THE EVIL FOREST

EPISODE 2

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.

Beneath his long drenched hair, the ogrism's eyes glowed heinous, and with each step the ogrism took, Abednego inched back. Yet, soon the ogrism came to a standstill between Abednego's spread arms before he crouched downward before him.

Knowing the figure about him could kill him in an instant, he did not move. Instead his body moved on instinct, completely out of fear, to where he lay flat on his back. Lexus turned his head, bearing his throat, and clenching his eyes shut, he waited for the worse.

As the ogrism-man’s body covered his own, Abednego couldn’t help but flinch from the searing contact of the other’s heated skin. Grunting beneath the weight of the creature, he struggled not to fight. Especially as he felt the ogrism's warm breath blow against his throat, with shaky breaths Abednego's chest rose slowly in fear.

Hoping his death was quick, his eyes clenched even tighter as his jaw tightened. Rigid beneath the other, he jolted at the sudden lick of a warm tongue against the corner of his jaw. He cringed, his tears leaking out as he cracked his eyes to peek up at the wolf, just as the other murmured a sarcastic,

"Good Boy…" against his throat.

Sickeningly, Abednego realized he could feel the ogrism's anger pressed against his stomach. Yet, even as the creature’s clawed hands raked up his legs and across his torso, he did not dare fight the other. Unconsciously shivering against the heat that rolled from the ogrim's body, Abednego tensed, and even briefly contemplated running once again.

However, where the incubuses had slowly taken their time to painfully explore his body, the ogrism wasted no time. Without a moment's pause, it flipped him over on all fours and brutally poked its fingers inside his nose, l*****g his mucus.

Abednego screamed, desperately trying to crawl from it. Yet, his hips were held firmly in the ogrism firm clawed hands. While it had been the incubuses’ intent to play with his body, this thing was a beast. No matter how much he screamed, kicked, and clawed at him the beast forcefully pounding its fingers inside his nose and l*****g his mucus.

The more he struggled, the more violently the it thrust inside his nose, and soon Abednego could do no more than cradle his head, with both his arms. Sobbing, he shut his eyes desperately wishing for the nightmare to end, even as his vision blurred and he went limp beneath the monster’s fierce anger to dismantle him.

Should he eat him, he wondered …would that help settle his distaste? Staring down at the collapsed figure, he stared, analysing at Abednego’s features.

Abednego gave it the slip, not once but twice, the ogrism scoffed. Squatting down next to the unconscious figure he let out a long sigh, then with a clawed finger he began to tap in time with the beating pulse at the Abednego's throat. Mesmerized by the feeble of the human below him, he knew how easy it would be to tear out the his throat or even the beating organ within the his chest.

Leaning forward, the ogrism muzzled of the juncture of the boy's neck and inhaled deeply, shuddering at the human's scent. He was unabashed by his behaviour, to an ogrism such a thing was a symbol of death. Yet, he wasn’t ashamed of it, after all it was the oozing blood from him that had first gained his attention. It leaked the blood from the wounds inflicted from its claws, it enjoyed l*****g and thought of crushing his leg bones to chew.

It later began to suspect the his slightly unsettled actions. It had wondered if the human could see or feel it in its surroundings. If nothing more, this intrigued it the most, for very few humans had the ability to sense demonic forces.

The horror that crossed the Abednego's face, he shivered, he was unprotected like a lamb without a flock or shepherd, and that bothered him more.

It wondered briefly what it should do, for surely the man would taste awful. Eating him was out of the question, so- … A sudden sharp pain ripped from its ponderings.

Shocked the ogrism looked down at him and the glass bottle in now embedded inside his rib. Another thing that bothered him about him, he had a hunter's stealth.

"I hope you die," Abednego screamed with rage, yet looking completely terrified at the same time with all the tears that were streaming down his face.

Yet the him pressed on, pushing the down on the glass as hard as he could. Almost as if he truly believed he had a chance of killing a demon with a glass bottle. Mockingly, the ogrism laughed aloud at his actions.

Despite the pain in his side, it was just all too funny. Well, it was funny until he began to twist the bottle in his rib. He sure knew how to make it hurt, he granted, suddenly poised off.

"Demons are immortal," it snarled at the him.

Then with one hand, it grasped both of his own and jerked the glass bottle from its rib. Before their eyes the blood stopped almost instantaneously as the wound began to heal itself.

