/lit/ - Literature

>>12410014

I apologize for the shitty formatting

“As I’m sure you’ve observed, this world is crumbling. Soon, there will be nothing left here but a void and it will be difficult to move about. The decay is sequential, so the rest of the path should still be intact.” He walks towards me and I stiffen, but casually he passes me and turns his head. “Aren’t you coming?”
“But why is this happening? Is it because of me?” That’s what you told me, but is it true?
“If you don’t hurry, we’ll lose our way.”
“Damn it,” I murmur, falling into step behind him.
He leads me under broken bridges and through half-collapsed buildings, dismal streets and blackened alleys. Creatures hang in the air with blank expressions, frozen in frame and full of static. I try to learn from him but he speaks only vagueness; he says he’ll be killed if he does otherwise. I’m not sure if I believe him or not, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. The other liar, the one without scars, he spoke in a similar manner—though he was much gentler—and they’ve both called me “Devourer.”
Double doors dripping with filth, corroded metal with no handles to be seen. The sky is black, and the breakdown rises over us, closing in for the kill, the big finale; the moon has even eaten itself. Dead trees of bubbling flesh swell and shrink as they take breath, shining with perspiration and the rich blood of precipitation. All around seethes the stench of disease.
“What’s in there?” I turn my narrowed eyes to him.
“A few good things. A lot of bad things.” Gazing at the doors, he walks up the steps to the decrepit building. “Some things you’ve been trying to avoid. Things you’d rather forget.”
The words send ice through me, making my mind and body numb. But if it will take me to you, I will go through hell itself. Steadying myself, I move to join him at the top of the stairs.
CLANG.
A large, iron bird cage has encased him from above. Standing in shock he quickly recovers and goes for the bars. “What—what is this; let me out at once!” he screams, quaking with anger. “Do you hear me?! Show yourself!”
From a hole in the ceiling of the portico drops a thing in a straight jacket, with rolling eyes and bandaged skin. It howls with laughter, swinging itself back and forth with its own momentum. The liar gasps, going rigid. “You?” he whispers.
“It’s time to play hide and seek,” it screeches, having the gall to swing near me.
“I don’t have time for this,” I snap, moving to strike, but its trajectory changes and I run into the wall, and the fucking thing shrieks with joy.
“Little tumor, don’t you want to see your precious br-haaa-ther?” I spin to face the monster’s back as it turns to meet me, cheeks scrunched up and it’s cackling, cackling. “Three important things have been taken from you! All you have to do is find them before the wave comes, and the path will open. If you fail, they’ll be lost forever and so will you!”