Darius strangely as Darius rubbed his temples with tensed and shaky fingers. Darius whipped to meet Cali's gaze, levelling up with the faint look. An itch overtook his arm, ugly red blisters raging underneath the water soaked clothes he had on. He began to claw at it, scraping from the infestations of darkness that stood off to the side of his mind.

"I promise you, I saw it with my own two eyes. This has nothing to do with me skipping the salve." Darius almost bit out, going on the defensive despite the chills that made residence at the base of his spine. A small memory of him locked away threatened to shudder back to light and reignite sorrows and fear. In the distant light, he could see blood and fire. He pulled himself out before the familiar scent of ashes extinguished the residue of reasoning in his head and the coppery taste of blood could ruin his appetite. Now noticing, Darius realized the warm clothes Cali had on, contrasting with the drenched clothes that he previously wore.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Darius questioned. Cali narrowed his eyes, seemingly sensing the change in topic. Cali sank lower into the chair with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"First door by the right, there's a whole room full of clothes, whoever owns this place sure is loaded." Cali whistled to himself. Darius watched as Cali brought a fragile glass bowl coupled with orange flowery designs at the brim. Through the transparent surface, Darius could see the thick broth that had been generously ladled into it.

"Also down the hall, kitchen's the door after the clothing room. " Darius breathed in deeply as he rubbed the trinket that snagged his wrists with their metallic embrace. The warmth that it held left a small touch of comfort against the ruling storm that brewed inside him. Gone was the cold that held him captive but instead a lingering chill filing from a different kind of cold.

"Don't you find this place to be strange, I mean you-"

"Take your salve, Darius." Cali warned in a low tone. The direct warning brought up another rush of emotions from the past, dark nights tied up in healers' huts, estranged looks and judgemental stares, hot gossip with a painful myriads of labels.

"This cabin is just a past time as soon as the blizzard wears off, we're back on our journey to Durnatel." The way his shoulders were slack, without tension and without a worry. Clunked with a deep hatred for the supernatural, the very embodiment for every villager from their hometown. In the distance, another flash of deep seated blood roiling softly as cackles and loud mutters echoed in the background with shadows tossed and scattered about near grey stone walls. Darius jolted out of it again before he ventured too deep.

Cali was now, lounging with his empty plate, hanging haphazardly from the chair which he sat. His head was propped by a cushion he laid by the head of the chair, his legs bouncing to a soundless tune. The picturesque of the life he wanted. Darius decided against remaining in his soaked clothes and marched through the room, Cali's humming fading out of his ears as he found himself back at the hallway. His eyes skidded about the hall as he paused at the doorway.

Darius swallowed harshly. His mouth coated with a bitter taste that he hated so much. The feeling had crept up on him once again as he rubbed the trinket again, noting the golden stars that hung off the metal band emblazoned with thick black dots. He led himself down the hall, his footsteps echoed with the pace of his heart. By the time he had reached the door, he wrenched it open. Meeting another light strewn room, his blue eyes adjusted quickly to the the numerous wooden frames erected on wheels in which clusters of hangers brimmed with clothes of different sizes that looked somewhat old. Cobwebs swept along his periphery, spiders spindling as they casted weary black eyed glances. The floorboards creaked loudly in the eerie silence that groped the room.

A movement caught his eyes, his eyes slunk to that angle, too slow to catch the motion across the green decoration ridden wall. His breath caught in his throat as he almost galloped to the first wooden frame of clothes, his fingers fumbled over the clothes nearly pinned to a wooden pole. He eagerly pulled a thick sweater and some pants, the pants caught onto something, jerking him forward. His legs twisted around each other, losing his balance but for the pants that broke his fall. Another breath managed to finally leave his chest in a heavy gasp, he untangled himself, his lips dry. With trembling fingers, he allowed his grip to leave the pants and moved to run a hand over the row of wood, managing to loosen a thread that snagged a slightly bent nail. As soon as he removed the cloth, his breathing hitched.

A writing, wrinkly and clustered, ushered into his line of sight, in the midst of other iron hangers that forcefully grated on the wooden rail. Darius studied it closely, his heart not missing a beat. Having studied several languages from the surrounding villages, during his past time in school, he was surprised to not understand this. He edged away from a slash of bitterness that was thrown from a memory that still remained locked up in a stall, just a disfigured amount of letterings that he could not read.

He should leave it be, a voice, many sculpted into one sang from time to time, a warning underlined with unmasked intent to death. A memory rushed up filled with blood and fire. Despite that he couldn't shake of the familiarity of the writing, it blossomed in his chest seeming to emerge from a rather pleasant memory when his days were throttled with love and a happiness so deep but those memories were almost too distant to reach, now overshadowed by darker and more unpleasant ones.

He quickly changed, ignoring the prickling feeling that ran up his arms and nipped the nape of his neck. A dim humming channeled through the atmosphere. The wooden ceiling dipped slightly as dust particles began to take an even path from which they sat still, dawdling along the corners. Icy chills formed a line down the length of his back, quickly sliding down in an even succession. White scales scattered across his arms, donning on the painful blisters that still remained.

