CH 2

Dav climbed down the ladder through the darkness. Silence engulfed him except for the thud of his heartbeat and the ragged, torn sobs of his breathing. His boots probably thudded on the rungs, but he couldn’t hear them. It was almost deafening, the silence, pushing in on him in the cramped ladder well. Not much more than a round tube enclosing the worn emergency ladder, it stretched above and below into seeming infinity, as he could not see the beginning or the end in the darkness. Dav began to feel claustrophobic as he climbed, his rifle slung over one, shoulder clattered against his back with each step down into the deepening abyss.

His mind grew blank, and soon he felt numb and indifferent to the chaos of the previous encounter. His breathing evened out, as he climbed. His heartbeat steadied, focused now only on the laborious task of reaching the bottom of this ladder. Ever downward he moved. One hand, and then the next. One hand, and then the next, again and again. The monotonous metal rungs were cold and rough in his grip and his arms began to ache with the strain of supporting his weight on this… seemingly endless descent into nothingness.  After a time, he had no idea how long, Dav stopped to rest and catching his breath, noticed that the once stale air had become more humid the deeper, he went. He scrunched his nose as a faint pungent aroma tickled his nostrils. “Rotting plants..?” he guessed to himself.

Glancing downward, his eyes strained to see in the darkness. Was that…? Yes! A soft green glow emanated far below him, barely perceptible through the gloom. His heart jumped in his chest, and he felt a stir of excitement come over him. “Finally,” he thought, mind racing, “FINALLY.”

He resumed climbing, a renewed energy washing through his limbs. Faster, faster, and faster he descended. Now he was taking the ladder two or rungs at a time, dropping down lower and lower. Dav began to feel a slight sense of panic as the darkness above seemed to push down on him and he realized he wasn’t just in a hurry to get to the bottom; he was in a rush to escape the empty darknesss above.  He had to go faster, he had to escape its oppressive, crushing black weight. He had to escape from… them.

His booted feet crunched into each rung for just a moment, before dropping to the next. Again, and again, step after step, practically falling more than climbing, and then Dav called out in surprise as there were suddenly no more rungs below him. He slipped, and clutching frantically at the rungs slipping from his weary hands, clunked his chin on a rung and bellowed in pain, his feet dangling into the green abyss visible far below.

Still, the green glow from below was closer, larger, more defined, but still it seemed impossibly distant. Dav strained to pull himself back up, confident a fall from here would be his doom, but his grip weakened. His rifle fell off his shoulder, and snagged on his elbow, this jerked his right hand free from the ladder, and as its weight pulled the arm down the rifle fell, lost, into the glow below.

“Futz!” Dav yelled, barely hanging on with one hand to the ladder. That sweet solid ladder, how had he once despised it? So, what if it had gone on and on? He would gladly climb it forever, that wonderful solid ladder! It was all that was good in the world! It was- His desperate positive reinforcement of the ladder worked to no avail, as it was his grip which failed him. With a gasp of disbelief, Dav plummeted down into the abyss. Amidst a crack of thunder, a brilliant light flashed, illuminating the whole ladder well in a strange, and sickly green glow for one brief instant. Then, it winked out like a snuffed candle and only darkness remained.

———————————————————————————-

Darkness…

“The- isss n–o r–son to be- afr–d.” said a distant voice.

“What…?” Dav’s eyes shot open. He squinted against the soft green glow around him, blinking. While not particularly bright in itself, the light was uncomfortable compared to the darkness of the ladder well from before. He’d fallen. That explained why he was on his back. He must have been knocked unconscious too. That explained the headache.

“Ouch.” He thought, groaning. How long was I…?”

He lay there in the muck, staring up in a haze. He shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it, which only made the pain worse. Wincing, he noticed for the first time that he was surrounded by thick vegetation. Low lying, deformed shrubs and sickly-looking plants, twisted roots and twig like branches poking up through a thick blanket of rotting leaves and scrawny clumps of tufted grasses, supporting wilted, droopy leaves that glistening with a wet sheen, all surrounded by thick, gnarled tree trunks.

Many of the trees seemed to weep a dark, viscous liquid. Their twisted branches interweaving overhead to make a gloomy, forbidding ceiling. The only clear view through the dense canopy of leaves and branches seemed to be the hole his body had punched in the canopy as he crashed through it, barely discernible as a patch of pale green light glowing weakly through the limbs far overhead. The aroma he’d smelt before was thick and heavy now, sickeningly sweet; the smell of rotting plants, death and decay, and it was humid. He felt sweaty.