Keeping his eyes on the flashing emotions that crossing his face, the ogrism shivered. That look of horror on that crossed face of Abednego was more than enough to make him stiffen. He could smell the Abednego's fear in the air, and as the Little Rabbit attempted to flee once again he easily tackled the him.

Pinning the human to the group the ogrism made short work of positioning Abednego's lips. Elevating the his hips off the ground, he forced the screaming man lay on his back as he spread the human’s thighs far apart.

Angling the human’s spine and legs in a way that put the Abednego's knees on either side of his face, he flashed an ogrism's smile down at the him. Even as the Abednego stared at him in shock, his clear eyes widened with terror as the ogrism slowly licked his face.

An evil gleam shone in the demon’s eyes as it looked down at the him,

"We got interrupted earlier, and now you're all slick and loose...," it gave a menacing smile while it pricked him on the thigh with a claw tipped finger.

"Can't let this go to waste, now can we?" the ogrism asked, its yellow eyes beaming.

Abednego watched in horror as the ogrism-man's long tongue plunged inside his aching thigh. He could feel it rolling deep within him, and the more he fought the ogrism hold by turning and arching his back to pull away, the farther inside him the tongue went.

Vainly he struggled, clawing at his attacker down the length of his ribs and arms. Above him the ogrism face harden into a scowl, for Immortal or not he felt the pain from the his pathetic claws. Abednego gasped in complete disarray, in one moment he had been struggling against the ogrism then in the next he was suddenly flipped over onto all fours.

Beneath the ogrism Abednego's eyes flash wildly with terror and pain as his screams echoed on endlessly.HCollapsing low to the ground, Abednego cradled his head, sobbing uncontrollably. Wishing he would drown from the large tears and snort streaming down his face as his attacker pondered to eat him.

However, to the ogrism, the sight of the shivering man trembling beneath him and the blood scent tears mixed with the strange smell the raw flesh he carried began to stir something inside the ogrism. He flipped him over onto his back. Looking deep into the frightened tear-filled eyes of the glaring human trembling beneath him, and doggedly he felt a strangling presence well-up within its chest.

Those clear eyes bore into his soul. Something about them, the hate that filled them, struck a carnal urge inside him to please the one below him. Why, he wondered. Did those eyes disturb him so?

Abednego stared up at the ogrism with wide eyes and trembling lips, but his protests were swallowed as the ogrism-man's long canine tongue swept into the other's mouth. The human glare darkened with both confusion and rage. He bit down harshly on the intruding lips and tongue, filling both their mouths with the copper taste of blood.

Abednego couldn’t help but wonder what his attacker was thinking, Why had the orgrism-man's cold yellow-eyes suddenly become so blank? He couldn't stop the tears or hate that flowed from his body. His attacker paused at his glare with a crude questioning look.

The taste of him and his blatant refusal to give in was astonishing. He grabbed the human's jaw careful of his own strength. He was determined to taste him again, yet he was careful to keep himself from breaking his jaw.

Forcefully, he swept his long tongue deep into the human's nose. Holding the his face, keeping the human’s head tilted back, and his jaw pried open as he explored the depths of the human's mouth.

Pulling the him close, hard against his chest, as he plunged deep inside both his nose and mouth. Soon he began to notice as the human's struggles lessen. The longer it leaked his mucus, the weaker he became.

Yet, without pause, Abednego reared back his head to slam it down directly onto the bridge of the demon's nose. The attack left them both dazed and starry-eyed. Yet, Abednego was able to free himself from the demon's iron grasp.

However, as he turned to run, he found his vision was blurred. His head spinning from the jolting blow to his skull. He found his efforts had left him collapsed on the floor, only able to crawl away. Much too dizzy to stand and barely able inch backwards as the demon approached.

Abednego whimpering frightfully as the demon reached out for him, flinching as its clawed hands approached. The creature lifted its clawed hands glistening with blood in the other, and was reaching out for him. Suddenly, like thunder, it's head was blown off, the blood splattered everywhere and the thing fell with thud.

Life was like a cage to Abednego. He realized it because he was facing death every moment. The worst part of this realization is that most he was far away in the evil forest being haunted by evil spirits. He was racking his brain, any minute if he is not careful then he will be a dead meat. He reasoned out, he has to do something about it.

"When they are near you, grab the calabash and hit on the ground," he could remember Matendechere telling him.

