The First Day

By CJ Knight

Photo by Markos Mant on Unsplash

Story created for Day 1 of Bradley Ramsey’s Halls of Pandemonium Challenge. I’m going to impose my own challenge onto myself for this Month. I’m going to attempt to carry the same characters through the month. There will be days I won’t be able to submit, but I will reference the missing days throughout the challenge. Only time will tell if I’ve boxed myself into a corner, or be able to complete the prompt briefs while maintaining the continuity of the overarching character story.

Day 1

Rose pulled on the wheel as the truck rounded the corner and crossed into their lane. The rear tyre kissed the gravel on the shoulder’s edge. For a moment, it flirted with the idea of gripping as the vibrations shuddered through Rose’s arms. The tyre made its decision, and the car’s rear sailed over the edge.

Rose

She woke to nothing but absence. Not a feather of wind, nor a chirp from the treetops above. Her body remained whole. No cuts from the shattered glass or broken bones from the wreck of twisted metal. Fog hung thick in the air, clinging to her skin. The horn of the truck played in mind. The tyre giving up and tossing them over the edge to the forest below. Her brother and sister, James and Lily. They were in the car with her. Tightness filled Rose. “James?...Lily?” A shape groaned beside her.

“Rose…” James opened his eyes. “What happened?”

“We went over the edge.”

James checked the back seat. Empty. “Lily?”

“I’m here.” Lily emerged from the fog outside the car, clutching her arms to her chest. “I went to look for help.” Her eyes wet. “I couldn’t wake either of you.”

Rose pulled herself from the wreck and pulled Lily into her arms. “We’re ok.” Free of the vehicle, she got her first look at their surroundings. It seemed off. Rose didn’t remember a forest beneath them, or any fog. But it was more than that. The way the fog clung to her skin, it felt alive, reaching for her.

A flicker of light appeared between the trees. “Do you see that?” James pulled himself free of the vehicle.

Rose gave a nod, staring at the pulsing orb hovering in the fog. “Stay close.”

They moved together between the trees, as light drifted ahead, guiding them forward. “I don’t like this.” Lily’s arms remained clenched around her chest, hugging her trembling body.

“Me either.” James shook his head. “Maybe we should have waited by the car.”

Rose ignored them. The trees were wrong, limbs unnaturally twisted, bark rising and falling as if the trunks contained lungs. Those twisted limbs seemed to stretch toward them as they passed by. The pulse of the light orb quickened as if urging them to hurry.

The earth shifted beneath their feet. A hand, black as shadow, shot out from the soil, fingers long and skeletal. Those fingers wrapped around James’s ankle. “James!” Rose reached for her brother. More hands burst from the ground. Others burst free of the tree trunks. Shadows peeled free around them, stretching into figures with long, jagged limbs. Each figure possessed a face with hollow voids for eyes and mouth. Their expressions a cry of agony, but no sound came from them their throats. Silent screams of hunger surrounded them. Rose grabbed James, pulling to free him, but more hands burst free, latching on, pulling him down.

The orb of light shot across the tree line and cannoned into Rose’s chest. An explosion of light flooded hr with warmth. It surged through her limbs and forced her body to move. Rose flipped backward, legs whipping through the air. Her fingers found the branch. It twisted, reaching for her. She dismounted, instinct and perfection. Her feet landed on a shadow figure. It shattered beneath her weight, twisting into smoke, rejoining the fog. More shadow figures surged toward her. Rose vaulted over grasping hands, twisting from their reach. Her every motion precise and controlled. She was twelve years old again, performing a perfect routine, only this wasn’t a gym, and the shadows weren’t judges. Rose kicked the hands away. “James! Get up!” There were too many, as she fought on, more shadows emerged, the forest was alive in every direction.

James

James liked rules. Rules made sense in a world of logic and understanding. Even when things weren’t going his way, he could figure them out. But this, this forest didn’t fit logic or rules. This was chaos.

