THE EVIL FOREST

EPISODE 9

That place he was told that he will get Ogrism food, intense forest, in an attempt to get away from it all; have always never loved the forest, as it has really taken him through a lot. As he stood there taking in the sights and scents of the forest he began to realize how long Matendechere has taken, now the place truly looked isolated this really was, which was why he chose to get out that place as fast as he could. Since his child hood, Abednego has been hearing about this evil forest called Igodo, now he is out here, deep in the forest itself, the only things he could hear were the harmonious sounds of nature.

That would of course change once he is out, back in NamamaIi village. The thoughts of leaving the place struck his mind, he felt any moment and he would be attacked. As he was making his way to go, only to be greeted by a short, dark-skinned woman and a little looking person with similar features.

“Hello, why are you leaving the place, we thought you were told to wait for ogrism food by Matendechere,” She said in a horse voice.

As soon as Abednego extended his hand, he was gone. Not literally of course, just mentally. All his brain activity came to a grinding halt as he became lost in the world of whatever plot was being conveyed on the inside. As he was still frantically eyeing this unknown human calibre, eyes shot open as a loud c***k echoed through his head. He quickly dashed down and rolled over onto his back and perked his head up. He scanned the dark edge of the forest to see if anything was out of place and quickly determined that nothing was. Almost as if by instinct, he glanced at the shot figures, they were nowhere to be seen.

His eyes turned towards the other side and realized that the noise must have come from the front big oak tree. The thought of going towards it churned a bit of fear in his gut; for whatever reason, the thought of doing so frightened him. He decided to wait until later to go and check, but he figured there would be no harm in moving far away from it to some safe place. His eyes adjusted and he scanned the area to find nothing out of the ordinary, he repeated the process hovering around the area and searching repeating this process and discovering nothing each time until he found himself behind the same oak tree.

He went swiftly past the oak tree and immediately noticed something highly unusual; there was a small hatchet embedded into one of the trees.

“What the hell…” he mumbled to himself.

Upon seeing this, any anxiety he had felt including getting out of the evil forest and going back to Namamali village previously left him and pure curiosity took over in its place. He quickly rushed in there without a second thought to investigate the axe. The first thing he noticed when he got close enough was how… weathered it was. It wasn’t rusted or ruined in any way, but by looking at it you could clearly see that this axe had been used quite a bit. He couldn’t see very much of the blade since it was so embedded in the wood, but he could see the rest quite clearly.

The brown, leather handle at the bottom was torn and ripped in a couple of places, and the wood which made the upper part of the handle looked as if it were rotten. As he examined it further he began to notice deep, stains in the leather; all of them were varying shades of red. Some were very dark and some were brighter, some looked as if they had been there a very long time while others appeared as if they were fresh.

Abednego grabbed the handle and gave the axe a nice, hard pull in an attempt to free it from the hammered tree. It came out easily enough and did not require much effort. His eyes widened as he noticed the fresh and still damp red stains along it, and on the very edge of the blade were small strands of black hair. The familiar feeling of fear began to spread through him once again; he reacted to this feeling by throwing it out into the forest.

Whether the red stains on the blade were blood or not, he had convinced himself that they were. He could feel his heartbeat echoing throughout his entire body, the steady Thump Thump rapidly increasing in pace and volume. He sat down on the dead wood and began to regulate his breathing in an attempt to calm himself. He sat there breathing in and out slowly for what must have been a few minutes before he managed to calm himself down.

He had a million questions and concerns racing through his head; questions and concerns that he had no answers for. Then one horrifying realization arose in his thoughts; the tone of the black hairs on the blade of the axe seemed to be the same as that of his wife Nina. Eventually, he decided that in order to dismiss his fears of a possible maniac or murderer (or both), he would need to wait for Matendechere per her infractions.

He wasted no time and left immediately in the direction he hoped he won't jeopardize his life. It took about thirty minutes for him to find it, but he eventually arrived at a place about two miles in circumference. There was a slight fog that had fallen upon the autumn forest, making it somewhat difficult to see things far away. The sun was no longer out, it had been replaced by dark grey clouds that threatened rain.