He hit the gground so hard, immediately there appeared a cage, that cage was for trapping the ogrism inside. Ogrism have to be trapped and put in a bar. The bar has to be having food inside, as long as the cage has a roof and there’s food inside of it. They don’t dare attempt to escape, to risk something better. The cage has to be secured, totally sealed, but if it happens that it is opened, if it does, you can bet that whoever opens it has his own plan for himself or either early death. A plan he may probably be going to hate.

Abednego was instructed by Matendechere to hit the calabash and lead them to the cage, they were hypnotized by the smoke that was coming from the calabash. They followed the smoke until they were in the cage. Finally he locked it using some magic powers that Matendechere gave him.

Abednego didn’t feel anything hard, it had been a matter of pushing a door open and walking out. He had practically bloodied his hands trying to rend the bars, finally grinding them down so that he was barely able to escape outside and leave them in. He came out with the scars to prove it. Now I will get the tail and fight for the freedom of my village.

Later he heard a loud eerie cry that understandably scared him. Headless people, junkies, drifter, hobos. For some weird reason, he always had a pathological fear of ending up like these people. Maybe it was ignorance. These types always seemed naturally repellent magic. Instead of repulsion and fear, he now felt a completely different emotion towards them: jealousy. Some of them might have been mental, granted, but some of them just didn’t care.

They lived life on their own terms, not like humans, not society’s. Theirs. Imboko subjected them to that kind of life, t*****e that caused their spirit to be restless. Abednego took advantage of them being in a cage and started researching about their characters his brain soaking up every bit of information it found. They would sometimes kill each other in that cage by stabbing, or just pushing one another and hitting hard on the metal cage. They were acting in a very funny way, which was basically a pastime of crust punks and spirit ragged creatures, filthy and blood sacking creatures.

Abednego didn’t feel that he had to fear them much. They were dangerous creatures that mainly attacked human beings. He was outside the cage. Yet, he still felt they could be outside here. Even if they were trapped in a cage, still there could were others hanging somewhere in this evil forest of Igodo.

Abednego went through nearly every scenario in his head that could happen if he hopped back in the cage.

"I am a small thing to them, if I dare provoke them they can swallow me alive," Abednego said to himself.

Getting killed in the middle of the forest, was something Abednego could hardly think of. The next task was for him to find food for them.

"Where would I find food? They might use me for food." These were concerns that Abednego considered seriously, but he needed more knowledge of this creatures before he attempted to anything difficult.

The kind of food supposed to be put in the cage was to be instructed by Matendechere, she has been in this evil forest for numerous years, she is the only one who understands anything to do with invisible, even anything invisible, Matendechere has knowledge of it. That day it was glaringly sunny and around 90 degrees, sweat beading on Abednego's thighs, causing his cloth skin to constrict around him.

He took off to see Matendechere in that big horrible house, a house surrounded by all kinds of spirits, surrounded by frightening animals. He was obliged to go get her so that she can tell her what to do next and where to get food for this blood sacking creatures.

He arrived near the house, though it was quite some distance to the door, an old wooden looking door, and he saw some men with glistening, dirt-speckled skin. At first they did not see him, they appeared to be busy doing something. As he approached them, his animal skin boots kicked up the yellow dust that swirled on the ground, wading through dead, scruffy plants that were choking on the surface.

The man closest to him turned to stare. He was missing the majority of his teeth, and his thinning hair was pulled back in a scraggly ponytail. While he had a more prominent nose, he lacked a chin, giving him kind of a dopey look.

“Can we help you, Abednego?”

Abednego almost jumped up in fear.

"So they know me," he wondered.

“Not sure, but I’m willing to take my chances. I’m Okutoyi.”

Abednego extended his hand and shook his dirty, wet palm.

“Pleasure to help you in this evil forest, what do you need?" He asked Abednego.

“Well, I was wondering if you would mind telling me how I can get food for the ogrism in the cage," he told them.

The man introduced himself as Crasher. They were living dead, the spirits of among the many innocent who were tortured and burned at stake. When he slowed his pace, he finally got around to asking Abednego some questions.

“We are immortal, our spirits shall only rest if Imboko is finally punished," he said sorrowful.

Abednego looked around just to make sure he was not being trapped.

"Don't worry, Matendechere summoned us to be of help to you,"

Crasher's eyes widened, causing the skin on his forehead to wrinkle.

From the house I could hear Matendechere's voice. If she wants to communicate with the spirits of the dead, she uses a calabash. She is a woman who understands the mysteries of the invisible world and the invisible creatures.

“Is there any way you could help me?” Abednego asked.

There was a moment of silence between them as Crasher contemplated what Abednego had said.

