Welcome to the abyss

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David awoke, lying face down in a patch of damp grass that lightly caressed his cheek as it blew in a calm, mild breeze. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times to clear his blurred vision as he pushed against the ground in an effort to sit upright. He scanned the morose landscape around him, observing the gray, withered grass and barren treetops that aligned themselves with the hill he awoke upon. The sky was darkened by heavy clouds that loomed overhead, threatening to unleash a torrential downpour at any moment. Ahead of him was a headstone with his name emblazoned upon it with more carvings underneath that were too small to be read at a distance. He continued looking around, seeing yet more of the gray grass and desolate trees that stretched endlessly into the horizon, broken only, it seemed, by the hill he was on and another upon which an archway rested. Unlike its surroundings, the archway radiated a bright, orange glow that warmly beckoned him toward it.

After admiring the archway for a moment, he stood up, wiping dirt and grass off of himself as he did, and approached the headstone. Underneath his name was a series of strange carvings that he had never seen before, yet the message the carvings conveyed was somehow comprehensible to him. He was aware that he had awoken in a world that laid in a space between life and death, that his life had come to an abrupt end and that he was to make a choice: he could either lie down before his headstone and wither away into non-existence, or he could brave the forest that surrounded him in an effort to reach a paradise that resided on the other side of the archway. 

With the options laid out before him, David looked toward the archway again and traced the distance from it to himself with his finger, drawing an imaginary line that connected its location to his through the few paths he could see within the forest. From where he stood, the distance between him and the archway didn’t appear vast, but the density of the forest stood in strong opposition to him. Some trees, he noted, on the outer edges of the forest appeared to have fused together into a natural wall that forbade entry. At the base of one tree, David watched as a snake-like creature slithered along the trunk, its body twisting around it four times, coming to a stop by resting its head upon one of the branches, facing toward David. Unlike a typical snake’s visage, however, the snake’s face was nearly devoid of features save for an ovular indentation in its face that was shrouded in shadow. After a few moments, the snake slithered its way through some of the tree branches and vanished into the forest. 

The forest fell completely still and silent, the only sounds being that of the wind as it blew by. David felt in his pockets for a moment, realizing that the etchings also mentioned something about him keeping the items in his immediate possession when he died. Within them, he had a few items: a pocket knife, a butane lighter, and a set of keys. He took the knife out of his pocket and unfolded the blade to inspect it. It was an old keepsake of his, something that his grandfather had given him decades ago. While he always carried it on him, he had never used it, usually opting to run away from confrontation rather than face it head on. Still, its presence with him now offered some comfort. He refolded the blade and placed the knife back into his pocket. He stood back up from the ground, wiped more grass off of himself, and set off toward the forest. 

* * *

The floor of the forest was covered in a thin layer of slick mud with clumps of grass and broken twigs interspersed throughout. The trees that had at first appeared short now seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky, and their multitude left David with limited visibility in all directions. He cautiously wandered through the forest, pausing to look behind each tree that he passed. As he walked, sounds from the denizens of the forest consumed him, their distant screeching and guttural roars bouncing from tree to tree, each note sounding closer than the last. Underneath his feet, the twigs that littered the ground crackled, and the errant sound of twigs crackling behind him alerted him to something that already seemed to be following him. David withdrew the knife from his pocket as he walked, unfolded the blade, and quickly spun around to face his pursuer, though as he did, he saw only the faintest blur as whatever was stalking him darted away, weaving effortlessly between the trees that obstructed the way. He rounded a tree in pursuit of the creature, but it was long gone by the time he did. 

David retraced his steps back around the tree and resumed the path he was on. He attempted to walk in as straight of a line as possible, being forced to deviate by some of the trees, and sometimes having to travel in the opposite direction of his goal around groups of trees whose trunks merged together to form impenetrable walls. What he believed to be only a couple hours’ journey now felt as though it would take days, and the forest taunted him with false images of the orange glow he sought after, only for him to round the next bend and be met with the same grays and browns that were already behind him. Still, he trudged along, finding that his legs did not grow tired from the walking, nor did he feel pangs of hunger or thirst. 

