Let's keep hancules
The pain was excruciating. It was awful. It was a light burn at first, but as the words left Chilton's mouth, it grew to an indescribable magnitude, like thousands of white-hot needles sinking into every part of me.
I saw him again. The shadow. He stood there in the far corner and watched my body shift and crack from the inside out. I could feel my organs rupturing, the blood in my body pouring like a river from my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It felt like so much pain, but also felt like an absence of feeling, all at once. Everything was too bright or too dark.
I heard Dr. Chilton laugh. It was deep, cruel and hollow. Maybe hollow isn't the right word for what it was. Distant seems to be a better fit, but with his proximity, I guess it didn't make sense. It was simply mixed into the high pitched whine. The language he was reading in was foreign and guttural, and each word pierced me like a knife. It was like each phrase was seeping into me. His words were slicing into my skin and being pumped by my heart. They were thick enough to force out the blood.
The shadow twitched violently in the corner. My vision was blurry as hell, but I could still see Chilton staring at it. His face was contorted into a wicked smile.
"He is all yours, my liege," Chilton said, closing his book and bowing as the shadow approached.
Blood was still pouring as he walked in front of me. I had not seen into the shadows that were his eyes until he placed a hand on my chest.
The language poured from what I assumed was his mouth.
Dr. Chilton beamed as my consciousness was fading. "Thank you so much, Master. I was sure you would appreciate him! His beauty holds many capabilities for your task."
The shadow pushed his hand up my chest and to my neck. That was it, I thought. My life was going to end now, and it would be at the hands of the last person I could turn to for help. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. But its hand didn't stop. He pushed it to my blood soaked chin and not-so-carefully pulled open my jaw. I thought he broke it. I heard the pop, but I didn't feel it. Maybe I was sent into such a stupor that I couldn't register the pain.
His head came towards my ripped open mouth, and just like that, he was disappearing into it. He penetrated my body with a huge amount of force. I was going to burst.
I thought the build up was awful, but it felt like a mere mosquito bite in comparison to the sensation of knowing I had lost control. My body was no longer my own.
His wisp-like form vanished in front of me. My senses were flooded with the throbbing.
I slammed my eyes shut. Even the dim lighting of the makeshift dungeon were like being caught in a spotlight. Trying to manage it was too much.
The sounds were so excruciatingly loud. The whine from before was magnified, Chiltons laugh was a booming roar, the electricity buzzing through the wires overhead was a crashing melody. I tugged weakly at my iron restraints, but stopped promptly. The clanking was far too much to handle. My heart beat, was possibly the loudest sound in this symphony of my death.
I could smell the mold in the wooden walls around me. I could smell my own and Chilton's blood.
And all of a sudden, it stopped. The rushing, the beating, the thrumming, it all stopped. And then, everything went black. I didn't pass out, but everything was dark.
That's when I heard it for the first time. Its voice. His voice. It was deep. There were multiple whispers accompanied in his growl.
Your name is Will Graham. It is 3:33 am, and you are alive.
It didn't feel like I was. My heart stopped and all of my senses had died. I couldn't hear. I couldn't see. I couldn't smell. The echo was all I heard.
You and I are going to be very close Will. I can hurt you beyond anything you've ever felt, but I can also grant every wish you've ever had. Can you be obedient?
I nodded... I think. I'm not particularly sure what I did, but it was considered acceptable. He kept talking.
Good. Now, Will, I don't have total control unless I need to. And, I will only need that if you don't do what I ask, and let me say, it will be hell for you.
I did nothing. No movement or sounds.
My name is unimportant, but now I am you. My first command is that you open your eyes.
I did. I didn't know why I did, but I did. My eyes opened and all I saw was black. It was hollow and empty. He was standing there, but... no...
It was the stag.
He was standing before a gate. The iron spikes grazing the top of the door ripped through the dense black fogoverhead. Faces of agony and pain were carved like statues in the obsidian walls. To my left and right, the gate faded into nothing.
Here, allow me to change into a form easier for you to trust.
Fire erupted around him. When it died, there Hannibal stood. He was smiling, but it wasn't him. I then realized just how much I missed Hannibal Lecter.
As much as you hate him, you can't seem to get him out of your head.
The stag had Hannibal's accent. He ushered to the gates with a wave of his hand.
Welcome to hell, Will Graham.
The gates creaked. The sound was worse than the earlier possession. Hannibal-stag walked through the gate and offered me to follow. It was like nothing I could ever imagine. The bible did no justice to the horror painted before me. Ideas of fires erupting around sinners were lies. Everything was ice. A frozen ridge of a cornucopia was positioned in the middle. The souls of humans were covered in snow so white it blinded me.
Here you are, Will.
Hannibal grazed a hand over my eyes. I could feel the dark emptiness of the shadow cover my eyes. Reluctantly, I opened them again. Upon closer inspection, the 'snow' that covered the ground beneath me, was the downy feathers of the fallen angels. Their bodies on display above me, hammered to goat heads, like a crucifixion. Cold and dead, as everything else in this godless place.
Follow me.
I did. He grasped my hand and led me toward the center of this awful ring. He walked toward the ice walls. For some reason, I wasn't cold. I turned back to the non existent path behind me. All of my previous steps were tar-black holes in the wings. The area was tainted around each foot print. Hannibal ushered for me to look down. The pit was endless. Various different levels spiraled downward to the black abyss below. Each one glowed a different color. The screaming got louder the further down. There was nothing but the low growl at the bottom. I didn't know what to think exactly.
"Why am I here?" I questioned. I attempted to make my voice sound as stern as possible, but as unstable I was, it probably came out like a stuttering whimper. I'm not really sure.
