The Crossroads

The city was abandoned, roads winding throughout the city, in various states of disrepair and neglect. One would presume the roads were once busy with pedestrians, however they gave off an uncanny feeling. The only sound that could be heard was the wind whistling throughout the long winding roads, only adding to the uncanny feeling at the bottom of his gut. Vegetation and small trees grew wild in the roads and sidewalks, their roots forcing their way deep into the concrete, causing cracks throughout the asphalt and concrete roads. Wild flora sprouted out in the many cracks made by larger plants, draining the ground of its nutrients. Time had taken its toll on the small city. The sun hovered directly above the city. Its intense gaze heating up the land, while it sat unmoving and silent. As if it were waiting for something to happen before continuing on its daily path. Not many people knew of the abandoned and forgotten city, and those who did weren't too keen on venturing into it. There were myths surrounding the city giving it a feeling of awe and mystique, yet also a foreboding nature, deterring many who thought of going there.

The Hiker walked along a road in the city looking all around at the abandoned houses and apartments he had seen from afar. He looked around at the buildings surrounding him, they were all in various states of disrepair and neglect, he wondered why it became a ghost city. The Hiker was a middle-aged man who was a tourist looking for an adventure, he had heard a few tales of the city, which eventually brought him here. After asking around, many of the older locals told him not to go there, mentioning disappearances and a curse about the city. Many more said it was just a waste of time. The Hiker wanted to explore the city, it'd be an experience he could tell to his family and friends .

Farther down the road was an intersection, a few stoplights lay collapsed on the concrete road, moss covering the rusty metal. As he neared the intersection, the wind slowed to a stop, leaving an empty silence in its absence. The Hiker continued to walk towards the clearing at the intersection of the road, getting closer to it. As he neared, the wind picked back up, growing stronger the closer he got to the stoplights. He could feel a warm air pulling at him, nearly dragging him into it, he involuntarily took a step towards the intersection. Changing his mind last second and trying to back away from the strange phenomenon, he stumbled falling to his knees. And felt the feeling of roughly being dragged across the road before everything turned black.

The Hiker woke up, surrounded by grass. There was a warm gentle breeze flowing through the grass, making it sway as if it were dancing. The sun was setting, and it was starting to get dark. The Hiker quickly noticed that the sun was blue. The Hiker pinched his arms and rubbed his eyes making sure it wasn't his brain playing tricks on him. The Hiker could hear the sound of wildlife surrounding him, there strange distant sounds emitting deep within the forest that sounded ethereal. There were four stoplights around him forming an intersection made of living wood, delicate vines covering the surface. The stoplights gave off a red bioluminescent glow, staying the same like normal stoplights when it was getting dark. Under each stoplight was a trimmed grass path, which wound its way deep into the forest. Shadows quickly formed as the last traces of the blue sun in the sky quickly slid out of view.

It was night now, the light that the sun had given off was completely gone now, shrouding the world in darkness. The Hiker could hear new sounds emitting all around him, along with the occasional squeal and growl deep in the forest. The Hiker propped himself up and slowly looked around in a daze. He blinked hard, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. Several plants around him started to glow, spreading from plant to plant going farther into the forest, dimly lighting up the forest in a cold blue light. The Hiker pinched his arm, then rubbed his eyes for several long seconds. The Hiker sat there, staring into the forest, and examining the strange delicate flowers around him that gave off a light glow. The Hiker suddenly heard a growl somewhere in the bushes behind him. The Hiker stood up quickly, his eyes searching around the general direction of the growl. He waited for a minute, but he heard nothing else besides the rustling of the wind. He shivered, noticing that the temperature was quickly falling in the darkness. The Hiker felt a nagging need to move, and go somewhere else safer, away from the growl. The Hiker got up, making sure to not take a path near the area he had heard the growl from earlier. The Hiker chose a path and went into the forest.