He found himself having to repeatedly wrangle his mind back to the task at hand when it wandered, primarily lingering on the point at which he died. He didn’t remember much about it, only that it had been quick. Within his mind flashed images of the alleyway in which he had been walking. He was just about to step back out onto the main road before he felt himself being grabbed from behind, one hand over his mouth, and felt a sharp object being dragged across his throat. Before he knew it, he was lying face down in a pool of his own blood, clutching at the wound as it gushed, questioning why this fate had befallen him. As he recollected this, David felt his throat, unsure of his own reaction either way if he felt the wound there or not. Though his fingers did not pass through a gaping wound in his throat, the sensation he felt upon touching where the wound should be was that of numbed skin. David shuddered before quickly lowering his hand back down to his side. 

Hearing another sound behind him, David spun around and lashed out with his knife, its blade falling short of the creature that was stalking him. Once more, the creature darted away, this time stopping behind a tree as it peeked out, its faceless visage shrouded by the shadow cast by the tree. They stared at each other for a moment, motionless, until David saw something lashing out at him from within the branches of one of the trees. He reflexively stepped backward, the head of the snake creature from before stopping short in front of his arm. David swung his knife at the snake as it lunged toward him again, managing to plunge the blade into its body. As the snake recoiled, the handle of the knife was loosed from David’s hand and the knife remained within the snake. Disarmed, David took a few more steps backward until his back collided with one of the trees, the snake keeping pace with him by slithering between the branches above him. 

As the snake prepared itself for another strike, David raised his arms in front of his face, though when it lunged forward again, it was intercepted in a blur of movement. The creature that had been stalking David wrapped its hands around the base of the snake’s head, yanking its body down from the branches and onto the ground. Wasting no time, the creature raised the snake’s head and began bashing it into one of the tree trunks while unleashing a deafening screech. The creature continued bashing the snake’s head into the tree until it was nothing but a bloodied nub. Once the body stopped twitching, the creature removed the knife from the snake’s body and tossed the corpse on the ground. Timidly, the creature approached David, presenting the knife to him. 

David outstretched his hand and took the knife back from the creature’s  three-fingered hand. Up close, the creature’s skin appeared dried and cracked with a sickly green tint, much of it covered in filth from the forest that clung to it as if it were glued in place. Its face resembled that of the snake with a hollow indentation, the inside of which was blanketed in darkness, that stretched across the length of where a face should be. As David took the knife, the creature took a step back from him and once more darted between the trees, disappearing amongst them. 

As he pocketed his knife, David looked upward to see that the canopy of tree branches was growing thicker, nearly fully obscuring his vision of the sky and shrouding the forest floor in a sea of shadows. What specs of light remained were slowly devoured as the branches snaked their way around each other, plunging the forest floor into total darkness. He attempted to look around after giving his eyes a moment to adjust, but all he could see was the inky blackness that somehow appeared darker with his eyes open than when he shut them. With his back still against a tree, he slid downward and sat with his knees pressed closely into his chest, head resting upon them. He placed his hands on the back of his head and closed his eyes for a while, making sure to listen out for anything that may approach him. He attempted to collect his scattered thoughts, but his mind preferred to wander, pausing only when he heard sounds of movements within the forest. He contemplated staying in his sitting position, waiting patiently for the other denizens of the forest to put him out of his misery, His mind proceeded to wander despite his efforts to keep it in place, lamenting the peace of non-existence that he willfully, stupidly, gave up. 

He wasn’t quite sure why he had chosen an attempt at paradise. It was a concept he never paid much mind to in life, standing firm in his belief that such a thing could not exist. Nor did he believe that any other kind of afterlife could exist, yet he now sat in one that came with the promise of an afterlife that could make everything he endured in his own existence worthwhile. He had always believed that death was not some beautiful beginning like most others believed or the beginning of yet another journey, it was simply the end of an existence filled with pain and suffering, and something the greedy believed was owed to them by appearing pious. He didn’t believe that he or anyone else deserved something that could be called paradise. Still, he had chosen to have a chance at it, though the answer to the question of why eluded him. He searched his mind for the answer, turning up nothing but the question itself. He settled on the thought that if such a thing as paradise existed, he wanted to see it with his own eyes. If nothing else, the end of his journey could answer a question whose answer resided on the other side of life. With that thought, David opened his eyes, stood back up, and fished out the butane lighter from his pocket. 