“The best time to find me is around midnight, I can tell everything you need to know and how to get food for the ogrism."

From that point on, he wondered if so he was a fairly reliable resource. He told Abednego about the finer points of which he could get food for the ogrism.

" If he admonished me once, he admonished me a million times about getting food for the ogrism in the cage and crushing Abednego and to avoid other ferocious spirits that once held them. His advice to Abednego about getting food for the ogrism, was to wait until Matendechere does some incantations. Due to his being worried, he wasn’t confident of his ability to get the ogrism tail.

Matendechere summoned Abednego in the spirit, has to enter into a period of intense training so that he may get the understanding of the spiritual world and get the ogrism tail.

The ogrism tail was the only mechanism to kill the king. The king was using magical powers, in order to nail him, you need to get ogrism tail.

Getting ogrism tail wasn't easy, you have to trick the ogrism using magical powers from the calabash, just as Abednego. The second thing was to cut the tail, which wasn't easy, the ogrism have to be fed for a good period in order for them to fall asleep. There you have to use a magical sword given by the old woman, Matendechere. The training was to be conducted by the spirit men.

About a moment into Abednego's training, Crasher finally broke it to him,

“I am worried about you," he said.

“Why?”

“This ogrism, from time memorial are known to be too dangerous, a smell of mortal being can't cause them to sleep, no matter how much you feed them."

“I have prepared myself for that,” Abednego said defiantly.

“No, I don’t think you have.”

Crasher's voice had taken on a stern quality that Abednego hadn’t heard before.

Abednego stood there, not moving. He took a swig of something that was in his hands, looking at Abednego in the eye as his head came down.

“Ah pulled a knife on a man once. Ah was high in the spirit. Ah cut him across the arm. Thankfully, he lived. Ah I could have tested that meat. Lucky ah got straightened out. Listen, ah don’t think that king will again kill people, now we are immortal, we can't rest until we drink his blood. You should do this. Yes, you should do it, do it for us to rest eternally," he said it to Abednego.

All Abednego wanted was to rescue his family from that cruel king, he was determined to bring his cruel reign to an end. The king has killed so many people, he was ruthless. Killing innocent people.

"This has to come to an end," he said it thoughtfully.

He knew that the day Namamali will be liberated, then the land will be at peace. He assured his wife Nina that he will protect her, he will see into it that their child Kipili is not taken away from her.

The big issue is that Imboko was using magical powers, he had a guardian spirit that protected him anywhere he went. To get him you first have to kill the spirit and the only way is to get the ogrism tail as he was instructed by Matendechere. Crasher, the immortal man knew it was a hard task, despite the fact the ogrism were in a cage, Abednego had a big challenge awaiting him.

He was supposed to feed the ogrism so that the meal they shall feed on, it will cause them to fall into a deep sleep, and the tail will come out bulging; thus making it soft. Now when the tail is soft the magical sword will be able to go through.

The look Crasher gave Abednego was possibly the saddest that he had seen cross over his face in the short time he had meet him. He felt sorry that he had put it that way, but he wasn’t going to be swayed. Crasher also knew that ogrism, the normally stay awake most of the time. They will absolutely be bothered with Abednego. They may end up eating him alive.

Crasher the immortal man nodded his head solemnly.

“When are you supposed to have the tail?”

“Any monent,” Abednego said.

"Any delay and my child will be taken away from my wife," he responded sadly.

Abednego told them what had happened for him to come in the evil forest.

"I won't rest until freedom is secured. I am determined," he courageously told the immortal man.

Crasher remained silent for a second.

"Ah, belt up mortal man and avenge for the spirits, take up all the instructions from Matendechere and avenge,” he said.

Matendechere sent them off to accomplish each and every mission.

"Don't fear, all powers have now been conferred to you by the gods of Igodo forest, don't fear, I have summoned Crasher from the spirit world, he will be of help to you, now arise and go," Matendechere came and told him.

Abednego arrived at the place where he was told he will get food. They have to be feed on a certain type of food for them to fall into a deep sleep. It was still dark out. He had a backpack with him that held a loaded with some concoctions, a calabash, some extra herbs to rub on the wound in case he is wounded, a bit of food got from Matendechere, a magic knife, and a sword In his hand.

He held a gallon jug that he had filled with water. He wore his usual heavy skin boots, supportive boots covered with a dead buffalo skin. He was covered in layers despite the heat and humidity. Once they started moving, the wind would be freezing.

