Distant Horizons/Chapter 13

Chapter 13 The Demon

Hando sat motionless in the cave, deep in thought. Beside him, Trisha lay asleep. They had found this small hole in the ground to shelter from the acid rain. It turned out there was quite a large cave here, but luckily, no monsters lived in here, as the granite floor was clean as crystal and no bones littered the ground. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping. Trisha had gone to sleep, but Hando could not. The dripping made him nervous. Every time he heard the sound, it reminded him of how strange this place was. It would be okay if they had somehow gotten stranded on Vendaxa or some other jungle planet, but here, a place with no horizons, no sun and a shape shifting landscape... And Hando kept wondering how come there were Stalactites and Stalagmites here, formations which usually took thousands of years to form. This world was only days old, and yet it seemed like it had existed before, somehow. A loud croaking sound got him out of his thoughts. The switched on his torch and looked around. He saw a huge frog like thing, about the size of an R2-Unit, hulking in the corner. It croaked loudly again. And then it looked at him, with an almost sentient look on its face. A sort of cunning. As if reading his mind, the frog-thing spoke. “Why ye be so sad?” it said. “For all that has happened yet ye are still living.” “Yeah, sure,” said Hando, “I have lost one of my oldest friends, you know.” “Ye friends are in safer hands now,” croaked the frog thing. Hando stared at it, looking closer now. It was warty, almost reminding him of Jabba the Hutt. Slimy and soft, and cold too. Its eyes and damp warty skin glinted in the bright light of the torch. “Who are you?” asked Hando, “were you here before. I mean when I first came here this looked like some palace in hyperspace, and I thought I changed it, but now everything seems so... old.” “Old it be,” said the frog, “been here forever it has, in many forms. Whatever you think of, that is what it changes into. But beware, only once can you choose, and after change, it wars on you, turns on your body, mind and soul; until you are nothing more than I am now. The palace you saw is gone forever. Hidden beneath the rock which you covered it. It has the doors, the doors into each world.” “How come this place is so old,” said Hando solemnly, “cause I’m obviously I’m not the first here, and each person who came must have wished for...” “No... NO!” said the frog, “Ye speak lies, the words of a fool. Like each fool who comes here. Do ye not hear the words I spoke? I spoke of this place turning on your mind and soul. It’s playing with ye! Just as it played with all past fools who came. Each of ye wished for the same. A forest. Why wish for a forest, my friend? Why not wish for a civilized place, a city? Why not wish for a portal to bring you back to where you came from?” “You have any idea where my ship might be?” broke in Hando, sweating slightly in frustration. “Ye ship is gone, for now,” croaked the frog in its hoarse voice, still glinting in the white light. “But you will bring it back, I assure you. But you might not need to see your ship now that you have found me here, for I know another way.” And at that moment, a small part of the black cave in the distance began to glow dimly blue, the shape like a glowing ember in a fire burned out. It gradually shifted. Soon, Hando realized it resembled a door. “Ye pass through here,” croaked the frog, “to the palace far below. To your universe. You shall return.” Hando hesitated, and then suddenly, he felt a cold feeling it the pit of his stomach. Was it his imagination, or was he actually moving? “No,” he cried, “wait, we should...” “Oh no, my young friend,” said the frog. Its voice was different now, clear, strong, and evil. “I know what you are you little fool. And I need you” Hando was speechless. Betrayal he thought. The glowing door pulled him towards it, like the black hole had done. Helplessly, he watched as it got closer, and closer, until he went straight through it. He felt an excruciating pain as every atom in his body was converted into alternate matter. His blood was screaming. His nerves were screaming. His eyes swelled huge and blood red. And he wanted to faint. Then suddenly, all the noise died down, and Hando felt weightless. For a few seconds he passed out. Then he felt freezing cold air blow down his neck. He remembered he was still in his pyjamas, the wind cursing over his skin like a sandstorm over a desert. He lifted his head. He was inside a blood red force field. Around him were black and brown walls. Hando looked in front of him. And he saw a horror beyond imagination. A demon from a fairytale. The monstrous frog he had seen before was in a tight black leather suit with an elaborate black collar and a bald head. He had a white face with blue tattoos down the front of it, and black eyes with glowing blue pupils. He stood there and smiled evilly. Hando was transfixed. He couldn’t believe what he saw. The being looked like some sort of sith. The demon grinned. Then he came up to Hando. Hando could feel his icy breath strike his body, his cold eyes cutting through his mind. The demon reached out, and tapped his forehead. The world went black around him.