7:00... huh? Where's the clock? A more fundamental question slammed into my mind, erasing all others: Where even am I!?
I stood on a vast, cracked plain under a sickly, bruised-purple sky. The world around me was a landscape of pure nightmare. Jagged mountains rose in the distance, but they were monstrous, woven from colossal, twisting thorns, each one the size of a skyscraper, spearing the heavens.
Squinting, I could make out dark, indistinct shapes impaled on many of the thorns. A deep, primal dread coiled in my gut. I had to see. I had to know.
I moved cautiously toward the nearest thorn. What I saw made my blood turn to ice. Pierced through the chest was a creature, almost humanoid. Its body was horrifically burst open. Entrails, stomach, liver, and heart had been violently ripped out, hanging from its torso like grotesque, rotting garlands. The organs were swollen, blackened, and dripping a thick, tarry fluid.
A strangled cry escaped my lips. I doubled over and vomited, my body convulsing from the sheer, visceral horror. Wh-what kind of place is this!? I looked around in a panic. Every thorn I could see was the same—a gallery of impaled and mutilated beings, some humanoid, some monstrously alien.
"WHERE AM I!?" I screamed, my voice swallowed by the oppressive silence.
Pure terror took the reins. I ran. My feet pounded against the hard, unyielding ground, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I scrambled around rocky outcrops, turned corners into identical valleys of thorns, but it was useless. Every path was a dead end in this hellish labyrinth. I was trapped.
THUNK!
A heavy footstep echoed through the valley, shaking the ground beneath my feet. My heart hammered against my ribs. Wh-what should I do!? I'm scared!! I spun around, eyes wild, searching for any refuge.
My gaze locked onto a narrow crevice where one massive thorn had pierced another. I scrambled towards it, squeezing my body into the tight space. Sharp, broken shards scraped against my back and arms, slicing clean, stinging cuts into my skin. I bit my lip hard, tasting blood, and curled into a ball, making myself as small as possible.
The footsteps grew louder, closer. THUNK. THUNK. They stopped right outside my hiding place. Driven by a terrible, morbid instinct, I opened my eyes.
A giant, bloodshot eye was peering directly into the crack! It had seen me!!!
Before I could process this new horror, the creature rose to its full, terrifying height. It was a hulking, blue-skinned humanoid beast with six muscular arms. Two of its hands had grotesque, unblinking eyes embedded in the palms. Its face was a vertical nightmare—two wide, slobbering mouths stacked on top of each other, both filled with rows of filthy, blood-stained teeth. Both mouths were stretched into identical, hungry grins aimed at me.
It swung one of its massive left arms, the one without an eye, directly at my hiding place. The fist connected with the thorns, and the entire structure shuddered violently. A web of fractures spread from the point of impact. Wh-what should I do!? It's going to break through! Its hand wasn't unscathed; the bones were clearly shattered, oozing a thick, black liquid.
Th-this is unbelievable! It's willing to cripple itself to get to me!? Why!? What is happening!? I was supposed to be in my room! Is this a dream!?
The beast pulled back its mangled arm and swung again with even more brutal force. The limb bent backwards at a sickening angle upon impact. The wall of thorns groaned, on the verge of total collapse. The beast looked at its shattered arm, then brought one of its mouths down and tore the limb clean off with a sickening crunch. It spat the severed arm onto the ground with a wet, final thud.
I was paralyzed by shock. This thing was so single-minded in its pursuit that it would mutilate itself without a second thought.
It pulled its right arm back, muscles coiling like steel springs. It's going to finish it!! My mind screamed for my legs to move, but I was frozen. What can I even do!?
Its fist connected.
The wall of thorns exploded inwards. The concussive force hurled me through the air like a discarded toy. A searing pain erupted in my side as I was hit; I felt the distinct, sickening snap of ribs and my left arm bone. I tumbled through the air and skidded across the ground, my body grazing against another sharp thorn. By some miracle, it didn't impale me, but it sliced a deep, bloody gash down my left arm.
The hulking beast began its slow, deliberate approach again, its heavy footsteps the drumbeat of my doom. Its remaining right arm was even more damaged now, dripping copious amounts of black fluid. Did it use all its strength in that last hit?
I still have a chance! I thought, a desperate spark igniting. It was moving slowly. I tried to push myself up, but the moment I stood, a wave of crippling nausea overwhelmed me. I vomited, and a spray of bright red blood splattered the dark ground. My vision swam, dark spots blooming at the edges. No! I have to move!
My eyes landed on the thorny mountain beside me. It was my only way. I stumbled towards it, every movement a fresh agony. I started to climb, digging my fingers into any crevice I could find. The edges were razor-sharp, slicing fresh, deep cuts into my palms with every grip. My own blood made the surface slick and treacherous.
The beast was still approaching, its twin mouths gnashing in anticipation. I have to climb faster before I faint! I screamed at myself internally. Climb! Climb! CLIMB!
The dark surface of the thorn became streaked with smears of red as I hauled my broken body upward. The beast reached the base and began pounding on the mountain with its fists. While not enough to destroy it, each blow sent a powerful shudder through the structure. The shaking ground my bloody hands against the sharp edges, a new layer of torture. The pain was so immense I bit down hard on my own tongue, using that sharper, more focused agony to distract from the shredding of my hands.
Fast! I climbed like a man possessed, my mouth and palms dripping a trail of blood onto the hellscape below. Fast or I'll die!!!
Somehow, I managed to haul myself onto a small, flat ledge on the mountainside. There was barely enough space to lie down. The shaking from the beast's attacks continued for a few more minutes as I pressed myself into a corner, hiding my body behind a smaller outcropping of thorns. I had no idea what other horrors lived in this place.
What place even is this? The thought was a feeble whimper. The adrenaline that had been fueling me began to recede, and as my mind started to calm, all the excruciating pain I had been suppressing crashed over me in a single, overwhelming wave. It flooded every broken bone, every torn muscle, every sliced nerve.
It was too much. A raw, guttural scream was torn from the depths of my soul, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony.
"ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!"
---
[News Channel - Live Broadcast]
The scene cut to a news studio. A beautiful news anchor, her face ashen and streaked with tears, was shouting into the camera, her professional composure shattered.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" she cried, her voice cracking with terror. "WE ARE GETTING CONFIRMED REPORTS OF A DARK EXPLOSION THAT OCCURRED OUT OF NOWHERE IN A RESIDENTIAL SECTOR! THE CASUALTIES ARE... THEY'RE BEYOND CALCULATION! AND THEN... A SWARM OF MONSTERS STARTED POURING FROM THE FISSURE THE EXPLOSION CREATED! THEY ARE SLAUGHTERING EVERYTHING! EVERY LIVING BEING IN THE ENTIRE CITY IS UNDER ATTACK! THIS IS AN EVENT UNPRECEDENTED IN RECORDED HISTORY! TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, WE ARE RECEIVING DISTURBING REPORTS OF PEOPLE NOT JUST BEING KILLED, BUT VANISHING ENTIRELY, DISAPPEARING WITHOUT A TRACE! THIS IS A CATASTROPHIC, EXISTENTIAL HORROR FOR ALL OF HUMANITY!!"