As he approached the direct junction to where Matendechere had surfaced from, he noticed that there were some movements. He cautiously approached the some bushy area with long grass, more vigilant and aware of his surroundings than he had ever been in his life. His mind was on high alert; it was obvious that something was very very wrong here. He could feel his heartbeat echoing throughout his entire body as he drew closer and closer to the bush to take cover.

After what felt like an eternity of being on edge, he stood raising his head slowly to take view.

“Hello? Somebody there?” he shouted on top of his voice.

He called out once again. Silence was the only answer he received. He placed his hand on a long dead still silhouetted by some light, as he poked his head towards the glade ever so slowly. Slowly, he placed a foot outside his hiding place. As his foot met the hard stone on the ground, he heard a sound similar to a splash; as if he had just stepped in a small puddle. Fear gripped him as his mind raced with the possibilities of what he was currently standing in.

He looked down; the only thing he could make out was the slight glimmer of a liquid. Even with the open glade, it was too dark to see what the liquid was. Abednego's hand quickly shot out to where he presumed the magic calabash should be, he felt the familiar shape in his fingers and did not hesitate to get the magic calabash out of his back bag. Yellow light flooded the area, but his eyes remained glued to the ground, eager to see what the liquid was.

It was water. Or it resembled water, at least. And right beside it laid an empty broken guard. He breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes turned to examine the rest of the trees around him. He felt his jaw drop in horror at the sight that lay before him. Blood, blood everywhere. On the trees, on the leaves on the grass, bush and on the ground. Everywhere. He felt vomit surge up his throat as he hunched over. He could not contain the bile and the chunks as they spewed from his mouth and into the once clean puddle of water at his feet.

He could feel the beat of his heartbeat quickly increase, pounding like a drum in his chest as he stared at the sight before him. And as he did so, he realized something; there were no bodies. He forced himself to quickly walk through the blood, he walked stealthily and as careful as a deer. As afraid as he was, he felt as if it was his duty to check if they were alive, dead or missing. As he put his hand in his back bag, a terrifying question crossed his mind: What if whatever did this was still here?

His sense of duty abandoned him as he removed his hand from the back bag holding a magic sword given to him by Matendechere and began to slowly back away from the place. The impulse to leave and go fetch help grew ever stronger. Duty no longer mattered in his terrified state, only survival. After he was a good two feet from the place, he turned around to face the place he had just passed. A tall figure stood in the glade.

He stood, blocking the exit, fully illuminated by the magic light from Abednego's calabash and the shadowed rays of moonlight. The first thing Abednego noticed was the burlap sack that covered his face. The sack was almost entirely covered in deep red stains and stitching. Two holes were roughly cut out, and within them, he could see his eyes staring out at him. They resembled human eyes except for one thing… His iris’s were red, bright and vibrant red. The orbs appeared calm and focused, but more than that, they looked… unquenchable hungry, as if they had been starved for an eternity.

In his hand, there it was, dripping blood, the head, yes the head. He recognized that head.

"What the hell!" Abednego groaned with anger mixed with terror and confusion. That was the head, slashed mercilessly, eyes gauged out.

"Oh, poor...M..ma," he stammered, the words could not come out vividly from his mouth. The breath in him was throbbing rapidly. Still sweat on his forehead could be seen.

She was no more, the thing has taken away his life, now he was next and the terrifying creature will be breaking his collarbone, munching it like crisps. The thing looked like it won't waste any minute bringing Abednego down.

The next thing Abednego noticed was his arms, the only bite; regretful that she had not been there to fight dirty.

Oh, how he wished that she had told him the danger that she knew lurked in those woods and why she had always stayed close to her magic.

Abednego let out a sorrowful sigh as his gaze fell upon the head once again.

The cannibal, the demon, the monster, the beast, the butcher. He was all these things and more.

And now, after so many years, the terror of Igodo forest has beheaded the only sorcerer who was of help, poor old woman, Matendechere.

"There is no mercy. There is no mercy in this field." It yelled at Abednego.

"There is no living. There is only eating and sucking up brains, yes sucking up brains, tearing their flesh, skinning them alive," it kept on yelling at Abednego.

"The game is now, to bring him down, the time is ripe for Igodo forest, yes, for the entire evil forest to drink his blood," the things thundered as it crunched down on the head of Matendechere and chewed, laughed and cried as it devoured her flesh from slit area. l*****g the blood that was dropping from the head.