“Rose!” James kicked at the hands as they broke through the ground. Fingers tightened around his limbs. These fingers weren’t cold, nor did their tight grip hurt. The feeling these hands of shadow held was emptiness.

The orb of light shot down from above, wrapping around his feet. A shudder rippled through his legs. He was able to pull free of the desperate shadow hands. When the next shadow reached for him, James reacted with a kick. Pure power and technique, just as he was taught. Perfect form connected, and the shadow exploded into a shower of smoke that rejoined the fog. When another approached, he kicked again. His brain struggled for reason. Soccer drills, that’s what this was. Power, footwork, practice, perfection. “We can break them!”

“Don’t stop moving!” Rose bounced beside him on her hands and spun away.

His younger sister, Lily, stood frozen in place. Her eyes wide as shadows surrounded her. “Move, Lily!” James rushed toward her, putting his boot through any shadow who dared step in his way. He grabbed Lily’s arm. “We have to go!”

“Where?”

The orb of light pulsed ahead of them. “There!”

Shadows adapted, no longer reaching for the siblings. Instead, it twisted into walls around them. Arms reached from all directions, including from above. James kicked, his legs aching, but then reaching arms never stopped. Each that vanished, a new one took its place. The three of them were trapped. James dropped to his knees, gasping for air. “I can’t…”

Rose stumbled, an arm of shadow wrapped around her, dragging her toward the wall of shadow.

“Rose!” James struggled to his feet.

Lily screamed.

Lily

This was all wrong. Not long ago they were on their way to see their father. They were safe in a car on the road. What was this place? The fog, trees, shadows, it wasn’t crazy. This place was the absence of hope. No joy or love. Just pain in shadow form. The hunger Lilly felt in those stretching limbs, a thirst for the life in her body. Rose and James were fighting back, but not her. Lily was drowning in fear. As the fingers curled around her waist, she didn’t look.

Rose’s scream cut through Lily’s fear. She saw her sister struggling against the arm dragging her toward the wall of shadow. Saw her brother, James fighting. “No.” Lily’s voice was nothing more than a whisper, but enough. The orb of light crashed through the roof of the shadow cage. It never touched Lily’s arms or legs, it settled on her throat. She screamed. Power tore from her throat in a shockwave. The shadows didn’t shatter into smoke, they disintegrated into nothing. The fog recoiled from the sound, trees trembled and shifted. A path opened. Lily fell to her knees, coughing.

The orb of light pulsed with urgency, forming a word. “Run.”

Lily staggered to her feet. Rose and James looped an arm around their younger sister and helped her forward. The shadows regrouped and gave chase.

The Gate

None of them looked back as they fled. The forest behind them broke its silence, screaming at them like a threatening storm. Only when they broke from the trees into a clearing did the screaming end. So did everything else. No more fog or shadows. The only thing in the clearing was a gate of iron. Ornate in design and imposing in size.

The orb of light hovered in front of the gate, burning brighter. For a moment it shifted, giving a brief glimpse of a figure. A silhouette of light of something familiar. It stood proud like Rose, strong like James, and wilful like Lily. All of them saw the blonde hair and blue eyes that they all shared. It dissolved back into an orb and created a word. “Caedyn.”

“Is that your name?” Rose stepped toward it.

The light pulsed. “The only way out is through the gates.” The gates swung open, revealing darkness.

The siblings could feel the unseen eyes hidden in the darkness watching them.

Lily squeezed James’s hand. “It isn’t right. I don’t know if we should go through.”

“I know.” James looked back. The forest was moving toward them, shadows reaching forward from the tree line. “But I don’t think we have a choice.”

The orb of light dimmed, offering its next words gently. “Welcome to the Halls of Pandemonium.”

Rose stepped through the gates into the darkness. James followed. Lily hesitated. The orb of light brushed her hand. Lily took a deep breath and entered the darkness.

The orb of light, Caedyn, followed them inside as the gates closed.