“Are you sure about this?” Crasher asked.

He nodded.

He directed Abednego to the place where there was some shanty deserted house. It was completely empty, and the doors were open.

“Hide in the back. You have a rock?”

He leaned down and picked up a large weathered stone. He could wedge it between the doors in the event he had to close them, since they didn’t open from the inside. He entered into the dark corner of the empty room. Crasher would sometimes lean against the wall and talk to him, but most of the time he was getting things set up. It came time for them to take off since there was nothing.

“You know about the next stop? It’s a miles away.”

“Yeah, Crasher, you’ve told me,” Abednego smiled.

"You stay safe and don’t let any invisible spirit cross you over.”

“I won’t.”

They therefore started moving. Abednego waved to Crasher as he gained speed. They stared at each other until Crasher's image was obscured by trees. Abednego was completely alone now. He slowly slowed down, went back and sat in the corner of the deserted house contemplating his situation. He was scared, more scared than he ever had been.

And he loved it. He was free. No one, except for him, knew where he was going or where he would end up. Food was going to be a bit of an obstacle, but he figured he could just go back and skin the ogrism and try to scoop its tail out. But that couldn't be easy, the only way to get its tail was by giving it a specific food that will cause them to sleep, deeper sleep that will make the tail to bulge out, soft; thus easy for the magic knife and sword to go through.

While there were challenges inherent with this assignment, there were also a myriad of possibilities. He was ready to take hold of them.

The first couple of hours in the deserted house, he kept to the back. Time was probably running faster, and he hadn’t yet gained the courage to move to the open area. He secured the gallon jug behind his backpack and slowly rose. He held to the sides of the house and sat at the opening. What met his eyes was astounding.

A dark gray creature sat in the midst of green trees. Its vastness filled the land, as a fierce wind howled through the trees, exposing the silver underside of the leaves. It was like an island fortress in an ocean of undulating greens and silver's, daring anyone to swim to its shores. This scene was horrible, but it also terrified him.

He stood up now, glanced at it but it vanished into a thin layer of smoke. A horrible scene he has never seen. He took off his skin clothe and threw it in the corner with his backpack. His body pulsed with this unfettered freedom. For the first time in his life, he was happy to note that the figure didn't see him. He must have stood there for what felt like hours, his skin growing taut with the cold. He drank in every image that nature had to offer.

As ecstatic as he was, he was growing exhausted. Crasher had told him that the whipping wind would suck the life out of him. He now fully believed him. He carefully moved to the corner again with his backpack. He drank heavily from the jug and put his skin court on. He closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.

The positivity of his experience while he was awake hadn’t translated to his slumber. His dreams were plagued by all the horrors he had he had encountered in that Igodo forest, toothless men with jaundiced eyes veered at him through the jungles on the side of the trees, stalking him every move. Indescribable creatures hiding behind trees, moving here and there without seeing him.

He remembered how some creepy creatures inform of men, he remembered how some held knives to his neck as they tried to pull him inside the dark bush, only to be rescued by Matendechere's magic. A times a woman with stringy hair howled at him as she lunged at his body, trying to bite him.

He woke up in a cold sweat. He thrashed as he looked around the house. Night had fallen by this point, but Crasher was nowhere to be seen, he has vanished. He hadn’t made any move since the disappearance of Crasher. He pulled the sword and the magic knife given to him by Matendechere. He had limited time to get the prescribed food for the ogrism. Nothing was seen again, nothing, no spirit.

No one but him. He took a deep breath and finished the contents of his jug. He would have to get more water, it gave him strength and a sigh of relief. A couple more hours went by. He had shaken off his terrible dreams, dismissing them as his subconscious response to stress. He studied about the ogrism in the cage exhaustively.

All he want is the tail, the issue of soothing them with specific food was stealing breath from him. Crasher was to lead him to where the prescribed food is, he did not know the kind of food it was. So he felt sorry about this dissipated. Matendechere had told him to get hold of the calabash whenever he was attacked, with that confidence he set out, he went ahead and saw some marks on the ground, he knell down took a closer look.

'Crasher hasn't left you,' it read. He had earlier on heard Matendechere telling them to look out for a huge tower with a blinking red light near the edge of the forest, he saw it in the distance. This was going to be the most challenging moment for Abednego. He could either get off at this place, leave the challenging mission, go back home, get his family and find somewhere to stay, or he could wait, risk his life and save his village. He sat behind the back of those thoughts, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.

.