บท 6: K-r-o-w
My soul burns with an insatiable hunger. I have become the lamp which holds the soul devouring flame.
it consumes My soul.
My mind.
And Even My Humanity.
My thoughts spiral into the abyss, where reason once held firm. I can feel it slipping, piece by piece, swallowed by the inferno that rages within me. Every flicker of the flame devours the fragments of who I once was memories, dreams, all scorched to ashes.
I have become something else. Something less.
The hunger grows, gnawing at my essence, demanding more. It will not stop until there is nothing left, until I am hollow, an empty shell, consumed by my own fire. And yet, in the darkest recesses of this relentless blaze, there is a twisted comfort in the annihilation.
For when the last ember fades, perhaps there will be peace. Or perhaps the flame will reignite, devouring me anew, endlessly.
I am no master of this fire. I am its fuel.
-James.
My phone ringed startling the three of us. i pulled it out of my pocket and an unknown number was calling me, I answered.
"…"
"....."
The silence on the other end of the line was thick, almost tangible. I could hear faint, distorted breathing, as if whoever or whatever was on the other side was waiting for something. I stood there, frozen, the phone pressed against my ear, while Lazari and Lulu watched me with silent curiosity.
"…Who is this?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, tension coiling tighter inside me.
For a moment, there was no response. Just static. Faint and crackling, like the radio from before. My heart pounded in my chest, the burning hunger still gnawing at the edges of my soul. And then, finally, a voice emerged, low and distorted, as though it had been dragged from the depths of some abyss.
The distorted voice crackled through the phone, each word like nails scraping against my mind. "Mary…had…a little lamb…" It was slow, deliberate, and unnervingly childlike, yet dripping with malice. The rhyme, once innocent, twisted into something sinister in the space between each syllable.
I gripped the phone tighter, my knuckles whitening as the hunger inside me flared, feeding off the unease the voice stirred.
"…Who are you?" I asked again, more forcefully this time, but the burning in my chest made it hard to keep my composure. I glanced at Lazari and Lulu. Even they seemed unnerved, Lazari's red eyes narrowing in suspicion, while Lulu's eyeless gaze remained fixed on me, sensing the shift.
The voice didn't answer. Instead, the static returned, louder now, as though the connection was faltering or as though something was intentionally blocking the conversation.
And then, just before I could hang up, the voice cut through again.
"Let's play a game, those two can leave, if you live you can safely leave this town and your little soul won't burn you to oblivion"
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. The voice, sinister and playful, dripped with a venomous glee that sent chills down my spine. A game. Of course, it had to be a game. The kind of game where the rules are stacked against you, where survival is just an illusion.
I glanced at Lazari and Lulu. They were tense, eyes locked on me, waiting for my reaction. The hunger inside me flared even more violently, the fire within roaring at the challenge, eager for a release. It felt like the flames themselves were feeding off the tension in the air.
"What kind of game?" I asked, my voice barely a growl as I tried to keep the rising hunger in check.
The static on the other end of the line crackled ominously before the voice returned, cold and mocking.
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," it whispered, the malice dripping from each word. "But don't worry it's simple. Survive. Just survive."
Suddenly i felt a strange sense of Vertigo, i was Falling.
The world around me twisted, warped, as if reality itself was unraveling. I stumbled, the sensation of falling overwhelming my senses. My feet found no ground, only emptiness, as if the earth had disappeared beneath me. Panic surged through my veins, but the fire inside me roared even louder, almost as if it was feeding off the fear.
I blinked, and the world shifted again. I was no longer in the forest.
The trees had vanished, replaced by an endless, barren landscape. The sky was a deep, unnatural shade of red, like blood smeared across the heavens. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and in the distance, I could see towering shadows, their forms distorted and wrong, looming like ancient beasts waiting to pounce.
Lazari and Lulu were gone.
For a moment, I thought I was alone, but then I felt it—the presence. It was subtle at first, a whisper of something just beyond my perception. But it grew quickly, wrapping around me like cold, unseen tendrils. My body tensed, and the flames within me surged again, burning hotter, as if responding to whatever was drawing near.
The voice returned, echoing all around me, no longer just from the phone but from the very air itself.
"Welcome to the game, James."
I spun around, but there was no one. Just that empty, desolate landscape stretching out in every direction. The hunger inside me gnawed harder, the flames inside desperate to lash out, to consume, to destroy.
