Chapter 1
The rays of the Sun broke through Cloud's vision. He sensed the warmth and comfort of the omnipotent light, and quickly came to his senses. Covering his eyes with his hand, the desolate recluse slowly sat himself upright, and noticed the stifling discomfort on his body. He inspected his appendages, and saw that it was sand, drizzling down softly through his rugged fingers.
"I'm...I'm alive..." he stuttered. Cloud placed his hands onto his knees for support, and stood up. He could see the lush green forest at the edge of his eyes that stretched on far east of him, although which way east was uncertain. Looking up, he saw that the weather was clear, the Sun gazing gently down from heaven. It appeared that the thick fog from the night before has dispersed.
"It looks like I've been washed ashore..." He gazed at his timid boat, and saw that its broken pieces have been scattered across the beach, in ruins from the crashing waves of the sea. However, its condition was repairable.
"There shall be food and fresh water in the forest…I must investigate..." he thought while approaching the wooded plains with a limping body.
Cloud brushed off the branches covering his path. His boots crushed the twigs on the ground as he trudged through the forest. He had picked off some berries, giving off a sour, yet satisfying taste, and cleaved off edible plants with a rusty dagger that he tied around his waist. The air was mildly humid, but the branches of the trees provided with slight comfort by giving off shade.
After some time of travel, he stopped in front of a small stream and stooped down to imbibe the water, wiping it off afterwards with his sleeves. Then, he brushed off the grass near him and rested his body onto a tree trunk. His eyes began blinking rather rapidly, and he slowly closed them. Seconds later, his snoring echoed mildly through the forest.
A pair of eyes, whose face was concealed in the darkness, stared intensely at Cloud unbeknownst to him. They were huge, deformed brown eyes from its overly large pupil and its bulge outward from the facial structure.
Its hand came out slowly from obscurity, edging little by little toward the sleeping recluse. The hand was small, yet bruised severely and its nails were overgrown, while some were established into the flesh of the fingertips.
"Huh?"
Cloud sprang up from his sleep after having the sense that some thing was approaching him. He quickly looked around his perimeter, but nothing was present.
"Guess it's just my imagination..." he stood up from his rest, stretched his muscles and continued on the forest path.
The eyes and its hand slowly backed away into concealment, never taking its gaze off of Cloud. Soon, it disappeared into the shadows, absorbed completely by the darkness.
"There must be some sort of civilization nearby," Cloud thought as he looked up at the sky. The Sun has already set, a half moon instead in its place and accompanied by the myriad stars, giving off a dim, eerie light.
Cloud felt chills down his spine upon the half moon. He could call back several unpleasant memories with its presence. Shaking it off, the recluse continued on his way.
Just then, far deep into the depths of the forest, Cloud spotted light. They were streams of light flying randomly across the sky, and with it came the vision of a towering structure that scorched up into the heavens, while a crystal like glow resonated from the edifice with its appearance. The glow simmered down, and the light was fainted but the omnipotent presence of the tower did not disappear.
"My god..." Cloud stood flabbergasted and stared dumbfounded at the imposing structure. He rubbed his eyes, and looked again but the tower remained standing.
"This must be a dream...my minds are playing tricks on me..." mumbled Cloud. "Let it be a dream or not, I must reach there," he decided. Without a moment of hesitation, Cloud began running toward the tower.
It took a few hours to spare, but Cloud reached it in the end. The tower seemed to be much grander on closer inspection. Its top could not be seen, and its size was much larger than what was thought to be from the distance. There were writings, although what language it was seemed uncertain, written on all four sides. Cloud concluded it to be a monument or an obelisk, but a stranger question arose.
"Am I hallucinating? Is this real? How could this just…appear, and in the middle of a forest such as this…" he was lost of words, but was drown in thoughts. He took tiny steps toward it with extreme caution. Through the thick bushes and branches of trees, Cloud saw an entrance, which was led up by a series of stone steps. He bent down and touched the steps, and put his feet onto it. It was real as far as he was concerned.
Cloud then reached up to the gate, but was afraid to pull the handles. The gate was mightily decorated, with pictures that depicted a series of scenes. There was an elephant, and riding on the creature was a being possessing ten arms, five on each side. He, or it, was battling against another otherworldly creature, a chimera, its necks on a leash of a man dressed from head to toe in a white robe.
"What the hell..." Cloud grabbed a hold of the handles with his hands. The handle was cold and smooth, probably made of bronze. After taking in a large breath, he pulled it. The gate opened, naturally to the pull of the blonde. It was pitch black inside, nothing, absolutely nothing could be seen. But he heard, Cloud could hear voices, voices that seemed to draw him inside, and yet also voices that made him shiver and turn back.
In the end, he decided to put his foot inside. The gate suddenly closed behind him with a massive thump, and he was pushed forward. His hand was being absorbed by the darkness, and then, his arm, then his face. Cloud tried to scream, but no voice came out. His entire body became absorbed, and there was nothing left, not even his shadows.
He was gone.
"You...are...now...ours..." a voice slithered in the darkness, and then cackled… deep into the abyss of the night.
Well, there you go, the first chapter of the story, which took quite a time to finish…actually I slacked off, but it doesn't matter. Thanks for the reviews, and to the few who spared their time reading this, I thank you. (Which isn't a lot, by the way. Like three.)