Abednego's mind, body, soul weren't prepared for this moment.

The thing pulled bowels out from the lifeless body of Matendechere. Abednego's world… shattered and crumbled right before his very eyes.

There is a moment in everyone’s life where there are no words. You are just stuck in the moment. You can’t think, feel, or move. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t speak, his life flashed before his eyes. A lifelong dream shattered in seconds. He started to shake furiously, his mouth agape in horror as he stared at the very thing that he had dreamed of but this wasn’t a dream. This was real life, and sometimes life doesn’t go as planned. He held up the calabash and let out a blood curdling scream that shook the forest to its core.

Abednego had already given up, surrendered to death.

"My time is up," that's all that lingered in his mind.

By standing on the verge of death, he can end it all, the nightmares, the big dream of being there for his family, the big dream to rescue Namamali village from the hands of ruthless Kind, dreams of bringing the spirits in Igodo forest to everlasting rest, everything.

He is now leaving this earth as a man who is broken and shattered beyond repair. There is no hope left for him. Death is his only option. As his life slowly fades from his dark, cold surprised and frightened eyes, as the cold storm of horrendous death and drizzling about to tear away at his n***d body, freezing him to death, he will get down on his knees, throw up his arms & look up to the heavens and scream,

“God why have you forsaken me!!?” And all he will be able to think about, as the monster happily axe his head asunder his lifeless body slams on the cold wet freezing bush.

Abednego was now a dead meat.

There was no hope in this world for him.

No Hope. He closed his eyes, he waited and waited for anything to happen any moment. Nothing happened, his heart thumping loudly, he could hear it, he could even count how his heart was beating. After waiting patiently for life to be drawn from him by the monster, as it did to Matendechere, nothing happened. All was silent. No movement, nothing, he suck in the air through his dry lips. He has to keep quiet. It’s here. And if It does whatever it likes best, I’m as good as dead.

"I wish I knew what It actually is because my mind’s eye is probably much worse than reality, (or at least that’s what I pray to be in the case), but in a way I’m glad I don’t. All I need to know is that this It is bad and angry at me for something. But what? Again, what I don’t know can’t hurt me. That is until I’m found," he said feeling sorry for himself.

Finally he opens his eyes to look, it was not there,

"Kind of a trap?" He questioned.

He stays there glued, until he comes to the reality, he sees something on the ground just before his eyes, it's a paper with some blood on it. Fearfully he picks it, he opens it, his hands trembling,

"Matendechere is the meat for ogrism, now stand up and go. The ogrism are already feeding on her. Now it shall be easy with you. Though the obstacles are on the way but stand up and go. Go get the ogrism tail and avenge for our blood." The letter read.

Abednego's eyes search frantically, no body, no creature, nothing. It is so surprising that Matendechere the sorcerer was the meat for the ogrism. Abednego stands up startled, he look for somewhere to go from here, away. But he is unsuccessful. The only thing he can find is darkness, the cold, lonely blackness, that is to become my tomb. He can’t stay here much longer because he can hear the steps, or dragging, of the It’s feet lurking in the forest dimes. He feel himself break into icy sweat that swamps his hair and it sticks his skin clothes to him. This makes him feel even more restricted and claustrophobic, and he can’t deal with this much longer.

He's going to die, the things is just playing gimmick. Or worse, cry out. He has to keep strong. Matendechere wasn’t strong and she got taken away. She just wouldn’t stop the creature with magic powers, or maybe couldn’t. Abednego didn't really know because she is no more.

Abednego fling his arms quicker still to the seemingly closing in bush because the sound is getting ever closer. He touch just wet branches and the grass. He start losing patience and in his hysteria he trip over his own feet with a sickening thud. He just lie there, and there is silence. A long, unwanted, nauseating silence, then he can hear It coming faster now and he don’t know why but he can almost taste the victory this malevolent monster must be tasting now that it knows that it has cornered him. He scramble on the ground for what seems like forever until he hit his one way ticket out of the place.

Not convinced, it makes him feel queasy.

