Fallen Fantasies

Fallen Fantasies

The light escaped through the dense trees, penetrating the darkness below like spotlights on a stage. The only sound was the scratching of the leaves gently blowing up against each other, but the serene surroundings didn’t last when a small creature quickly made his way into the forest.

Fighting for his breath, he looked to his left and he looked to his right, but he didn’t look back, and when a deafening bang rang out, it frightened the creature into a prickly bush. Although his scales protected him from the thorns, his heart continued to pound uncontrollably. His frill like ears arched upwards as he heard the gruff voice of the man that had just been chasing him. “Darn, where’d it go?”

Peering through an opening in the bush, the creature spied on the man with worry of being discovered. He knew that remaining in that same place would not keep him safe for long, so he watched the man intently, and as soon as his back was turned, the creature took the opportunity and dashed out from within the bush.

Racing past the trees as fast as he could, the area around him blurred and it took him a moment before he realized that he was rapidly approaching a cliff. Knowing he must stop, he tried to sit down, but in doing that, he merely skidded across the ground. With that plan going down in fail, he quickly came up with a new one, so he spread his meter long wings and jumped over the side of the cliff.

He flapped his rough scaly wings and began to glide, and as he swiftly moved through the sky, he glanced down. There, he saw the most fascinating things. To him, they looked like large rectangular boxes with square holes carved into them, but because of the fact he wasn’t exactly sure what they were or what they were used for, he held of the urge to investigate.

As he flew across the sky, he began to notice two legged creatures down below. He tilted his head and watched them go about their day. In his eyes, they looked a lot like the one that had chased him and he didn’t really want to risk another encounter with them. That was yet another reason why he thought the air would be a safer option.

After a while of flying the sun had started to set and the creature finally came to the conclusion that the area beneath him was far too big. It would be unlikely for him to make it to a safe place before his wings got tired, but he decided it’s either, dropping like a rock and going splat, or, safely landing on the ground and getting shot.

Both options didn’t really appeal to him much, but he thought, I’ll have more of a chance to survive if I’m on the ground. He then readied himself for his descent as he scanned the surroundings below. Once he spotted a place that appeared to be safe enough for a landing, he began to glide.

Right in the centre of the city was where he chose to place his clawed feet on the ground. He folded in his ember red wings and as he did so, he leaned forward, waiting for his attacker. However, when no one attacked him he straightened up in confusion. Looking around, he saw that many people were staring at him.

***

Her hands hovered over the keyboard for a moment as Shada thought about what she had wrote the other day. She brushed her long hair out of her face and shifted about in the uncomfortable seat that was making her bottom numb, though she wouldn’t state that out loud. “My butt hurts,” she uttered with a frown and gazed at the last thing she wrote. She then began to type more of her story on her laptop, in hopes that they would be landing by the time she wrote at least a few more sentences.

***

“What is it?” a man questioned, leaning closer.

“What does it look like to you?” the creature asked rudely, looking over to him.

“It roared. Is it trying to tell us something?” a male teen said.

The creature, who just thought they were stupid, rolled his eyes as they glistened in the last few rays of the sun. “Uh, duh,” he replied to his comment.

“Ooh, can I touch it?” a woman knelt down in front of him and held out her hand.

“No you cannot. I’m out-of-bounds, which means no touchy to you,” the creature said, but then he realized what she called him. “And did you just call me an ‘it’?”

***

Shada couldn’t help but laugh. She was pretty glad she had her writing to amuse her, even though that last paragraph was pretty immature of her character. He was a baby dragon though, so it didn’t really matter and it made the situation quite funny. She tapped her long nails against the plastic desk supporting her laptop in both thought and excitement. She couldn’t contain it, and smiled at the thought of one day becoming a published author, though that may be quite a while away.

Shada put her hand on the bright orange mousepad in order to move the cursor and click on the save button. She closed her laptop before putting it away in her bag. She then slid it under her chair and slowly leaned back in her seat. She grabbed her white headphones that were around her neck and hooked them over her ears, which was possible because of their strange design.

Shada didn’t like how most headphones went over her head, so the neck band design was perfect for her, it was just a shame that they didn’t last as long as her brothers. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her blue iPod so she could listen to her music as she looked out the small oval shaped window. She watched the clouds go by in the blue sky as she lay against the side of the plane she was stuck in.

“Shada!” her brother, Aspire said, “Shada!” He repeated to no avail. He then leaned over to her and shoved his iPod in her direction in an attempt to show her a hard game that only looked easy when he played it.