With his other hand, David reached up into the tree that had been his respite and felt within one of the lower branches for a twig that he could try to break off, noting that doing so was remarkably easier than that of a normal tree. He lit the lighter, illuminating his surroundings in a dull, orange glow, and held the twig to the flame. The flame danced around the twig for a while, turning it from brown to black and creating a thick cloud of smoke, but the twig did not ignite. David tossed the twig to the ground and grabbed another. He attempted to light the second twig, and like the first, it became charred, but did not ignite. With his experiment failed, David threw the second twig onto the ground and began walking in the vague direction of the archway, not entirely sure if he was going the right way, navigating by the occasional flickering glow of his lighter. He had owned the lighter for a considerable time before his death and knew that it wouldn’t last much longer, so he limited its use as much as possible, thankful for the occasional break in the canopy above that allowed for some light to peek in, though those, too, were swallowed up by the branches over time. 

He wasn’t sure how long he spent navigating in this way, though the paranoid thought set in that he wasn’t any closer to his goal than when he first entered the forest. The few light beams that penetrated the canopy all appeared the same dull, orange color, but never seemed to brighten or darken as he proceeded. He contended with the thought that he was walking in circles, perhaps even around the same tree, wasting the little butane he had left before being cursed to wander this section of the forest. Absurd as the thought was, it soon consumed him and he began using his knife to carve x’s into the trees that he passed, and was horrified to find that the carvings were slowly healed over by the trees. Feeling lost, he knew the only way that he could be certain he was headed in the right direction was to either walk in a straight line for as long as it took to find a less dense part of the forest, or create an opening of his own from which he could look for the archway.

David scouted around for a moment until he found a tree he could climb, deposited his knife and lighter into his pockets, and attempted to blindly climb the tree. As he ascended as far as the branches would allow him, he felt for the thick branches that separated him from the sky and pulled at them, easily snapping and dropping them to the ground. He continued to pull away the branches, making way for beams of light that shot down into the forest, and eventually created an opening large enough for him to poke his head through. Knowing he probably didn’t have long to do so before the branches regrew, David quickly pulled himself upward and peeked through the opening. He looked around for a moment and finally saw the comforting glow of the archway, took note of its location, and let himself drop back down to the forest floor, landing with a thud and a smile. 

He had been traveling in the wrong direction after all. At which point he went off course, he wasn’t sure, and he wondered if it was actually him that went off course or if the forest played a cruel trick on him. Either way, armed with this knowledge, he proceeded through the forest, making sure to stay aligned with the direction of the archway as best he could while navigating by the sparse use of his lighter. Eventually, he came to a stop at a wall of trees that stretched far to either side, further than his measly lighter could illuminate. He followed the wall in one direction, finding that it seemed to stretch indefinitely, and turned around to follow it in the opposite direction to see if it did the same. As he walked with his hand on the tree trunks to guide him, he could hear the faint sounds of footsteps and guttural growls on the opposite side of the wall, and as he proceeded, the footsteps followed. He paused for a moment and listened as the footsteps on the other side of the wall fell still as well. Moving as quietly as he could, David took another few steps, but as one of his feet fell atop some twigs, they snapped and the creature on the opposite side of the wall let out a bestial roar before slamming itself into the wall. 

David leapt back from the wall and ducked behind one of the trees, waiting for the creature to break through and pursue him, but, surprisingly, the wall held as the creature repeatedly hurled itself into it. While it was distracted, David crept away and continued following the wall until he reached a small break in it, past which the ground sloped downward, descending into a bog, with the wall stretching further into it. Left with no other options, David turned his attention to the small break in the wall. It was just wide enough for him to squeeze through, and led into a clearing that was well lit from the glow of the archway that sat atop the hill on the other side. All he needed to do to reach the archway now was get across the clearing, squeeze through another gap at the end, and climb up the hill.