"There is no monster here, it has gone, but why do I get the feeling I’m not alone? That there’s something more dangerous here than what the eye may see?" He asks himself a rhetorical question. The initial jovial leaves him all together now. He stand in the centre of the forest glade without looking at anything in particular, but at the same time taking in everything.

After about an hour of surveying everything, he dare himself to the ground to sit down because his legs feel like they’ll leave him at any given second. He pull himself to the tree, puts his back supported by the tree.

"Something is clearly wrong here because it makes no sense whatsoever. It is a lie. It is wrong." Abednego's doubts flickers.

There’s a very loud thump-scratch at the trap place to oak tree that makes Abednego flinch. He forgot about It, but he don’t care to hide now. He finally listen to it silently with bated breath. A man begins to speak in a very clipped way from the trees.

"This man, who knows not even my name, knows more about myself than I do. I feel dizzy now. An intruder in my own mind." Abednego talks to himself. He finally allow himself to cry. He let it all out. All his anger. His fear, his worry, loneliness. All he has felt in however long he has been running released in one long, animalistic cry.

"I am a living lie, a walking joke, for all this time." He concludes.

That is when he remember that It is at the trap oak tree, still bellowing and scratching. He is no longer scared of It.

He has been hunting for It for all this time, not the other way around.

So he stands up on his feet and he embraces insanity. Whatever that may come I don't care, I don't care. He seemed to be saying.

"I don't care, come and get me, come and fight me, come...come and eat me if at all I am your appetite!" He shouted loudly, on top his voice. Nothing, only the frightening silence.

When he was rest assured there was nothing around, he checked his back bag to make sure it was still there, everything was intact, his magic knife he got from Matendechere, magic sword as well as magic calabash, they were all intact. He took off running through the forest to the cage where he had locked the ogrism, it was some good miles, he could not get their in the invisible body since Matendechere had been killed. Until he get that ogrism tail, that's when he will be able to do magic with it, even turning himself invisible.

All he didn't know is that his wife Nina was already in the forest looking for him, she has also meet the old woman and given magic powers. She was determined to stand with her husband and bring peace in their land. Abednego was aware the forest wasn't safe if Imboko is still alive, so he has to take precautions as he struggles to pass the thick trees, anytime, any moment he may encounter another figure, but he has fought them, he now knows their secret. So, nothing to worry him.

Abednego kept on running, he has to catch up with the ogrism, ones they are fed the tail will begin to grow, that's when he will be required to cut it. Now the sun has set and it was incredibly bright and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. This had given Abednego the sad delusion that there would be some semblance of warmth to be had but the bitter cold air shattered that happy thought.

He wrapped his skin clothes tighter around him, running through the woods as fast as he could. The back bag brought him feelings of claustrophobia, probably linked to the fact that it constricted his back ever so slightly.

His animal skin shoes hit the wet muddy road running through the woods swiftly began.

It was then that Abednego noticed her. There was a small girl, younger than the age he taught, maybe six or seven years old from her build but she was slumped in a corner next to a rock, hugging her knees to her chest. She wasn’t wearing a coat, nor was she wearing anything for morning cold. She was sat on another rock opposite, huddled in shadow, her dark hair cascading over her face as she looked down.

She must have been freezing!

Abednego assumed she’d had some sort of argument with a friend and was away from the others, either sulking or genuinely upset. Either way, he has to console her, but in this forest. Or perhaps another ghost in form of a child.

Abednego walked over and squatted down next to her, getting to the same level as her to make sure she didn’t feel at all threatened.

“Hey there. Are you ok?”

She shook her head, shaking some hair loose from her shoulders so that it covered even more of her face.

“What happened?”

Silence.

It was at this point that Abednego began feeling uncomfortable. He had no idea why. He'd had conversations just like these a dozen other times. Some children felt like talking, some needed consoling, some just needed space and they gave them that. They usually spoke when they were ready. This situation though, something about it had Abednego on edge to the point he could actually feel the adrenaline kick of a flight or fight response.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Another shaking of the head, then a meek voice came forth from the mass of hair,

“I never get cold.”

Some of us never grew out of that bravado, but children almost always responded like that. They were never too cold or tired or anything else that could be perceived as weakness, at least, not when asked.

“Well, I think I need to get you out of this place, it's dangerous,"

“No.” The voice was no longer meek. It was commanding and the head shifted slightly so that it was raised more towards Abednego, revealing her face to him.

