The After - End 10

Sisyphyra is now on webNovel

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Feeling uncoordinated, he wandered through a dense green forest, dampened from the morning dew and the air was fresh as well as it seemed pure. The narrow soiled paths had flat smooth stones to step on. Gone were the snow blankets on the floor. Huge boulders lay silently as red poisonous mosses grew over them like a soft blanket. Among the thick knot of branches are various long rough vines hung down loosely like snakes making bridges

between the trees. An evenly dark brown eagle flew above him as he trode on a clear but narrow path stepping on the flat stone one step at a time. The path he had taken led him to a clear brook from which a white-headed lady came out. He was stunned by the image before him.

My Wife?

As the woman moved to the shore, her long white hair clung to her head, it fell to her waist. She had a white

pronounced wolf image tattooed on her back.

Seeing the tattoo, he concluded convincingly. Not my wife.

She smiled at him and called out to him. He quickly averted his face and wiped away the burgeoned images. As she continued to move closer he averted his gaze. She giggled and clothed herself in a flimsy dark threaded cloth against her brown skin."It took you a while, follow me," She said

"Who are you? " He asked.

"What your wife should have become?" she smirked

"What--"

"Enough talking, let's move on" She cut him off flippantly.

She led the way walking gracefully but slowly. She led him to grey foliage that has a stuffy bed of

white flowers. With the wave of her hand, the fog was lifted and it hung above the setting.

"Rest here and help yourself" she gestured to the meat being roasted.

As if hypnotized, he laid down on the bed of flowers with his back resting on a tree. Then before him

appeared pork meat hanged and roasted on a dimly lit fire. The aroma rose and filled the air.

"Rest here and help yourself" she gestured to the meat being roasted.

"I can't eat this, do you have any fruit? This is unclean, unhealthy," he pleaded

"You ingrate!" Her hair flared up in spears and pointed at him

"You dared to come to my abode, and you tell me you can't" her eyes became clouded with fury "You

can't, what?"

"It's unclean, I can not eat it" He stated in an agitated whisper.

But she heard him and laughed at him. Reading his mind and feelings, she calmed down to her normal

self.

"I need to find my daughter" he immediately stood to his knees after discerning the change in her look.

She moved closer to him while he quickly took a step back.

"You think your daughter could climb up on that mountain?" She asked talking to him as if he were a

child.

"Even if she were to pass, you won't find her here, I would have eaten her, such a pure soul can't be left

lying around" she smirked at him and drew closer. Her red eyes sparkled as her nails shifted to sharp claws and her skin drifted to a hairy white fur.

Perceiving the danger lurking around, he leaped to his feet and escaped.

"My sister craves faggots like you" she laughed softly as she watched him go.The earth began to shift and fold beneath him. The dark soil began to change to coarse brown sands.

Everything around him vanished leaving a vast flat landscape of sand. He was confused and frightened. It was as if what just happened hadn’t occurred.

He was all alone and he felt alone. He had trekked for many miles yet he did not know where he was or where he is going neither has he come across any person. Weaving through the winding dunes of the desert, the sky gave clear but rosy hues marred by the fluttering shift of screeching eagles who also felt surprisingly the heat strokes from the sulfur-orange moon. His black habit felt sticky on his body with an awful smelling sweat, he felt stabbed by millions of sun blades and spears. His tongue was swollen from lack of water and it cleaved to the roof of his mouth. His feet trembled as numbness in his feet spread to the joints in his body. Then he started to hear drumming sounds. The sound he heard was the beating of his heart He staggered towards a large cluster of sand stones. Eventually, an overwhelming desire to sleep overtook him.

He bent down on his knees but when he looked down he noticed a footprint of a camel at his knees. He wiped his face with his garb and glanced down again but there was no print in the sand. He shook his head to wipe away the misjudged thinking creeping into his mind, he believed that he was seeing things. He looked up and spotted a mirage-like image of a sun-tanned woman with flaming red hair and flimsy black wrap riding on a black hairy camel.

What desert trick is this?

Moving closer, he saw a red-haired lass in a black wrap with only two front teeth smiling at him. She extended her enclosed hands to him, on which a juicy red apple was revealed.

"For me?" he inquired in disbelief.

She replied by nodding her affirmation. He knelt before her and examined the fruit. Looking yummy, he took it and bit from the apple. The taste on his tongue almost choked him. He spat to the ground. As the content hit the ground, it turned to sand. The apple on his hand had become sand too. He looked at the little red-haired girl before him but she had transformed into the beautiful sun-tanned lady in a dark wrap. The surprising thing was that she also looked like his late wife. With bulged eyes, he glanced up at her.

She hovered over him at a tall height, her ruddy eyes lined with black kohl staring at her in fury. He jumped back as she flung her clawed fingers at him and his garb became shredded in monster slashes at the front, it made some faint scratches on his sun-kissed skin. Knowing he had to escape, he made a false move to the right to deceive her, and then, he finally leaped to the left and escaped. He maneuvered back to the large cluster of stones to find refuge. She chased after him. When he got to the sandstone he searched for a space to hide, but the spot he found wasn't a good one either. She called out to him but he did not show himself. She imitated a child's voice so that she could bait him to come out. But, still, he didn't. In anger, she transformed into a huge green serpent. She began to spit out venomous yet thick sputum at him, the sputum drifted looking like a white steaming ball. It landed on the sand like stray landmines that blow people off. She spat sputum on sandstone and it exploded into pieces. As she throws them, he leaped into a run away from it. The sandstone blew up and scattered sands into the air.

The wind howled at his ears as he continued to run through the desert. Glancing back, he saw the huge

green serpent following swiftly behind. He searched for another refuge, he noticed a dense mass of succulent cactus and ran towards it. She released another venomous sputum and it landed on the fleshy cactus. The remains of the cactus were scattered on the sand. On getting to the remains he fell into sinking desert sand. It was so fast he didn't know what was going on. He fell in heads first and his legs sprang up after him. He shouted for help but it sounded like he was mumbling. He was sucked into a dark hole.