Walking down the path, he passed unique flowers that glowed in a variety of exotic colors. The dim glow from the plants didn't completely get rid of the shadows, which made The Hiker on edge and wary. The Hiker sped up, walking at a brisk pace, he could see ahead that the glow of the flowers grew brighter, and didn't like walking in the dim forest, where the shadows were constantly moving every time the wind picked up. The Hiker was shivering, cold puffs of air forming every time he exhaled. He would need to stop eventually to rest, somewhere safer than in the open on the road. As he walked further into the forest, the dim lighting slowly and steadily became brighter, casting away the shadows, driving it back into smaller corners. The Hiker felt more comfortable now that he knew nothing could sneak up on him. There were more orange flowers basking the land in a warm red light, if only the flowers brought warmth too. After walking for several minutes, The Hiker could see a clearing ahead of him, and as he walked closer he saw buildings popping up. It looked to be a small town, having a somewhat modern but eerie look to it. The town was abandoned, many items were strewn across the clearing, as if its inhabitants had left in a hurry. Somewhere in The Hikers brain screamed danger, not seeing any danger around, he ignored it. The Hiker needed somewhere to stay for the night, and there was no better place than a small town. Shivering uncontrollably now he looked around trying to decide on which house to pick, the buildings looked like a comfortable enough place to sleep in. The buildings walls were made of hardened mud, and their roofs were covered in what looked like bushes. Many of the buildings in the clearing had lost their roofing completely, and several cracks spread across the walls. Many buildings had also lost their doors, and the buildings left with doors were askew. The Hiker was freezing now, and didn't care about the feeling in his gut now. It was freezing cold in the night and he shivered as he hugged his arms. The Hiker walked towards one of the huts that wasn't badly damaged, it's roof was intact, there were no cracks on the walls, and the door still hung onto its hinges, a perfect fit for a place to sleep in an alien world. The Hiker then opened the room and looked inside, the alien room had a dim maroon light made by bioluminescent plants potted around the inside. The warm red light gave the room a cozy feeling, its dim light combined with the dark contrast making his eyelids heavy. He closed the door behind him, blocking off the freezing wind outside from entering the room. The Hiker stumbled towards the bed in the corner, crawling onto it and quickly fell asleep.

The Hiker awoke to a deafening noise, it sounded like the entire world was slowly scraping against metal. The Hiker curled into a ball clamping his hands against his ears in an attempt to stop the noise, or at least muffle the noise. The Hiker pushed himself off the bed, bolting out of the door and heading straight for the forest like a startled deer. He frantically ran deeper into the forest, pushing past brush and branches. The red sun was high in the noon sky, beating down on the world with its fiery gaze. The second blue sun sitting back watching its wrath, adding some of its heat into the ground. The Hiker ran like a startled deer deep into the forest, not caring where he went as long as he could escape the noise. He pushed through underbrush bulldozing his way through the forest. He stumbled out into a path, falling to his knees. The roaring suddenly stopped, The Hiker could feel a warm liquid in his ears slowly trickling out. He guessed he was on one of the roads that branched out from that plant based intersection he awoke from, he stayed there for a moment too long, relishing the silence. Maybe this cursed dream he was in would end soon. He looked up, sweat covered his body and only now did he start to feel the heat of both of the suns. In the sky was a massive black dot moving across the sky, and it was growing bigger. The Hiker ignored it thinking it was some weird moon or something, but it drew his attention when it doubled in size. The Hiker discerned the features of the large bird in the sky. It was big, its wings larger than himself, but more importantly, it was dive bombing straight towards him. He stood up quickly, stumbling as he did so. Then ran down a random path, hoping he chose the right path. He was thrown to the ground by the large bird, its talons fixing him in place. It then started to screech, the sound of scraping metal and a high pitched scream combining into its horrid cry. Though after his ears were already berated, it sounded far away and distant. The Hiker's ears started to bleed again as he tried to struggle underneath the large bird, struggling to breath. Suddenly the roaring stopped, and the bird's weight no longer pinned him down. He started to get up, as a wild beast somewhat resembling a large mountain lion tore at the bird's neck, biting into it. As he ran down the path he saw the intersection ahead, and tried to run even faster towards it. As he got closer his body felt lighter, until he was flying straight towards the middle. Everything turned black as he flew into the intersection.

The Hiker awoke, once again surrounded by an unfamiliar landscape. There were large towers reaching to the heavens, casting long shadows across the many roads and intersections carved into the city. The air was still, the light wind muffled The Hikers loss of hearing. The Hiker was still, lying down on the asphalt, grass poking him in the back. His back ached from where the bird had landed on him, putting half its weight onto him. The Hiker was rather fit, but the run had left him tired. After catching his breath, The Hiker took a mental assessment of his body. The Hiker realized his mouth was dry, he was parched and hungry. He could barely hear anything in his ears, but his right ear was stronger. He looked around, staring at the towering buildings around him. Remembering what happened last time he ventured out, The Hiker sat down and decided he wouldn't move. His thirst felt too real for this to be a dream, and he was already beginning to get tired. He looked at the buildings and decided to pick the least destroyed building, hoping he'd find water there. He got up again, and walked towards the building. The sun in this world was already slipping away, he would be safer inside a building anyways where no bird could see him. The Hiker walked through the entrance to the building. There was a buildup of dust inside of the building, it had been vacated for a long time. Dust kicked up as he walked into the building. Furniture and items were knocked sideways and left on the ground, but there wasn't anything useful to The Hiker at first glance. He wondered what use the building used to have, even though there was no way of telling now. The Hiker saw a stairway in the corner of the building, going up. The Hiker decided he'd climb the building for a birds eye view.