Shada kept her eyes out the window and continued to think about all the different scenarios her story could take, even though her brother didn’t get the hint. It wasn’t long until she was completely absorbed in her thoughts and everything else around her was drowned out. She was then abruptly torn out of her inside world when the plane jolted. She glanced around. A few of the people looked scared, and her mother, who was close by, was clutching onto the armrests. It was when the plane violently shook for a second time that passengers screamed.

What’s happening? Shada asked herself as she instinctively grabbed onto whatever she could when the plane suddenly took a dive. She could hardly hear the voices that came through the intercom above her due to all the other noises around her, including the unhealthy sound of the plane’s engine.

Everything was moving so quickly that Shada’s back was pressed against her seat and she could barely move. She was stuck with her head facing the window and then a blinding light flashed before her eyes. She tightly closed them in an attempt to block out the brightness. She began to lose all sense of reality as she was thrown forward and into the seat in front of her when the plane crashed into the ground.

All became silent. The only thing that could be heard was the dry leaves blowing in the chilly wind and the animals that walked over the orange leaves as they came to investigate and peer down at the disaster. Soon, there was movement inside the plane. Shada slowly pulled herself away from the seat before her and slouched in her own chair. The experience shook her up pretty badly but when she looked around, she was astounded that the plane was pretty much intact and no one was killed.

After Shada made sure her brother, Aspire, was okay, she then rose to her feet and squeezed past him so she could check if the rest of her family was fine. She was shaky on her legs, but still managed to make her way over to them. Her other brother, and her mother and father were all okay from what she could tell, although her mother was clinging to her seat like it would run away at any moment and her eyes were wide. The others were just awfully quiet.

Shada tried to help them out of their seats, which wasn’t easy because of her mother, but she succeeded in the end. When she went back to Aspire to get him up, she also remembered to grab her laptop from under the chair. She then made her way down the plane’s aisle with them all in pursuit. When she reached the door exit, she pushed against it. Because of the fact that it was already half off its hinges, she opened it relatively easy; however, she was still pressed against it as it completely fell off. She tumbled out, only to land on the hard ground. She lay face down in the dirt, and couldn’t be bothered to get back up. “Ow,” she moaned with her eyes closed. She refused to move until her father came over and helped her to her feet. She used his shoulder to support her weak legs.

“Where are we?” someone who ambled out of the plane asked.

“We’re lost,” another stated, glumly.

“We’re doomed!” her brother yelled in her ear and waved his arms around.

Shada winced. “Ow!” she turned her head to him. “Please don’t yell in my ear, Zander!”

“Yes!” her other brother, Aspire suddenly exclaimed into his space black iPod. “I beat the level!”

Shada looked over at him questioningly and then lowered her head in dismay. “Ah, we really are doomed,” she said with a sigh, but before she could continue, a person emerged from the crowd to address them all.

“That wasn’t pleasant,” he stated and brushed a hand through his black hair as he surveyed the crowd. “Well, I suppose in situations like these, we need a leader, someone to take charge, so I’ll be taking that role,” he told everyone with a grin. “You can call me Allen. Now then, we…” He stopped for a moment when he realised something and looked up. “We’re underground.”

Everyone followed his gaze. While there may have been a dark abyss surrounding them, light still made its way down the large hole the plane had made. Animals were looking down at them in confusion, but Shada didn’t recognise them at all. “We should keep moving,” Allen then informed them all. “There has to be a way out.” He started to march forward and everybody simply followed behind. Shada was sort of glad for his leadership though, otherwise she wouldn’t have a clue on what to do.

Darkness enveloped them as they all went further from the only source of light. The eerie silence was nerve racking, but the large group of people were too busy thinking about what would become of them, to say anything. The silence however, was broken every now and then, because Allen would say something.

As they continued along at their relatively slow pace, Shada noticed everyone already began to look tired. A few people were limping from the crash too, but she had recovered from her shaky legs. Even though she no longer needed her father for support, she still stayed close to him. She felt safer next to her family, so she definitely wasn’t planning on getting separated from them. She then heard a creepy whistling sound. A person nervously said it was just the wind, but it certainly didn’t help put anyone at ease.

Shada shuddered and clung to her father. “I don’t like this,” she whispered to him. She suddenly jumped when an ear piercing noise cut through the silence like a knife. The crowd froze in fear. It was obvious that it wasn’t the wind, or even an animal.

