ALZAR’S EYES WIDENED. He stumbled back, falling in a heap with his eyes locked on the two corpses in front of him. “Are you-are you-”
Fancy followed his line of sight. Shaking her head, she took him by the hand. Alzar’s shirt snagged on a rock, the fabric tearing as she pulled him to his feet. “Alzar, dear, don't be ridiculous.”
He shivered, keeping his teeth grit tight. “Then what are you talking about? What do I eat?”
Fancy held out her hand, a soft smile on her lips as she directed Alzar’s attention to the landscape around her. “That town contains several miles of lifeforms. I think it should suffice.”
Incredulous, Alzar uttered a stilted laugh, the sheer insanity of her statement twisting the situation into comedy. “You're kidding. This isn't funny. You really think I could...that I could...eat that.”
Fancy raised her brow. “Alzar, you are a Word Eater. What did you think it entailed?” As her statement sunk in, she gazed at the ground, humor flashing in her eyes. “Ah, how cute. You really must be hungry, huh?”
Alzar glanced down, immediately regretting it. At his feet, several spines had broken through the earth, bigger than he remembered them being. Curiosity overtook his embarrassment as he knelt down, letting his finger graze the surface of a spine.
He felt something.
It was as if he had stroked his own flesh. He jumped back, heart racing. He was disgusted, but something urged him closer. The spikes crept higher out of the ground, getting wider as they emerged. It took Alzar several seconds to realize it was his doing, the motion as unconscious and inconsequential as flicking his wrist.
“These are...what is…”
“You are much bigger than you appear, Alzar,” Fancy murmured. Above her, grey clouds were crawling over the rust-colored sky. “Your mortal body is merely the tip of an iceberg.”
As if triggered by Fancy’s words, a wave of static passed through him, his extremities growing fuzzy and his senses stretching far beyond his body, like roots clawing into the earth.
For a split second, he felt everything.
For a split second, he was everything.
YOU ARE READING
World Eater
Horror**1ST PLACE FEATURED IN HORROR 8-31** Alzar's mind wasn't the only thing that was falling apart. ---- After an emotional outburst lands him in the principal's office, Alzar Lorne forced into a series of in-depth sessions with the school's new counse...