As The Hiker neared the top of the building, exhausted regretting his dumb decision. He was now tired and even more thirsty than earlier. Maybe he'd find water somewhere in the building. The Hiker decided that he was at least going to see the view. He climbed the last few steps to reach the next floor and got out. The place looked just like every other place, walls, and even more doors. He chose the closest door and opened it. The Hiker froze, what looked like a wasps nest was built into the room, various large hideous insect-like creatures slowly moving on the walls and ceiling. The Hiker stood there for a while staring at them, then started to slowly close the door, his heart beating fast. Then the door creaked, fear and adrenaline shot through him. He slowly backed away from the door, staring at it as he went towards the stairway. Then the door burst, unleashing the hideous insects. They swarmed out, heading straight towards The Hiker, their mandibles snapping violently. The Hiker stumbled down the stairs, his body starting to ache from the ascent of the towering building, and the strenuous sprint he did prior to climbing the stairs. Adrenaline pumping through him he ran down the stairs, the aching disappearing in his flight. He turned around a corner jumping down flights of stairs to escape the angry hive that was right behind him. The Hiker ran down the last flight of stairs bursting out through the door and running down the road away from the stoplights. The Hiker saw an entrance into what looked like a subway station and ran into it, going underground.

The air smelled of rotting flesh, The Hiker stopped, his face scrunching up trying to hold back the bile that rose up into his throat. But between the smell and the insects, he chose to not leave the temporary safety of the subway tunnel. The lighting was dim, with few lights scattered across, lighting it enough for The Hiker to barely see. The Hiker saw things rustling in the dark, The Hiker dismissed it as if his eyes were playing tricks on him and walked further into the subway station, wary of the darkness. There were strange symbols, barely discernible in the dim lighting, it didn't look like any language he knew, he guessed that it probably was talking about directions to go and railroad safety. The Hiker saw a jagged metal pipe on the ground, it was somewhat long and pretty sharp. The Hiker picked it up, knowing that he probably wouldn't be safe any time soon, and that he'd rather have some form of protection other than his bare fists. With a pipe in hand, The Hiker continued into the station.

The farther he went in, the less lights there were, most of them were flickering or barely on. The Hiker didn't question where the electricity came from, and he didn't want to put in the effort to find out. The Hiker came out into an opening, and readying his metal pipe, looked around. There were station platforms where trains would stop to let passengers aboard, except there were no rails for the trains. The tunnels on both sides reached out as far as the eye could see in both directions. On the left side of the large room the Hiker saw what looked like an old vending machine with broken glass, it's contents somehow untouched. There were also rather interesting seats placed around, that were too long and big, with patterns covering its surface. There were also feces scattered around on the floor, the room was probably its den, whatever used to reside here was probably gone. The Hiker couldn't see any carcasses in the dim lit room, but the smell was stronger now. The Hiker walked towards the vending machine, looking into it, he was rather hungry and could do with a snack after all the running he had done. The Hiker stopped next to it, slowly reaching his hand through the broken glass making sure he wasn't cut by its jagged edges, and grabbed a random bag from the vending machine and pulled it out, examining it. It looked like a normal bag of chips except for the alien texts printed all over it. The Hiker opened the bag, inside were what he presumed were chips, there purple cubes filling the bag half full, you would think in an alien world you at least wouldn't be ripped off. He reached his hand and grabbed one of the purple cubes, the cube was perfectly smooth and had a weird indescribable texture to it. He popped one into his mouth, then gagged, it tasted horrible but The Hiker swallowed it anyways, then proceeded to force the entire bag into his mouth, somewhat filling his stomach. He then reached back into the vending machine and grabbed what looked like a drink, the universe similar enough to provide drinks in what looked like soda cans. He opened and threw the lid of the can on the ground and chugged the drink trying to get it down as quickly as possible, holding the bile down. A wave of dizziness washed over The Hiker, his vision blurring, he could feel a warm feeling growing across his body, then freezing over the warmth making him confused as to what he was feeling. The Hiker saw everything rushing towards him and then everything disappeared, and he was left alone in emptiness.

After a few moments of pitch black, The Hiker felt himself detach from his body, a feeling of weightlessness spreading across his arms and legs. He looked around and saw himself in the same area he fell from, the can and bag lying down on the dirty floor next to him. He then looked into the tunnel and knew where the smell of rotting flesh came from, there were animal carcasses scattered across the tunnel, what looked like rats were eating the various animals that had drawn their last breaths in the tunnel. The Hiker then walked towards the tunnel opposite of the one with the carcass, and entered it, going deeper and deeper into the tunnel, everything was pitch black yet The Hiker could see everything, The Hiker couldn't explain it, except it was a lot like echolocation. The walls of the subway were chipped, pieces of rubble had fallen from the roof, landing in a broken pile, he wouldn't be surprised if there had been a cave-in somewhere along the tunnel. Plant growth was scarce in the tunnel, but where there were plants they were odd, in various forms and sizes with patterns crisscrossing throughout their body. It was like an entire ecosystem down here. He then looked at another plant and his body froze, he tried to look away but nothing happened. The plant was doing a dance, flashing bright colors, in patterns The Hiker couldn't comprehend. The Patterns kept happening even after the plant stopped turning different colors, clouding his entire vision until it was all he could see. His head was aching and his eyes were starting to hurt, it felt like all the information he knew was leaking out of his head and crammed with new ideas and equations, he tried to yell but nothing came out. Then The Hiker heard a voice from all around him,