By the frames that held clothes, screams rose up in the air, piercing his ears with a grotesque and murky note, aligning and shifting as other voices joined the cacaphony. Hollow outlines of figures trickled into light, like ghosts with faint black lines that tapered together to form bodice of people. The floor began to gel, dropping and bobbing like unstable water left troubled by a storm.

Their bodies twisted, paper white faces leaning in and out of focus. Darius leapt back. His head banged against the floor as soon as he lost his footing which made for the explosion of stars in his eyes. Darius recovered quickly at the smell of decay that careered through the air as he noticed  the thick grey smoke, a waddling cloud that bristled the surroundings, opening up to a grey area.

Darius stumbled back, avoiding the myriad of figures with trembling fingers. His breathing read heavy across the room before being washed away by the surrounding songs of discord. Fingers swiping, they reached him, taking away his oxygen as they sunk translucent talons at him. With every swipe, their translucent fingers merely dashed through his body with no effect. The door banged open and immediately the scene dissolved to nothingness.

Ashen face, his breath left him heavily as his eyes now trudged through the room. Cobwebs strewn across ceilings, the light flickering faintly with a picturesque display of yellow balls of light patting against the floor. Like every single time in the past, just the same. With every time in the past, his eyes shifted to the doorway, his pacing heart not quenched by the familiar presence that towered over him, this time in the body of his companion. Cali. His brown eyes were narrowed already, questionable, warning, doubtful looks entrenched in his singular gaze, a flurry of voices rose up in the background but he swatted them all away.

"What took you so long?" Darius pushed himself off the floor.

"I saw-" Darius cut himself off, his companion's eyes narrowing at the first two words. A voice rubbed off of him, reminding him of his parents, the magica.

Anybody who is deemed to be a magica will be burnt to death on the stakes.

20. That was what it was, 20, he hadn't had any of this in three years. Everyone in his village was waiting, silently treading carefully for his twentyfirst to see whether or not his abilities would really manifest or he would just grow out of this childish play, plagued by only nightmares that would no longer come to visit. He swallowed before rubbing a hand over his arm.

"Nothing," he said in a tight voice. Cali assessed him with narrowed eyes, breath short and crispy, a kind of warinesss in his body movement as he crossed his arms over his chest. A friend that was what he was, Darius reminded himself. He wouldn't end up like his parents with their blood boiling as their bodies got eaten away by fiery tendrils that forced its way up their writhing figures. He was different, he wasn't like them. Cali just rolled his eyes.

As soon as he had done that he stalked away. Darius also followed after him, briskly leaving the room. Darius followed him back down to the previous room to which he met Vesper now sitting up, also changed into another set of clothes. His pale curls were tied up in a loose ponytail, stray strands dangling across his face. His playful green eyes strayed to him, the same vigor and youthful exhuberance scouring just beyond its greenish depths. Suddenly, he felt a weariness like no other cling to him, his heart wrung tightly in his chest at the reminder of his coming ultimanium. An ultimanium that stood at the balance between life and death, a weight invoked by the decisions of the higher uppers that he had no say in.

"Oh, don't be such a damper on the mood and come join me." Darius fell back down to reality, his face swiping to meet Vesper's s levelled gaze. After much processing, he realized he had zoned out of what Vesper had been saying. Still out of breath, he forced down a chill that flushed its way down his back before deftly sinking teeth at the bottom of his spine.

"In what?"

"I said we should see if we can find anything we can catch for ourselves." Darius shook his head, feeling both their gazes burning into his side. The urge to say no pulled at his throat. He knew there was something off about this place. The urge tried to form the two lettered word that refused to thread sounds in the pit of his mouth. A tempest brew inside him, once again caught between the pressure that hovered above him like a moth to flame. He nodded, going against the words that failed to form in his throat.

Soon, Vesper was clambering up the stairwell with Darius on his tail. Darius footsteps were quiet compared to Vesper's noisy ones that could announce them miles away. The stairwell seemed longer than he thought, a spiralling force that continued to trudge up, spinning in on a wooden column with one too many loops. Soon, they both got to the top which opened up to another hallway, this one was without doors, just a hallway with a pedestal erected at the very front.

Behind the pedestal, an ancient looking plaque stuck to the wall. Vesper ventured away, babbling to himself, Darius watched his retreating figure before turning hesitant eyes back. Darius strode forward, his chest pounding as sweat broke at the peak of his forehead. His footsteps were almost hollow against the faintly corroded wood. He stopped. His eyes then found the plaque, another series of wrinkly writing scrawled onto the ancient marble. The same burst of familiarity wove its way upwards, filling his chest with the intoxicating sensation.

Searching through his mind, he left his eye to be plastered to the scrawny writing. A faint memory pulsed to life at his beckon but wrapped around it was an entourage of darkness, a murder that refused to erase itself, a sorrow so deep that appalled him to the magic that supposedly ran through the veins of the magica.

"Darius!" Jolted out of his trance, his head snapped to the side meeting the annoyed gaze of Cali.

