Eternal Demonby Heidi Cordsen: [email protected]
I had left to escape the onslaught of squealing children, leaving my capable aunt to hold down the fort. Being away from home is nice, but being away from where you’re staying is a relief. It was growing dark when I finally managed to escape after dinner, but I decided to go for a walk anyway.
My aunt and uncle lived in a quaint little subdivision… Everyone’s lawn was green, there was a park nearby, and a nice little playground was just put in last year for the children to play on. The perfect first world neighborhood.
I wasn’t familiar with the area yet, so I just set off down one of the many bike trails. It was really dark by the time the trail led me out of the thick poplar, maple, and oak forest. But I could see just fine when the moon shone above me, occasionally breaking through the blotchy cloud cover and illuminating the grassy pathway that I walked on.
The path looked as though no one had walked on it for a year or two. I walked for about half and hour, before the clouds finally cleared. I sat on a stone bench that was set under a lone chestnut tree. I could see the light casting many shadows before me, and I squinted to make out the shapes. They were gravestones. I had wandered into a graveyard.
This did not bother me, superisingly, and I went to examine one of the tomb’s enscriptions. “Isaac Thorowatz, 1734-1797, May He Rest In Peace” I ran my hand along the face of the marker, to get a better idea of what it looked like, because my shadow was almost blocking the whole thing. The engravings on the outside edges felt like characters. I moved and stood to one side. They were ravens, their images caught in mid flight on the maker, bordering the inscription.
I went to another bench on the opposite side of the graveyard and sat down. I heard a rustle in the tree under which I had just moved from. A black figure glinted under the moonlight as it sailed soundlessly towards me. It was a bird, and a rather large one at that. The creature landed on the backrest of my bench. It was a coal black raven. It’s eyes flashed at me, staring right at me. I thought that this was not normal bird behavior, but it was about a foot and a half away, so I didn’t think it was aiming to peck my eyes out. The raven opened its mouth as if to caw or to make some shrill cry into the night. But it did not.
“Hello. Nice night out, isn’t it?” I sat there, scared stiff, jaw agape. The bird spoke to me. I didn’t imagine it. Not only that, but it spoke well, and with a slight English accent too, I noticed. I was more intrigued than inclined to run. I had never met a talking raven before. But this soon changed when the bird spoke again.
“Why, mortal, do you think that all that gives others the creeps, the heebie-jeebies, the jitters and what have you, is rubbish? Don’t you believe in us? Don’t you ever get a chill down your spine?” The bird wasn’t asking me these questions like he was interrogating me, but more as though he felt pity for me, and he cocked his head from side to side, as on owl does. He flapped his wings briefly to keep his balance, and let out a curse as his foot slipped. He was up in the air right in front of me face towards the moon, hovering in mid air with his wings snug against his body, feet dangling below him.
“Damn this wretched earth body!” I stared in wonder at the sight, wondering what vile trickery I was witnessing. I cowered into my seat. The birds eyes glowed a dark shade of blue, and his body, still suspended in mid air, writhed and contorted before me. Black wings withdrew from his side, and pointed upwards to the sky, as if he was tacked to a wall by the tips of his flight feathers. His head went limp against his body and hung on his chest. The feathers disappeared, as did almost the rest of the bird. All that remained above me was a skeleton, white, and fragile. The eye sockets glowed dark blue again, and the skeleton changed and rearranged to form a hideous creation, that was ever growing in dimensions. Covered with horns and spikes, it looked reptilian. A long snout opened to reveal rows of sharp white teeth. The creature’s skin was as black as the raven form it had abandoned, but no feathers graced the surface of its body. Scaly and plated instead was the texture of its skin. Long muscular arms had sprung from its chest, and the skinny wings had melded into massive bat-like wings.
It’s claws reached out for me as it drew nearer. When it spoke this time, it’s mouth did not move one bit. I felt my feet leave the ground. I flailed my arms to find my sense of balance, only the arms I was flailing were not my own. I gazed at my hand, three fingered and black. I fell to the ground, landing on my feet and left hand. I pulled my head upwards to face my attacker… He was gone. No, he was in front of me. I straitened myself out. So did the beast in front of me. I looked behind me to observe to my horror that I looked exactly as he did. I tried to stretch my wings, and I noted that I had a magnificent wingspan. I felt like a gargoyle.
I looked back at the creature, my counterpart. With a beat of his massive wings, he vanished. I let out a roar of anger, leaping into the air after him. My wings were more powerful than I had predicted, and I thrust myself up a full ten feet higher than he was. I dove strait for him, my massive claws aiming at his throat.
“You really aren’t afraid of me, are you?”
“No! I’m not! I’m like you now, I have nothing left to loose!” My grip had hit it’s mark, and with a slash, I continued my journey downwards and landed solidly on my feet. I heard a ‘thud’ next to me, and I looked down. A black head lay next to me, dark blue blood spilling from its end. I heard a louder ‘thump’ and moved aside to avoid the impact of a muscular arm. I turned to the head again, and glared at it. I heard it ‘speak’ one last time, in a strange voice, harsh and evil.
“You are like me now! And all our kind! To bad I won’t be around to show you your powers! See you in hell!!!”
The body and head disappeared, and I felt a wind hit my face. A single raven feather drifted past me. I craned my head towards the full moon. Wings outstretched, I lurched upwards into the night sky, the gust I created rustling the trees below.
Heidi Cordsen: [email protected]
The End
And I am DAMN PROUD OF IT!!!!!!!
Heidi Cordsen
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