"You are lost", the loud booming voice said. The Hiker was glad to hear another human voice, even if it gave a voice of authority. It had only been around half a day and it already felt like he had lived his whole life running from alien creatures. "I will teach you everything you need to know,'' the omnipotent voice continued. Suddenly The Hiker was bombarded with ideas and thoughts that hurt his head, answers that he couldn't comprehend, which gave him a terrible headache. He wanted it to stop badly, but it continued to bombard him with so much more information than he could take. Slowly, the ideas were coming to a halt, and he could think on his own again. He was brought back to the epiletic surroundings again, flashing all sorts of blinding colors.

A voice exploded around him, "I thought I could trust you," he could hear the angry buzzing coming all around from him, the all-powerful voice was losing his temper, and was suddenly sounding more and more malevolent, "But you betrayed me" he continued. The Hiker tried to squirm, ignoring meaningless sentences that the powerful being was putting out, but his body wouldn't let him move. "It's all your fault!", the Hiker could feel vibrations being sent into his body. "WORTHLESS!" The Hiker could feel the constant buzz vibrate more powerfully, and several sharp pains shot into his arms and legs. The voice berated him with insults so loud, his ears were hurting and his head was in pain, blackness growing around the edges of his eyes and swallowing his entire vision.

He awoke his whole body searing in pain, a black wave of insects crawling over him and biting at his body, sinking their mandibles into his flesh. The Hiker screamed in pain, moving away from the black horde swiping and hitting at them to get them off. As he threw the insects off his body, they revealed numerous cuts, blood beginning to seep out of his arms and legs. Huddling in a corner, he watched them still running crazy at where he had just been. The cuts that were scattered across his body felt like burning hot charcoal burrowing into his skin. He edged towards the exit, as if moving too much would attract them back to him, they were rather fast but could be outrun at a brisk pace. The Hiker went through the exit walking back to where he thought he came from, the pain making him stumble. The Hiker thought of the recurring crossroads and how every time he walked into them he would be whisked away somewhere else. The Hiker decided that he would keep going into the intersection until he found his way back. He hurried back looking for the intersection he came from, it was now midnight and the city was completely dark, moonlight lighting up the areas the buildings didn't block. He could feel the cool wind slowly moving throughout the city. Breaking into a run to try and find his way back. The labyrinthine city gave him a feeling that he wasn't making any progress, and the darkness increased his desperation to get out of this place. He could feel the ground start to vibrate, growing in intensity as the Hiker continued to run throughout the city. The Hiker finally saw the crossroads when he was thrown off his feet, the booming noise of the omnipresent god he had encountered in his dreams,

"You betrayed me", The Hiker's ears started to bleed, he got up and started half crawling, kicking the ground to push himself towards the intersection. The buildings started to fall like dominos all around him, making deafening sounds as they collided with one another. The Hiker with one last push reached the crossroads and blacked out wondering what he did to offend the omnipotent being.

The Hiker awoke again, he could smell the sea in the air. He opened his eyes and saw he was surrounded by stone pillars, there were more than four this time. The Hiker remembered his thought of going right back into the crossroads after he got out, but didn't move. He could hear a constant ringing in his ears, deafening out everything around him, he opened his eyes and saw the dusk sky, the sun dipping below the waves. There was a light wind ruffling his hair. He propped himself up and saw a forest in the distance, and a sea of grass before it, swaying lightly in the wind. His body now aching more than ever and his stomach grumbling. The Hiker got up slowly and limped outside of the circle of pillars. In front of him he could see a sheer drop, the land stopping abruptly, walking towards the edge, he looked down. The Hiker could see strong waves crashing against the base of the cliff, the sound of the waves calming The Hiker. He turned around and walked towards the middle of the pillars, being pulled towards it the closer he got until he was sucked in.

The Hiker opened his eyes in the dark abyss, it was pitch black and his body was weightless. The Hiker looked around and saw a light in the distance slowly growing larger and larger. He could still feel his body aching, and he could feel his hunger coming back in waves of discomfort. His eyes started to feel heavy, forcing his eyes open, he squinted at the sphere of light as it came to a stop in front of him. He looked into it and saw a black and white film playing. The film was out of focus, in it he could see a group of people crouched around a notebook. The film focused on the notebook, The Hiker froze, confusion etched on his face. On the cover was The Hiker's name: Paul Carter.