Cali threw a bag at him, not acknowledging the weight, Darius buckled under the force of it, almost sending him sprawling to the ground.

"I think it's best we leave now." Darius nodded solemnly. The trio walked down the hall before they ventured down the staircase. Darius was super concious of the gazes that were plastered to his back. For some reason the room seemed hotter than it actually was, the heat embellishing him in another array of blisters. His companions were visibly unbothered until they got down the stairwell. The first thing they noticed was the absence of the door.

"Wasn't the door here?" Cali whispered to himself, taken aback by the discovery. Darius remained rooted while Cali strolled towards the end of the hall. Once he reached the wall, he slid his hands over the wall, looking for any loose remembrance of a rusty door knob etched to a loose door. Cali continued to tap, confusion ringing from his knitted brows and his rapping fingers.  A loud cackle shook the room, the whole place quaked before Darius' eyes, cracks underlining the four walls around him as the other two both looked on in oblivion.

A shadowy figure shimmered out from a crack in the walls, his wispy form gaining a more metallic glint. The scent of heavy toxic decay hung in the air, his smell released a thick fume of black that tainted the surrounding. His wispy hand plunged through Cali's chest as he bent low. Darius gasped loudly as he watched the shadow eye him with sharp teeth, red eyes gleaming with greed and unrelented delight. Before he could think, it disappeared then Cali collapsed.

Darius immediately ran towards him, his eyes wide as he watched his companion's face turn ashen. His body began to wobble, dots of decay frothing red like foam as his gaze remained glassy, fixed afar off in a distant world. Darius shakily fell down to his knees, his gaze pinned on the floor. Vesper fell into step with them, his eyes visibly overtaken by panic. The ground began to tremble, the cracks becoming more unhinged as dust fell out of places. Ceiling boards fell loose as Darius felt the familiar jump of his stomach. As always, Vesper was oblivious to the destruction that seeked them out.

A jagged line of deep seated cracks aimed for them, Darius swept Vesper's hands before galloping down the back as he avoided floorboards that began to fall away, a runny darkness glumly lieing in its stead. Darius led them both up the staircase, ignoring Vesper's complaints as he avoided fallen boards with the hissing and screeching of otherworldly beings.  Darius barrelled into the hallway while clinging unto Vesper's hand, narrowly missing the onslaught of wood that chose to block their escape.

Vesper's eyes mirrored the alarm that pulsed in his veins as his eyes met Darius from where they both lay sprawled across the floor. "Why in the world are we here and what happened to Cali?" Darius jumped, fingers shaking and breath hitching. He bolted towards the plaque again, swathes of burnt out memories emulating the darkness that had become his life wrung around the memory that held the meaning behind this statement. Ignoring the gut wrenching darkness, he pushed himself down the stained corridor of his memories. Fire and brimstone fancied one, another filled with the musty scent of herbs and an earthy salve. The deeper he went, the more his blisters jutted out. The background noise caused prickles in his ears as his chest pounded loudly within its confines, then glossing past his parents' death he found it.

The 3rd Winter Incubus' Domain, Chilware. A place rumored to appear once a year on the journey between Ninus and either of the three neighbouring villages, at the heart of winter's coldest nights, the third winter incubus, Igmadar was rumored to have been sent here after the seasonal spirits restored balance to the seasons, he was said to have trapped himself inside this cabin and uses it as bait to lure souls of innocent humans that take refuge in his cabin for a night or two. Jolting from this, his eyes stray to find Vesper, not gone but by the plaque looking just alarmed.

Suddenly , Darius found the same shadow, Igmadar lingering behind Vesper, his wispy figure materializing into a more earthen form. Darius' head jerked, his lips mouthed the words but before they could meet the target the demon had already plunged a hand into the man's chest. Darius watched in slow motion Vesper's eyes widen instinctively. His face immediately turns ashen, his body falling back as his green eyes are gleaned of life, left glassy and untethered to the natural world. Igmadar gave a toothy grin, yellowed uneven teeth grossly highlited by holes that drilled themselves as the smell of decay sifted through the environment.

Vesper fell to the floor and a scream ripped out of Darius, his heart palpitating from a pain too deep to bear.

Darius felt the darkness linger over him, gutting him slowly with a tonsil that stirred a creeping fear as the light shuddered. Igmadar flung himself at him. Darius collapsed to the floor, breath catching as Igmadar's calloused and extra thin tonsils pricked either side of his clothes, building tears as the cacaphony continued above him. Darius stared into its red rimmed eyes dominated by an animalistic kind of blood lust, his heavy breath reeking of decay.

In a thick scratchy voice, the incubus said, "Goodbye, magica." Excruciating pain ripped down his body followed by a chilling numbness. Black dots encroached his skin, stained with decay's deadly touch. His chest barely fell and rose, his nose clogged and ears too blocked. The thrumming of his heart fell out of his sync, falling flat. Everything frosted by as his eyes grew glassy, the world around was washed away. And then Darius was left to be just a ghost in the hallway. Deemed to never return.


Word count: 4556

The End.

I want to thank God for giving me the Grace to write this. So, how was it?




© No works of mine should be published without my permission