Shada slowly turned around, and the whole group was looking over their shoulders as well. That was when she realized that they had heard nothing other than a petrified scream. Not only that, a noticeable amount of people were also missing, and the far end of the crowd was already starting to panic. Even the leader had fear all over his face, which didn’t help everyone stay calm.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. It was when Allen decided to turn around and make a run for it that everything turned to chaos. As he disappeared into the darkness, people started screaming and pushing others over in a hopeless attempt to escape themselves. Some also began crying, but Shada had managed to control her tears and took a deep breath. “Now what?” she asked quietly, trying not to let her voice waver. She looked up to her father, who just glanced around, also unsure what he should do.

Something in the shadows suddenly moved. Shada could hear the sound of claws scratching against the hard ground. She swiftly spun around fully, only to see a pair of pure white eyes in the distance. They glowed in the dark and were narrowed in a sinister glare. Quickly turning back around, she yelled out, “run!” Not wanting to find out what the creature was, she grabbed a hold of her father and pulled him along. When she checked to see if the rest of her family was following, she was relieved that they were, but only after they saw the creepy eyes for themselves.

Shada continued running and didn’t plan on stopping. The screams she heard shortly after prompted her to keep going and not look back. She certainly didn’t want to be next. They all went around a corner, but exhaustion was rapidly approaching her. She wasn’t exactly the athletic type, so she already had enough running. Her breathing was out of control and she was struggling to keep going. I really should have at least gone for a daily run, she thought, or something. She stopped and leaned on the rocky wall in exhaustion.

“What was that?” Zander panted.

Shada kept shaking her head as she took deep breaths. She slowly slid down the wall and took a moment to calm down. The family stayed there for a while as they all caught their breaths. Shada then heard something. It was a stupid idea that they’d be out of the clear so easily, and when she looked to her right, fear instantly engulfed her. She could see five creatures that weren’t recognisable to her. Each one of them glowed in the dark, which made it easier to make out what they were.

Standing at the front with large red tipped wings, one of the creatures had its purple eyes fixated on Shada. Its wolf like body, along with the way it held its head high was slightly intimidating, but it was obviously the proud leader of the group. Its black fur glinted in a strange way, almost like there were hints of purple and red hidden within. Standing next to that creature was a slightly different beast. This one had dark, blood red eyes and was bent low to the ground like a cat about to pounce. Its sharp talons scraped across the ground as it stretched out its dragon like wings. It was snarling viciously, showing off its pointed fangs. On the other side of the purple eyed wolf was another one. This time, it looked more like a large cat with large pointed ears and a fluffy tail; it wasn’t any less scary though. In fact, it looked like a mass of shadows which glowed in the dark, which was slightly bizarre, but pretty cool too. It also had one white and one black coloured eye, along with black and white feathery wings.

There were two other creatures behind those three. One had dark blue, almost navy eyes, and a wolf like body but with dragon wings attached to its back. Its fluffy tail swished from side to side as it sat there watching. The other one had baby blue eyes and cat like body, with a thin tail wrapped around it. It was the most innocent looking of the lot and was licking its paws, but once all the other beings knelt down, it stopped and did the same.

Shada quickly got to her feet. The creatures sure didn’t look friendly, and she was worried they might attack at any moment, which is exactly what happened. She didn’t even have any time to do anything as the beast suddenly charged forward. Darkness then rapidly consumed them all as the glow from the creatures faded away.

Shada slowly opened her eyes and rose to her feet. She glanced around. It was just her and her family again. “Is everyone okay?” she asked as they all stood up too.

“What was that?” Zander repeated his question for the second time in confusion. Shada just looked at him, but then he gasped and suddenly started pointing at her. “You’re turning into Mystic!” he exclaimed. She simply raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh at the mention of one of the characters in his story.

The remainder of her family all looked at her to find out what Zander was on about. “You’re eyes are purple,” Aspire stated.

Shada was astonished to hear this. “Really?” she said. Her family slowly nodded in reply and continued to stare at her as they tried to figure out what was happening. Shada then threw her arms into the air. “Awesome!” she yelled out. “I always wanted purple eyes!” She then paused with her hands still in the air when she realized something that slightly freaked her out. The wolf’s eyes were purple.

Shada suddenly looked to her left and laid eyes on the same corner she ran around when the passengers on the plane were first attacked. Those white eyes from before had come back for another chance to take them all. The creature glared at them through the darkness as it slowly stalked its way closer.

As it closed the gap between it and its opponents, Shada could get a better look at it. It showed its blood stained teeth as it snarled at them and bent low, ready to pounce. The look in its eyes made it clear that it wanted and was ready to, tear flesh, and those razor teeth would make the job easy. The horns that protruded from its head glowed, a strange, menacing red, and the spikes on its hind legs slowly moved. They grew longer and wrapped around its legs like a vine. The ones located on its back arched themselves on a dangerous angle that would tear, not cut. It then dashed forward at an incredible speed.