"Survive," the voice taunted. "It's all you need to do."
The ground beneath me began to tremble, cracks splintering through the barren soil, and from those cracks emerged dark, twisted shapes figures with grotesque, elongated limbs and hollow, glowing eyes. They crawled toward me, their movements jagged and unnatural, like broken marionettes being pulled by invisible strings.
"If you survive, i can leave this place with you and make sure you don't go hungry" The voice was childish. The voice of a little girl.
"I am Truly an unfortunate person, I can't seem to catch a break" For some reason, i wasn't too much afraid of those aberrations. The only thing i am now scared of is Running.
Always running until i get caught by something or someone and then become their prisoner or slave.
I watched the creatures slither and crawl from the cracks in the earth, their distorted forms illuminated by the blood-red sky. The hunger gnawed at me, almost delighted by the looming threat. But as they drew nearer, something inside me snapped. A calmness settled over the flames raging within, as if accepting that this was no longer a game of fear but a game of survival.
I had nothing left to lose.
The fire surged through my veins, white-hot and relentless, feeding on my growing resolve. The creatures—twisted nightmares of flesh and shadow—moved faster now, their hollow eyes locked on me. Their jagged limbs scraped against the ground, the sound like nails on glass, but I was no longer paralyzed by the noise or their grotesque shapes.
With a single breath, I unleashed the inferno inside me.
Flames erupted from my hands, the heat so intense it scorched the ground beneath me. The first wave of creatures caught in the blaze disintegrated instantly, their bodies twisting and writhing in silent agony before crumbling to ash. But more came. They always did.
The voice of the girl returned, soft and mocking. "Oh, James… such fire. Such power. But for how long?"
I didn't answer. There was no point. My mind had narrowed, focused only on survival. The flames lashed out, tendrils of fire sweeping through the barren landscape, cutting down anything that approached. The hunger inside me raged, consuming the power I was exerting, but I couldn't stop now. I wouldn't stop.
Yet, even as I fought, a bitter truth settled deep in my gut. This fire it was draining me, feeding on me just as much as it was on the creatures. I was becoming less human with every burst of flame, every flicker of heat that left my body. The hunger would never be sated, and eventually, I would burn out completely.
But maybe that was the plan all along.
The black lamp appeared back on my hand. The green flame flickered.
It wanted their souls.
I stared at the green flame flickering ominously within the black lamp now resting in my hand. The hunger intensified, pulsing in time with the beat of my heart, its desires clear. It wanted their souls. It didn't matter who or what they were living or dead, monstrous or human the fire demanded to be fed. And for the first time, I felt an unsettling calm in that realization.
The twisted creatures moved closer, their jagged limbs scraping against the scorched earth as they surrounded me. Their hollow, glowing eyes reflected the eerie green light of the flame, almost as if they recognized the fate awaiting them.
My grip tightened on the lamp. I could feel it thrumming in my hand, its power feeding off my hunger, stoking the flames within me. I didn't need to fight these things with brute force anymore. No, the flame had a different appetite now.
"Come closer," I muttered, a cold smile tugging at the edges of my lips. The fire within surged, and the creatures hesitated for a moment, sensing the shift in me. They seemed to move with more caution now, as if they knew that crossing a certain threshold meant something far worse than mere destruction.
With a single motion, I raised the lamp.
The green flame flared, and the air around me ignited in a blaze of unnatural energy. The creatures let out a guttural, collective hiss as the flame's power wrapped around them like invisible tendrils. They tried to retreat, but it was too late. The lamp had them now. It was devouring them, not with heat, but with something far more insidious. It was consuming their very essence.
One by one, the creatures convulsed, their grotesque forms withering as the flame sucked their souls from their bodies. Their eyes dimmed, their jagged limbs fell limp, and then they collapsed into piles of ash. The hunger inside me roared in satisfaction, the green flame flaring brighter with each soul it consumed.
The childish voice returned, this time tinged with curiosity. "James, Do you like it? Do you like what you're becoming?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't. The hunger was too overwhelming, drowning out any sense of guilt or hesitation. This was survival. This was what the fire needed. What I needed.
The ground around me grew quiet, the last of the creatures reduced to nothing. The lamp's flame flickered, satisfied for the moment, though I knew it wouldn't last. It never lasted. The hunger would return, stronger, fiercer, demanding more. But for now, there was peace.
"1 down 2 more to go" The girl giggled gleefully.
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