The clearing was flat and unobstructed. If need be, David believed he could sprint through it fairly quickly, but the question of being able to do so and outrun the beast was not one he felt confident in answering. He poked his head through the gap in the wall that separated him from the beast and saw it waiting in the spot closest to where the twigs had snapped before. It was a large, hairless creature, hunched over so that it could walk using a combination of its hind legs and fists. It paced along the line of trees, grunting and growling as it did. Its face, like the few other creatures he had come across within the forest, was hollow, and though it seemed to look directly at David’s face, it did not pursue him, instead opting to remain pacing along the trees. Preparing himself to dart back around the opening, David reached an arm up and waved it toward the creature as its hollow head faced him once again, and it still seemed not to notice him. 

David looked from the beast to the clearing ahead of him, surveying it carefully. The ground around the edges of the clearing was littered with twigs and bark from the surrounding trees, most of it already snapped into multiple pieces, though some looked freshly fallen. Toward the center, the ground was mostly clear of fallen objects and obstructions, save for patches of trampled grass that gave way to dry, cracked ground. He looked up from the ground to the archway in the distance, then back down, and squeezed his body through the opening. 

He made sure to keep his eyes fixed on the ground directly ahead of him, noting anything that looked like it could make the slightest sound if stepped on. Even slightly uneven patches of dirt were avoided for fear of his shoe skidding and alerting the monstrosity that gradually fell further behind him. He could feel the minutes slipping by as he slowly progressed across the clearing. He could feel his entire body trembling more and more with each step. If his heart could still beat, he wondered if the creature would hear it at this moment. If he still needed to breathe, he wondered if the beast would barrel down the short distance between them and end his life again. How would it end him? Would it be quick and painless, or long and excruciating? David stopped for a moment and looked behind him, seeing the beast still pacing along the tree line, waiting for the prey it did not know had slipped past it. He pressed on, creeping even more slowly, hoping that his eyesight would not suddenly fail him and one errant footfall alert the creature to his location. 

Nearly halfway across the clearing, David contemplated breaking into a full sprint to reach the narrow gap at the end, immediately dismissing the thought as soon as it came to him. He knew that he had to be patient and calculated, but that didn’t stop him from reaching into his pocket and wrapping his hand fully around his keys and pulling them out. Past the halfway mark, a crackling sound came from the gap ahead of him as a shadowy figure darted between the trees. David quickly spun around and saw that the beast was sprinting toward the sound, closing the gap between it and where David stood almost as fast as David had turned around. As he tried to move out of the way, the hulking beast clipped David’s shoulder, sending him spinning to the ground. David quickly clambered onto his feet and faced the beast, only to see that it had already reached the gap at the opposite end of the clearing and was reaching one of its arms inside, roaring as it forced its body against the opening.

A loud shriek emanated from the gap as the beast pulled its arm out, tightly gripping a bird-like creature in its fist. The beast raised the bird-like creature up to its face, shoved the head of the bird into its hollow maw, and silenced its screeching with a loud crunch. Glistening blood began pouring out of the beast’s maw as it continued to devour the bird one sickening crunch at a time. When it finished, the beast wiped away the blood from its mouth and began walking around the perimeter of the clearing. 

David watched the creature as it wandered, drops of blood still oozing from its mouth. He attempted to move his legs, but found himself rooted to the spot, only able to watch the beast. Everything around them was silent, save for the collision of the beast’s limbs into the ground, snapping some of the twigs that littered the area. As it rounded a corner and began walking toward him, David raised his hand with the keys in it and threw them as hard as he could back toward where the beast patrolled before. The keys clattered loudly on the ground and the beast let out another roar as it sprinted toward the sound while David resumed creeping across the clearing.

His pace became more rapid as he proceeded, wishing only to get out of the clearing before something else alerted the creature. He lifted head to see how much further he had to go, thankful that he was getting close, but before he could turn his head back to the ground, his foot fell upon a series of fresh twigs that crackled loudly. As the sound echoed throughout the clearing, David heard the beast let out another roar and he broke into a sprint toward the narrow gap, reaching it as he heard the beast’s galloping come to a stop behind him. He squeezed through the opening, feeling a gust of wind behind his head as the beast swiped at him and missed. He started running deeper into the forest, but was stopped as one of the beast’s massive hands wrapped itself around his leg, knocking him to the ground. The beast began dragging David back toward itself as David kicked at it with his free leg, managing to wrench himself free from the beast’s grasp for a moment. He attempted to crawl away while reaching into his pocket for his knife, grasping it as the beast’s hand grabbed hold of his ankle and began dragging him once more. He unfolded the blade of the knife, turned himself around, and began stabbing at the hand that held his ankle, stabbing it and his own leg repeatedly until the beast finally let go while unleashing another roar. The beast reached in with its opposite hand in an attempt to grab its prey again, and David continued stabbing at it. With one final plunge, the beast recoiled with the knife still planted firmly in its hand. David got back to his feet and darted quickly into the forest, the beast’s anguished roars falling behind him. 

