The Witch and the Watcher

PrologueAnother Plane The Island of Tenta The witch sat in a large vat of snakes. Her milky white eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. A small blue and red snake fastened its mouth onto one of her scarred n*****s, gently working the hard flesh with its jaws. The room was decorated with severed heads, slowly decaying, coating the space in a thick cloying stench. Animal bones hung from the ceiling, gently rattled by the numerous drafts that worked their way inside. A large black rook with milky eyes flew in through the open shutters, landing on a lifeless head. Its large jagged beak stabbed at an empty eye socket, pulling a slither of flesh out, gulping it down greedily. “What news, Kowl?” the witch asked impatiently. Her mouth remained closed. Their communication was on a different level. “Giant dead,” Kowl answered. “Dead? How?” “Big man in black kill him. He kill big man too.” The rook stabbed the solitary eyeball, pulling it from its socket, consuming it greedily. “The others?” she asked. “Gone. Through cave. Then bang. Cave collapse. Man, woman, and baby escape. Two left. Man and creature.” “Creature?” she asked curiously. “Yes. Smaller than man. Eyes of fire.” “Tamatan! The demon with many names. He's not been here for a long time. Where did they go?” “They take lonely road, away from town.” “Very foolish if you ask me. That road is not the place for men or demons.” She chuckled, coughing up a black ball of phlegm. Spitting it into the vat of snakes, she addressed the bird. “Take the sunken road. Find Valkan. Tell him that Lenga is calling in her favour. Tell him to come here with his g**g and beasts.” “Will take time to get here.” “No matter. They will find them out there soon enough. Then I will have two more heads for my collection.” The bird hopped across the room, flying out through the shutters. Lenga lay still, her expression clouded. Elias was here with a woman and child. A half- breed, part vampire. It got Elias killed. But who are they? And what place did they come from? Lenga pulled the snake from her breast, its fangs snapping off in her flesh. She threw the reptile across the room, pulling the teeth from her n****e with gnarled fingers. Whoever they are, they are from lands beyond the forest. They were far from home. She smiled, her blackened teeth poking out through her cracked lips. “Man flesh. I cannot wait to taste you, whoever you are.” * * * Far away, in another place, a force stirred. Deep below a red crypt where a recent battle had raged, the force began pulsing. It had been contained in the lifeless pit, devoid of light and air for hundreds of moons. The force took shape, trying to find a weakness in the red stone walls. It could feel similar energy far off. The entity called to it, pulling it towards the red land, where a constant wind battered anything exposed to its wrath. It sensed a weakness in the confines, a hairline c***k that led to the surface. The misty apparition waited patiently for its allies, focusing its energy on breaking through. It needed to escape, craving a new purpose. Chaos. * * * The scorched forest lay in darkness, low clouds blocking out the moon's glow. Wisps and tendrils of long dead beings writhed and twisted around the blackened trees, which were showing the first signs of recovery after the recent fires. In between two trees, a black doorway, framed in a blue glow, disappeared for the night. The forest lay quiet. No animals dwelt there, choosing to leave Amatoll for safer climbs. It was a graveyard of trees. Morbid and still. A whisper on the wind, caused the spirits to stir. They felt the call from far away, a voice echoing through the land. As one, the entities began to move, gliding through the forest towards another doorway. A doorway to another place. A red place, with howling winds and dark forces.