LightReader

Chapter 96 - "Do you Hear it?"

Squelch.

One step.

Squelch.

Another.

He was coming.

Slow...almost rhythmic.

Riven watched, his heart a sonorous drum.

Thump!

It had really come to this.

Thump!

His eyes looked around, scanning through the harsh atmosphere.

There was no escape...

There was no beams or walls he could cut to escape this time.

There was no window to crawl through to get away.

Thump!

His grip tightened.

'...Saphira.'

His thoughts ran to the one he'd survived with all along.

His eyes strained.

'Please...if you're still out there....'

Splosh.

His body sagged back, the ground rippling forward.

'...Run away...'

A quiet plea.

One she would never get to hear.

One that would never reach her ears from his mouth.

The white mask simply stared, almost seemingly floating as he blended with the blood mist.

Squelch.

Closer.

Squelch.

Closer.

Sweat rolled down Riven's head, amidst the endless wait; the smell blending with the taste of copper roaming in the air.

It was then, a soft hum danced over Drenn's mask....before his voice caved through:

Sshhhh....

"Crawling thing...Do you hear it?"

Was it his humming?

Riven's throat froze.

"Hmm?"

Squelch.

Riven's hand shook.

Sshhhh....

"Do you hear it boy?"

Drenn's hand twisted in the air; the threads of red contorting around his visage.

A deathly image.

A breathing image.

A real image.

Sshhhh....

"Frostveil whispers..."

Squelch.

Those ember slits shone.

Sshhhh....sshhhh....

"It says you're already dead."

Sshh---

The world seemed to pause for a moment.

Squelch.

Instinct.

A sensation that echoed through...

RIPPLE!

Without thinking Riven shifted, the world changing instances as he appeared a few metres away.

"Ha....haa..."

His breathing trembled, uneven.

Drenn's head tilted.

The blood rippled beneath his feet like it obeyed; his long frame stalking over.

"You're still running?"

Rough.

Hollow.

The voice fell under the silence.

A passing comment.

Thump!

But the words tugged at Riven's mind.

Mael's Fang gave a light throb, reverberating through Riven's arm.

The words were a reminder.

Splosh!

He took a step back as his teeth grit.

It was a reminder that echoed through his actions and mind.

He was always running. 

On and on.

When was it enough?

When would he finally stand still?

'...I'm tired.'

Quiet.

Innocent.

The thought clashed with his very surroundings.

Shrkch.

Drenn's hand lifted, thin and crooked; almost knives in their own right.

Sllrch.

A blood curdling sound rolled.

The blood threads had rippled, whispering around his frame.

"Hrrummmm...."

A groan flowed.

Sweeping through the trees it seemed to echo across the plain.

Thump! Thump! 

Riven's heart pounded, as his breath struggled.

The threads connected, contorting madly as the hum ran its course.

Sllrch!

"Hrrummmm...."

Whatever was coming, was something dangerous.

Menacing.

Riven's senses screamed, almost shouting at him to do anything.

To fight.

To crawl.

To run...

'...No.'

His lips quivered slightly as he watched; his grip on Mael's Fang, the only thing keeping him sane.

'I'm tired of running...'

"The vein remembers."

Sudden.

Sllch!

Like a disguised command, the tendrils shot forward as the air snapped.

Riven's eyes shone wide. 

SPLOSH!

He tried to move.

Too slow.

SHAA!

Not focused enough.

They lashed across his chest, another striking his shoulder.

"..Haah!"

A groan left his clenched teeth, as his body hunched over.

A breath punched into his chest as his coat was cut jagged.

Drip. Drip.

Already bleeding...

It dripped down, mixing with the crimson bedding across the floor.

Squelch.

Fatigue had already dressed Riven whole.

The endless days of no rest.

The endless days of running.

"...haaa...."

It was catching up.

But there was no time for that.

"The river does not forget."

'Again...'

Slrrch!

The blood tendrils cut the space where Riven had been, spilling droplets midair.

Breathless.

It had struck nothing as Riven vanished...

"..aah.."

Pain shot through, forcing Riven awake.

Did he even want to be awake?

However, Drenn appeared to be the epitome of control.

Sllrch!

Countless threads warped around him, swarming around like wiring. 

Splosh!

Riven's boots skidded across the wet floor.

He kept to the outer edge, not wanting to get closer.

Was it supreme cautiousness?

Or the very essence of fear?

Fear to face something so gruesome.

Fear to venture closer to the end.

Fear to let go...

The view of that tall monster:

Those red garments...

Those spine chilling ligaments that outstretched...

That darkened blade resting at its hip, its edges frayed with rot.

Thump! Thump!

"Your heart calls. It beckons."

Vrum!

The ground pulsed.

Vrum!

The trees throbbed.

Vrum!

The pulse spread.

Once.

Twice.

Then the ground opened its veins.

Splosh.

"...haaa..."

Riven's boots sank as liquid darkness crawled up from below, coating the roots, the trunks, the air.

It was rising.

Inch by inch.

Every drop hummed with the same rhythm as his heart...

Thump! Thump!

Vrum! Vrum!

Like it knew him.

Vrumm...Vrummm!

The sound deepened; not from Drenn, not from the forest, but from the blood itself.

It vibrated beneath Riven's soles, climbing the sensation up to his ankles.

"...haaa...."

Drip.

Crimson flowed from the gashes across Riven's chest and shoulder.

It dripped down; a small drop in a sea of madness that echoed loudly.

Thump!

As the pain kept him present...kept him suffering; the warmth crawled higher, gripping, breathing.

The floor of blood pulsed against him.

Thump!

Alive.

Vruum! Sllrchh!

"Every drop remembers its owner," Drenn murmured.

His voice bled through the air, soft, almost pitying.

"Every wound returns home."

Riven's eyes hollowed as he stared at the figure present in his view.

He was placed in the middle of the forest, eyes shining the colour of flames as his hands extended.

"Hruummmm!"

He was humming.

A low, unbothered sound.

The very surroundings responded, the blood vibrating all around.

The forest was listening.

Thump!

The blood was listening.

Riven didn't want to.

Thump!

He didn't want to listen...

He'd heard enough.

Thump!

He didn't want to be here...

He'd suffered enough.

"Hrrummmm!"

But his thoughts didn't matter.

Thum--

His feelings didn't matter.

Nothing was in his control.

Nothing.

"Hrrummmm!"

He hadn't had control of his own thoughts.

He hadn't had control of his own breath.

He hadn't even had control of his own pain.

Everything that made him, him ,was being rewritten.

Sllrch!

Pulse by pulse.

It churned.

It converged.

Everything truly does come to an end at some point.

"Hrrummmm!"

The hum deepened, threads of sound and blood flowing through as Drenn stood rooted, seemingly apart of the forest itself.

Vruum!

Riven stood still, breath shallow, blood leaking slow.

He hadn't moved.

He didn't run.

He couldn't.

Vruum! Sllrchh!

Was it fear?

Was it pride?

Was it the heat-searing pain that sunk into his chest and shoulder?

Sllrchh!Sllrchh!

Was it the blood rising to his ankles, seemingly clamping him?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Each drop that fell to the floor rippled red; shaking the ground.

"And so," Drenn's voice came soft, almost tender as the hum slowly faded.

"Even your blood returns to me."

VRUUMM!

The vibrations rose.

The puddles rippled.

The red rose to meet him.

He was submerged.

More Chapters