The air within the tightly wrapped, candlelit hut smelled of wet ground and burning herbs. The shadows appeared to reach out and writhe upon the coarse, cracked stone walls, entwining in the golden, jerking flame of the fire that spat in the small, soot-smudged hearth.
Anna, a small, smooth-skinned girl with moonlit sea-blue eyes and black, loose hair falling down over her shoulders, knelt at the side of the bruised, unconscious figure of Gabriel, her thin, shaking fingers moving over his bruised, blood-streaked face. Her white dress drifted over the cold, damp, stone floor, the soft, white fabric splattered with dark, rust-streaked lines of dried mud and blood.
"What was wrong with him?" Anna breathed shallowly, voice shaking, eyes wide with agog, throat tight with her suppressed breath, she leaned forward over Gabriel's rigid, battered body, her heart a mad, stumbling beat beneath her white, filmy skin.
Carl, the broad-shouldered, tall honorary knight of Maranaqua, stood behind her, his face unyielding, his arms crossed on his chest, his dented, rusty armor softly clinking with every shallow, strained breath. He glared downward at Gabriel, his eyes furrowed, his jaw clenched, his heart a steady, determined beat beneath his weathered, rough skin.
"He approached us, bunched in," Carl answered, his own voice low and rough, gasping in short, shallow breaths, his muscles tense under the dented, blood-stained armor, the air about him thickening, cooling, shadows increasing, increasing, engulfing the guttering, wavering firelight.".
Of them, the worried faces of the villagers peered out through the broken, smudged windows of the little, run-down cottage, their eyes wide, their gasps brief and shallow, their pulses pounding, their hearts pounding, the darkness gathering, choking, engulfing their prayers, their whispers.
They had seen him. The Son of the Holy Land. The one who had pierced across the veil, who had taken a path further than human souls had before ventured, and had dared face the ugly, misshapen design of their cosmos.
Anna breathed hard, her skeletal, shuddering fingers on Gabriel's wrist, her thumping, skipping heart, her held breath, her trapped heart, the darkness creeping in, choking, eating at her mind, her terror. She exhaled a soft, quivering charm, her breath soft on Gabriel's icy, bruised skin, the space between them becoming dense, warming, the shadows drawing back, retreating into the dancing, quivering shadow.
Gabriel's body trembled, his arms and legs convulsing, his breath caught in his throat, his pulse a wild, stuttering rhythm, his eyes flickering behind his pale, bruised eyelids, the darkness closing in, choking, drowning his thoughts, his memories.
The door creaked open, the rusted, curled hinges shrieking, and Neah entered the small, messy cottage, her dark, flowing locks cascading down her shoulders, her pale, porcelain complexion aglow in the leaping, flickering firelight. Her dark, piercing eyes raked the room, her breath in short, shallow gasps, her pulse a determined, steady beat under her flawless, translucent skin.
"Make it quicker," Neah snapped, her voice low, hard, commanding, her eyes compressing, her breath stuck in her throat, her heart racing, the darkness shutting around her, choking her words, her orders. "Father desires to speak to him."
Anna's fingers shook, her breath trapped, her heart a wild, skipping beat, her pulse pounding, the shadows closing, smothering, devouring her terrors, her mind. She breathed a second spell, her breath stroking Gabriel's icy, bruised flesh, the space between them heavy, warming, the shadows retreating, stumbling back into the quivering, wavering gloom.
Carl strode on, hard, calloused hands on Anna's bony, shaking shoulders, his gasps short, shallow, his heart a slow, determined thud against his rusty, blood-stained armor. "You can do this," he breathed, his voice low, gravelly, his breath against Anna's white, shaking skin, the shadows closing in, choking, swallowing his mind, his fears.
Eyes open. Gabriel draws in air. Pulse: crazy, beating off-beat, pistoning out spasmodic beat after spasmodic beat. Hammering his heart. Dizziness, head spinning, the room spinning around him, darkness closing in to suffocate, devouring thoughts, memories.
Carl stretched out, calloused hands wrapping around Gabriel's skeleton arms, shaking, bony arms, muscles hard and tensed, breath hitching in short, tight gasps. Steady pulse and determination. Darkness closing in to suffocate, devouring fear.
They took him up, his arms and legs dangling, his breathing in shallow, rasping gasps, his pulse in jumping rhythm, his heart thudding, his head reeling, the blackness closing over him, strangling, engulfing his thoughts, his memories.
They bore him out, the savage, cutting wind biting into their flesh, their breathing in heavy, shallow gasps, their pulses pounding, their hearts beating, night falling, stifling, engulfing their thoughts, their horrors. They laid him on the back of a massive, black stallion, its eyes stretched wide, its breathing in hard, shallow gasps, its muscles tense, its pulse a wildly dancing, skipping beat, night falling, engulfing, swallowing its thoughts, its horrors.
Carl and Neah climbed onto the horse, gasping for shallow, quick breaths, their hearts racing, their pulses beating at an unsafe rate, the blackness encroaching, choking, devouring their fears, their thoughts. They spurred the horse towards the castle, the crooked, decaying spires reaching off into the distance, their shadows spreading, thickening, the blackness encroaching, choking, devouring their screams.
Inside Margo's home, Matt's eyes grew wide, his breath was stuck, his pulse a mad, leaping cadence, his heart thundering, his mind reeling, the blackness clamping down, choking, devouring his thoughts, his terror.
"This isn't your world," he panted, his breathing short, shallow gasps, his heartbeat a mad, missing beat, his heart thumping, his mind reeling, the darkness closing in, strangling, engulfing his thoughts, his terrors. "This is. this is the prototype."
Outside, the tortured, gnarled trees whispered, their branches creaking, curving, their roots contorting, curling around the broken, crumbling base of the house, their shadows thickening, spreading, the blackness closing in, smothering, devouring their thoughts, their fears.
Eyes glared at them out of the blackness, unblinking, unyielding, their pupils shrinking, their gasps for breath sharp, shallow, their pulses pounding, their hearts racing, the blackness enveloping, choking, devouring their thoughts, their fear.
"Attack the invaders!" the eyes spat, their words stinging, hissing, their gasps for air sharp, shallow, their pulses pounding, their hearts racing, the blackness closing in, choking, devouring their screams.
Matt and Lei clung together, their gasps hard, shallow ones, their pulses pounding, their hearts racing, darkness engulfing them, smothering, devouring their screams. They crawled up the stairs, their muscles creaking, their limbs shaking, their gasps hard, shallow ones, their pulses pounding, their hearts racing.
They climbed the roof, their breaths in sour, shallow gasps, their pulses pounding, their hearts racing, the darkness closing in, choking, swallowing their screams.
"I own this house!" Matt yelled, his voice echoing off the twisted, broken walls, the darkness closing in, choking, swallowing his fears, his thoughts.