“There is no reason to be afraid.” The voice said again, closer this time. Dav snapped back to full consciousness.

He pushed himself up to a sitting position, and looked around again, wary, but puzzled. “Who said that?”

No reply came. Dav worked his way to his feet, back popping as he stood, and almost stumbled. He hadn’t realized it while he was on his back, but the ground was sloped slightly beneath him.  Looking around the whole area seemed to funnel downward in one direction, as if he were on the curve of a large grassy bowl. Where was his rifle? He vaguely recalled dropping it as he clung to the ladder for dear life. He could only hope that it too had made the jump through the portal before he himself had fallen through.

“I don’t know who you are, or what you want,” Dav said firmly, peering around at the dense under growth. “But it has been a long day, I’m tired. I just fell a thousand feet, and I am in no mood for screwing around.”

“Fear not,” said the voice, “For there is no reason to be afraid.”

“Yeah,” Dav muttered, who dropping low into a crouch picked up a rock from the ground in one hand and moving toward the direction he thought the voice had come from, fists raised. “You said as much.” Dav crept forward heel-toe, heel-toe, approaching the trees directly ahead, and stopped short. The shadowy tree in front of him had just blinked. Hadn’t it?

“Uh…” Dav wondered aloud. “Hello?” He leaned forward, staring at the rough, twisting trunk before him. The bark was sickly, mottled yellow and brown. Patches of bark were peeling off, curling away, dark brown and rotted where they no longer touched the trunk. Suddenly, a figure stepped forward from the trees and Dav jumped back with a shout, rock raised high, ready to smash down. The creature was perfectly camouflaged, except for the yellowed whites of the eyes.  It moved in a slow, jerky fashion, long, sinewy limbs creaking slightly. It was a bit shorter than Dav, and looked up at him blinking repeatedly. Its mouth opened in an otherwise featureless face, just eyes and a mouth in wooden, bark like skin, the mouth revealing rows of short stubby wooden molars that grinned out at Dav.  Does it eat plants? Dav found himself wondering with some minor relief.

“There is no reason to-” the creature began to say, shuffling closer, but was cut off when Dav yelled: “I know! You said that! What do you want?”

The creature stopped short, grin fading. It looked up at Dav appraisingly; eerily quiet for a brief moment that seemed to stretch on as it blinked its tired yellowed eyes repeatedly.

“You are not afraid.” It said matter-of-factly.

“…Of what?” Dav retorted.

“It is good you are not afraid.” The creature said ignoring his question, “For there is nothing to be afraid of.”

Dav grunted, irritated. “Are you completely useless?” He demanded. The creature seemed hurt as a faint frown flitted across its face for just a second, and then it began grinning again. At least, Dav thought it was a grin.

“We all have purpose,” It replied gaily shuffling sideways, around Dav who turned in place watching warily, rock held at the ready. “We are all useful. Mother will want to meet you, and you will want to meet mother.” It paused, as though considering. “That is your purpose.” The creature gestured down the slope into the thickening trees. “Come, this way.”

Dav stood firm. “Oh no, I’m not going anywhere until I know where the futz I am, and who, or what, the futz you are.” He gestured around him sharply. “Where did this disgusting, swampy ass forest come from? Where the hell am I?” Irritated bewilderment crept into his voice, “Who, or what, the hell is mother?!”

The creature regarded him. “Mother is the giver of all, and the consumer of all.” It said simply. “Now, come, there is no reason to be afraid.”

“Yeah fuck you too.” Dav grumbled under his breath as the creature began shuffling down the slope into the thick vegetation. Its tree like skin began to make it blend into the surroundings again, making it hard to see. Dav standing alone, stubborn, looked around realizing he had no better idea of what to do, he dropped his rock and hurried after it.

His muscles ached, and his head throbbed. It had been a rough few days. Walking was proving to be a trial and though the wood creature… thing wasn’t very fast, it was a challenge for Dav to keep up in his weary, beat up condition.  Portal jumping took a toll all its own, to say nothing for falling who knows how far through trees, being knocked unconscious, and the emotional toll of losing his companions to that- his stomach turned and he felt a knot rise in his throat. It’s best not to think of them. They’re gone. Nothing I can do about it now.