Shada jumped back and instinctively turned around. Even though the creature was going so fast, she somehow managed to run faster. The walls were blurred, and the feel of the wind rushing against her face was thrilling, and she loved it all. The one thing that made the experience better, was the fact that she wasn’t getting remotely tired. No matter the speed, her breathing was under control the whole time. She knew something had happened to her, but she could care less. She felt free in those moments as she ran. She was so enjoying herself, besides the fact that there was a beast trying to eat them all.

When she remembered the whole reason why she was running, she also came to the realization that she may have just deserted her family. Glancing over her shoulder, she was relieved to see that her family was surprisingly not far behind. She smiled at them and then turned her head back to watch where she was going. Her eyes widened as she saw a cliff not too far away, and getting rapidly closer, but for the first time in hours, she could finally see light. She instantly stopped running, but it did nothing and she was still thrown off the edge.

Suddenly, out of nowhere she was reminded of her story. She looked down and her bag was still there, even though it was as light as anything. She forgot it was there too. She shrugged it off anyway, it’s not she was stuck in the middle of weirder things, plus, she was falling to her doom, which she also temporarily forgot.

Shada started helplessly waving her arms around, as if she expected them to turn into wings so she could fly. She had her eyes trained on the forest below. It was looking bare apart from the orange leaves that layered the ground. She suddenly began to feel dizzy, so she tightly closed her eyes. The autumn air rushed past her as she prepared for an uncomfortable fall, and possibly the end to her life. She slowly opened her eyes after the realized she had stopped falling. It was one thing after another and she was severely confused. She was just floating, and the ground wasn’t too far off either. She was partially flying; however, before she had the chance to celebrate, she began her decent again. This time, nothing stopped the tree branches from scratching against her. The amber leaves didn’t make her fall any less comfortable. After a moment of lying in the crunchy leaves, she slowly lifted herself off the ground, relieved that she hadn’t broken a bone or something.

Shada reached her hand over her shoulder. It was like there was an extra weight added to her back and her shoulder blades also felt strange. It felt like… She slowly ran her fingers over the top of what she decided was her new wings. She paused in thought, but then her brother, Zander suddenly fell from the sky and interrupted her. She looked down at Zander as he stood up. “Ouch,” he said with a frown. It wasn’t long after that, when the rest of the family joined them on the dry ground.

Shada widened her eyes as she realized that she wasn’t just the only one who changed in appearances. When all of her family got to their feet, she looked from Aspire’s, Zander’s and her father’s new wings and everyone’s new eye colours. Each one of the creatures from the cave attacked a different person, and somehow that caused them to gain their features. With that knowledge, Shada then worked out what colour her wings must have been. She stretched out her feathery wings as wide as possible and then looked over her shoulder, checking to see the mostly black wings, the same kind of wings that the purple eyed wolf had. She took a deep breath and sat down on the orange leaves to take a moment and think, while her family just continued to gaze at each other in wonder.

After a minute of silence, Shada’s father finally said something. “Well, we can’t just stay here.” She nodded in agreement, and he glanced around at the trees surrounding them.

“Maybe there’s a town or something nearby,” her mother replied.

Zander instantly started to make his way through the forest, so Aspire followed beside him. The remainder of the family also wasn’t far behind, and Shada walked between her two brothers. Her laid her arm over Zander’s shoulder and smiled at him. They continued on in the same formation for a while, but Aspire refused to let Shada have her arm over his shoulder like Zander. Considering they are only just taller than her, it would be awkward anyway, she decided.

The leaves crunched beneath them as they walked and her brothers complained. Shada rolled her eyes at them, but half way along the trip, they finally became quiet. She had to check if they were still alive, but considering they were still walking beside her, they obviously were. They were silently looking around at the scenery, which wasn’t much because the majority of the leaves on the trees had fallen off.

Eventually, Shada spotted what looks like a town. She couldn’t help grin at the fact that the long walk was coming to an end. She slid her arm off her brother’s shoulder just before they bother took off and ran for the town. She raised her eyebrows and then looked over her shoulder and over her wings at her parents. “Come on,” she said before turning her head around and chasing after her brothers.

When Shada and her brothers reached the town, they were all a bit disappointed at how small it actually was. It was more like a tiny village with about eight cottages. She glanced around at the small houses and noticed everybody in the place was watching them with intrigued gazes. It made her slightly nervous and none of the villagers had wings, which was probably why they were all slowly edging closer to get a better look.