The trees around him were dense, but provided enough space to walk between as he continued running in the direction of the archway, finding relief when the landscape began to rise and the trees became less plentiful. He finally slowed down to a walking pace as he reached the base of the hill and stopped once the pain in his leg set in. He looked down at it and winced as he saw the blood pouring out from it, a trail of it marking the path he had taken. Close to his goal and with nothing to stop the bleeding, David began hiking up the hill, the natural darkness of the forest giving way to the orange glow of the archway as it came into view. David quickened his pace, doing his best to ignore the pain in his leg and the warmth of the blood that oozed down it. 

At the crest of the hill, David paused to embrace the archway’s warm glow, feeling the calming light wash over him before continuing onward. The dead grass gave way to a cobblestone pathway that led into and beyond the archway which appeared to be composed of bricks that were long overgrown with vines. David allowed himself a moment to be proud of himself for making it to this point, making peace with his death since it meant that he no longer had to suffer in life. He felt tears welling up in his eyes and a smile creep across his face as he neared the archway.

The smile on his face quickly faded when he heard footsteps behind him, though as he turned around his sense of relief returned as he saw that it was only the creature that had helped him in the forest before, standing with David’s knife unfolded in its hand. David smiled at the creature, and unable to speak, simply nodded as his way of thanking it. He began to approach the creature, stopping when it began shaking its head at him. It held its free hound out in front of it as it backed away before unleashing a shriek and lunging itself at David. The creature began swinging the knife wildly in front of itself as David quickly backed away in an attempt to dodge the slashing. He raised his arms in front of his face while backing away toward the archway, trying to keep as much distance between himself and the creature as possible, and began feeling the blade of the knife as it carved into his flesh.

He tried to catch the arm of the creature as it continued slashing, managing to stop it for a brief moment. He struggled with the creature as he tried to pry the knife from its hand, but the creature shoved him with its free hand and knocked David to the ground, the knife clattering down alongside him. David clambered back up to his feet and started limping toward the archway. Behind him, he heard the creature shriek again before being knocked down to the ground as it pounced onto his back. He continued to try and reach the archway, crawling with the creature mounted on his back, and stopped as the creature bit down onto the back of his neck, tearing away his flesh and spitting it out before biting back down once more. David’s vision blurred, but he tried to crawl further along, barely making any more progress before collapsing onto the ground. He fell completely motionless as the creature continued to tear away at his flesh, consuming him until his consciousness faded and all was dark. 

* * *

David awoke, lying face down in a patch of damp grass that lightly caressed his cheek as it blew in a calm, mild breeze. He found that he had no eyes to open, and no eyelids to blink. His vision was clear as he pushed himself to sit upright. He observed the morose landscape he found himself in, the grass still as gray and withered as ever, and clouds threatening a torrential downpour that would never come. Directly ahead of him was a tree, its branches jagged and devoid of leaves. David stood up and walked over to the tree to look upon the carvings on the trunk, somehow already knowing the message that the carvings would convey. It was a simple message, stating that as a denizen of the forest, his sole purpose was to prevent others from reaching the archway he once foolishly sought. 

He looked up from the carvings to the archway in the distance, seeing that it no longer radiated with its soothing, orange glow. It was now just as dark and dreary as its surroundings. As he looked from the archway into the forest proper, he found that his eyes could pierce through the trees and into all of the natural passageways, within which were others attempting to navigate the inhospitable labyrinth, faceless creatures lurking closely behind them. Compelled to stop any wanderers from reaching the archway, David darted into the forest in pursuit of one that was standing at the base of the hill, ready to rob it of what was taken from him. 

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