Oh my dear sweet Will. Have you not yet realized? You have been sacrificed to me. We are one.
"What does that even mean? Who are you?"
The Guardian of the Three Worlds.
"The three worlds?"
Heaven, Earth-
"-And Hell."
Very good, Will.
"Why am I here? Why me?"
Easy. Frederick Chilton gave you to me. You're stuck here. You own these now. Enjoy your new skills. You're going to wake up now. I will be watching you, and you will hear me.
I had more questions, but somehow I knew the answer would come with practice. I was thrown upward. I know I had a hard time feeling the world come together around me, but I knew it was happening. The dust settled around me and I opened my eyes.
Get off of your bed, Will.
I did. There seemed to be no use in fighting. There was a heavy tugging on my shoulder blades, but I figured it was because my chest had literally just been stuffed full with another fucking life form!
Go to the mirror.
'Mother fucker, what mirror? I'm in a jail cell'
Then pick the lock.
'With what?!' I thought.
I was literally having a conversation with myself... but it wasn't me. It was almost me, but it was him. The guardian.
You will need seclusion for me to teach you how to use your claws.
'My what?'
I looked at my hands. He was right, long razor sharp claws were grown from my bloody bitten nails.
Good luck chewing through these, Will Graham. You can cut through titanium. Lesson number one: Hiding your newly acquired attributes.
'Such as?'
You'll see once we get you to a mirror.
'Oh fuck.'
It will cause some heads to turn, which is why I'm teaching you how to hide it.
'Alright?'
Focus on what you think you look like.
I did. I felt a shift. The weight on my back vanished and I felt things sink into places they shouldn't have. Examples being: my teeth, hands, and tail bone. There was an awful tugging. Suddenly everything was very dark. It recently occurred to me once more that it is night, and therefore, I can't see shit. So why could I see before.
You can see in the dark now. Just one perk of being dead.
"Being what?" I whispered to myself in disbelief.
Dead. Try and avoid doctors. Psychological and Medical, they'll all find you a marvel, and I know how much that bothers you.
"I'm... really dead? No. That can't be. I'm right here. I'm up and alive." I spoke quietly, more trying to convince myself than anything else.
But when was your last breath? 3:33 am. It is 6:57 am. Your name is Will Graham, and you are no longer alive. You haven't been for nearly three and a half hours.
'Then how can I be here? If I'm dead, how can I be here?!' I mentally shouted.
Immortality. You can not kill something that is already dead. You are a walking corpse that will never truly die.
I wished I had more windows, noting that is was almost seven am in the fucking morning and It was still dark as shit.
Not once you feel the sunlight on your nocturn eyes you won't.
'Well that's good. What do I do now?'
Damn it! Already I couldn't think for myself.
Ask Nurse Brown to see a mirror. I'm sure with his infatuation with you, it wouldn't be a problem.
I stuck my hand, seemingly normal again, through the bars of my cell and snapped four times. It was the signature thing me and Matthew did if I wanted to talk to him.
"Yo," he asked, a flirtatious smile on his face. It dropped as he stared at my eyes. Why he was doing that, I don't know.
Use him. I know you won't like it, but you need to bat your eyelashes and swing your hips. You gonna woo yourself a man.
Jesus fucking Christ. Alright. I sort of sashayed to him and grabbed his clean white shirt. I wasn't as much of a dense fuck as I let on. I knew he had feelings for me. I pressed myself, while pulling him, against the bars and delivered a light kiss to his lips. His blush was outright adorable.
"Matt," I cooed, "I need you to get me a mirror. Can you do that?" It was a bit hard to focus on what I was doing, what with the strong scent of cinnamon permeating the air. The pulling on my insides got harder, and it was starting to hurt more and more.
He was blushing so brightly I thought he was gonna burst. "Y-yes. I'll be r-right back," he stuttered. The scent was stronger.
He practically bolted down the hallway. He was far too eager to please.
Well, well, well. You do know how to flaunt that beauty of yours.
'Oh give me a break. Why can I only smell Snickerdoodles?'
Try and figure it out.
The air cleared out when he left. I took a big stiff of the air. Everything was far too clean aside from the smell of delicious meat. It was coming from the vents.
Wrong! He sang melodically. The bodies. That is the smell of blood. Listen to it.
He was right. I could hear the blood gushing and pumping. I focused on the meat. It was human, human meat. And it smelled fantastic!
Will, now is not the time, nor place for you to do this. Stay focused.
'How can I focus when the air smells so delicious?!'
Breathe through your mouth.
'Oh.'
I did. Don't get me wrong. I could still taste everything the air had to offer, but you know, priorities and shit.
Cinnamon permeated the air once more. Matthew Brown came down the hall wheeling a full body mirror. He leaned it opposite of my cell and nodded.
"Anything else?" he asked, breathing heavily.
I smiled sweetly. "No, that's it. Thank you." All too easy.
He awkwardly ducked away from me with a quiet goodbye and carried on with his nursely duties.
Let it go.
'I'm one with the wind and sky?'
No. The tugging, take a deep breath and let it go.
He didn't even laugh at my joke. That was fucking gold. Anyway, I did. Conceal don't feel my ass. I let it go.
Goddamn it, Will.
More weight pushed onto me. I could see.
Mirror! mirror!
'Someone's excited.'
I looked. Two black wings fluttered from my shoulders. Eagle talons replaced my feet. My eyes, they were fully black. They were two caves in my face with single white lights pushing from the end of them. It smoked out. The black was pouring out of my face. Fangs and claws grew out of the original bone.
Now, Mr. Graham, Let the games begin.