Abednego tried his best not to, but he recoiled slightly. In this light, the shadow of trees, her eyes appeared entirely black. No iris, no scaler, just pure black ovals reflecting Abednego's own face. She sighed gently and her eyes closed again.

“I want some food.”

“Well,” Abednego began, slowing his breathing and keeping the momentary fear out of his voice,

“I can get you some food after I get you away from this place.”

“Will you get me?”

“Sure.”

She tilted her head back now, the hair falling away as her eyes snapped open suddenly. Again, those eyes…the pure black pools reflecting Abednego's own concerned face.

“You have some food, you need to get me food,"

Abednego had stood up and taken a few steps back. She was shaking now, but it didn’t seem to be shivering. There was no fear and nothing about her that suggested she was cold…it literally looked like she was shaking in anger. Her blank, expressionless face had contorted into one of anger, her eyes narrowing and her lips pulling back until her teeth were bared.

Abednego had stumbled back a few more steps and then had frozen. He felt simultaneously terrified and embarrassed. He has fought horrible creatures, dangerous enough to skin you alive and was retreating in horror from one infant. He got hold of back bag, got out a magic dagger and mercilessly slit the infant's throat.

He found his feet and went running. From a distance, he turned, his eyes locked on her as she stood upright the head fixing itself again and once more Abednego was shown the darkness behind her eyelids as they opened. Her lips pulled up into a smile that chilled him more than anything he had encountered in his life.

Once she was out of Abednego's sight it was easy to dismiss what he had seen as just a trick of the light, his own senses tricked, causing him to become afraid which in turn caused his senses to let him down again.

He never saw that girl again, never noticed her so he could confirm or disprove what he had seen. He went on his since he was rushing to the ogrism cage, some miles away before it was too late for him. Finally Abednego could sport the place he trapped the ogrism, he could fancy the force, secrecy and power, in what manner the sacred names of spirits are truly and rightly found out, consistent in the invisible magic power and communication with spirits. He arrived at the cage, actually, it was a momentous day for him.

He was now smiling for the brevity of this mystery, such is the extent of Abednego's excitement. Had he known the importance of his findings in ogrism tail and therefore knew of the immeasurable bounty of knowledge beyond that tail, there would have been no delay in delivering Namamali village from all sorts of oppression.

Now, he never desired to linger any longer. He indeed found one of the ogrism crept silently to the far corner of the cage where it could be seen. Abednego heard a muffled cry and the crunch of breaking bones. As he stared, frozen in horror, blood started to drift from the cage. A skeleton with glowing red eye sockets was feasting on the body of Matendechere. It's teeth and chin covered with blood.

"When they are eating their food, stay focused, be on watch, their tails will begin to grow. Open the cage as fast as you can, get in the cage as fast as you can, cut the tail and flee for your life." Those were the last word cautioned by the old woman, Matendechere.

Abednego could not help imagine, finally leaving this place, where he had encountered terror draw forth the most loathsome of emotions. He stood for a moment and reflected.

The forest had indeed left his heart in pieces.

"Now you can have your revenge." A voice told him.

He couldn't help to think of an isolated forest, a forest where death stares at you, looking frantically into ones eyes.

It has not been easy journey, and there is no guarantee when you will emerge from this ordeal unscathed. The only place for those who are truly serious about this inhuman leadership and if your heart burns with unshakeable vengeance, then, as a living dead, you can arise one morning at dawn, and steel your will. You will need every once of determination you can draw from your reservoir of revenge.

the entire moment had been nothing more than a dream. Yet, as a large hand rose from the inky waters to engulf his own, Abednego felt his hope slip away just as easily as the the rock he had held so firmly in his grasp.

As another arm wrapped around his waist and

pulled him roughly against a hard chest, Abednego found he had lost the will to fight and instead he dangled from the man’s arms as pathetically as broken doll. The other wasted no time as he pulled them both from the lake, pausing only to toss the rock back into the murky lake. Before he threw him to the ground once again.

Grunting in pain, Abednego turning over onto his back to looking up at the man who now stood towering above him so threatening.

Becoming lost in this evil forest is an integral part of this process, and, presumably, you’ll never find your way back.