Leaning against a building right next to where Shada and her family stood, one of the villagers had just closed the thick book he was reading. “You look like you’ve had quite the adventure,” he stated as he straightened up.

Shada looked at him. “Huh?”

He paid no mind to her confusion, “and had a visit to the cave of spirits too,” he continued.

When Shada didn’t reply to him and raised her eyebrows slightly, he finally held up the book in his hands to show her the cover. She saw the familiar cliff with the cave at the top. The man lowered the book again. “Why don’t you follow me and we can talk?” he asked as he turned and went into the house he was previously leaning on. The guy showed everyone to a small round table and got them to all take a seat. He also sat down and placed the book down in front of him. He then crossed his arms on the table. “So…”

Shada shifted uncomfortably in her chair as he gazed at his guests. “Yes,” she said.

The guy leaned forward slightly. “Introductions,” he stated. “You can call me Jayvier. Now, what may your names be?”

After Shada and the rest of her family introduced themselves, Jay then began to explain, because it was clear that they had no clue what was going on. He opened up his book. “Not many people go to the cave of spirits,” he said. “And the ones that do either die or get scared half to death by the creature who roams the cave.” He shook his head and pointed to a picture in his book.

Shada peered at what his finger was on. Those familiar white eyes still sent shivers down her spine. They were an eerie milky colour and held no emotion as they stared holes into your soul. She backed away from the picture. “What is that?” she asked.

“No one knows,” Jay replied in a mysterious tone. “There isn’t a proper name for it, so most people just call it ‘The End’, which I think is silly. I would have called it ‘The Reaper’ or something.” Jayvier leaned back in his seat and flipped a few pages in his book. “But anyway, while this creature is often out for the kill, it also has another purpose. This purpose is to tear apart the five intruders, or as others call them, ‘Spirits’.” He paused and looked down at his book.

Shada’s eyes widened as she saw the purple eyes and black wings of the same wolf that attacked her, including the other four creatures. “Those things attacked us.”

“That explains why you resemble them,” Jay said. “People only call these things spirits because of how they have the ability to just disappear without a trace, but that’s not actually what they are. The true word for them is ‘Morphian’.” He flipped to the next page of his book. “They are called that because they can merge with other beings, but they can be picky. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re completely different tomorrow. Even your personality may change,” he explained as he scanned the words on the page in front of him. He looked up at Shada again. “They usually pick outsiders. People who don’t even…” he paused for a moment. “Even live in this area, so to speak. How did you get here exactly?” he then asked.

“We were in a plane crash,” Shada’s mother told him.

“Interesting,” Jayvier said as he stood up from his chair. “I have heard that high above the cave of spirits, there has been a tear in reality due to a battle that happened centuries ago. It had recently started repairing itself too.” He frowned. “Well, it looks like you’re stuck here, because we don’t have a plane to repeat the experience. Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, though this must not happen very often,” Shada replied and also got to her feet.

Jayvier picked up his book and smiled at them. “True, it’s once in a lifetime event really…” He drifted off when he looked out the window and noticed that the surrounding area had suddenly grown dark. “Well that’s not good,” he said quietly to himself. “It never leaves its territory, or at least it never did before.” He looked over at his guests as a high pitched screeching sound caused the citizens outside to scream in panic. “You have to get out of here,” Jay told the family. “It’s looking for you.” He turned back to the window where the creature could be seen stalking the streets as people rushed into their houses.

The creature snarled at them. Its milky white eyes scanned everyone, making sure it misses nothing. It then paused in the middle of its stride and looked right through the window at Shada.

Jay took a step back and turned to Shada and her family. “Out the back,” he commanded and pushed them along. “Quick.”

The creature outside slowly creeped its way closer to the house, but as soon as it saw them escaping out the back, it ran forward. It wailed loudly in anger before it collided with the door. It continued to pound at the door and kept making those horrible sounds. It was furious for some reason, but its cries haunted Shada and sent shivers down her spine.

The family all fled out the back, and Jayvier stopped to shut the door behind him. He then turned to them all. “You should go to the snowy mountains from here,” he suggested and pointed to the tall mountains in the distance. “That is the one place it will not go,” he said and shrugged. “Don’t know why, but that’s how it is.” He glanced through the window to his house and saw the creature finally smash the front door open and look around confused. “So, good luck and don’t get killed.”

“We’ll try,” Shada replied as she and her family then began their journey at full speed to the snow covered mountains in the distance, but it didn’t end there. More was going on than they knew. With time, not even the changes to their bodies were final as the beings inside of them continued to become even more inseparable with their occupants, until one day, they were completely one…

To be continued ;)

Word Count: 5,290 with title.