The Year Of Rain

Beginning of the end. Part 3. Welcome

    !!WARNING: BLOOD AND INJURY!!

The earth shook, cloud storms gathering over the once glimmering ocean surface. From beneath the depths, it was coming. Twisted, colossal spired were emerging slowly but proudly, displaying their deformity to the world. A great citadel, with statues depicting horrible statues and symbols engraved in dark, odd stone, too foreign to belong to that earth, stood above the other constructs. There, through the seals and chains keeping them alive and imprisoned, one could feel their terrible stench, the danger lurking in the air like a beast ready to attack. Just one touch. The spells had weakened, fragile like a spider's web. How easy it would be to tear them apart. Like ripping the wings of a butterfly.

In another part of the world, they woke up as well, the black goat, the worm, the gate, the frost, and the king in yellow, stirring in their tombs, their chambers, in the darkest corners where their kingdoms laid. The dead, the living, they all felt it, the sensation traveling into their very souls.

On their knees, humans and creatures alike began to pray to their respective deities, begging, pleading to get through this alive.

✠♦✠

You got up, your head aching and numbness spread all through your body. You slowly got up, ignoring the searing pain in your limbs. Debris and broken glass fell off your hair, your clothes, splinters entering your skin as you pushed yourself up. What had happened? You head throbbed as you struggled to remember what was going on. You saw Herrah ridding a dog cowboy-style, the Hunter running from her and then... everything shook and then...you fell.

You looked up, watching the broken floor above where you had stood before all that mess began. It was quite the fall. You were amazed you didn't break anything, or maybe you did, but the pain hadn't hit you just yet. As the numbness went away, you began to feel something hot dripping on the side of your head. You traced the spot down your cheek with your hand, your breath stopping in your throat when you retreated it and saw the sticky, red substance coating your fingers. You looked down and your clothes were torn in some places, exposing crimson cuts. The deepest one was on your right leg, the gash spread across your calf, hot blood seeping through. You winced when you tried to move, a wave of pain traveling through your entire body. You sat back down, unable to stand and took off your coat, which thankfully was already torn to shreds, and wrapped it around the wound, applying pressure in an effort to stop the bleeding.

You cussed under your breath and began to frantically look around for anyone else, fear building up inside, dreading what you might find. The pounding in your head didn't stop, your vision still blurred on the edges and the blood loss making you dizzy.

"Hey! Is anyone here? Hey!" you shouted, searching for your family, the bugs, the Foundation members, anyone.

A weak wince came from somewhere nearby, followed by the tapping of feet and next thing you knew, a golden retriever puppy was all over you, licking at your face, trying to cuddle.

"Hey calm down! You're going to make us fall!" Herrah shouted at the dog, but the poor thing didn't listen, too glad to see another living soul.

Next to her, the Collector and Hunter were holding on to the animal's fur, shaking violently along with his erratic movement. You sighed in relief seeing them and that they were alright, forgetting for a moment about the pain.

"My god, (Y/N)! You look terrible!" The Spider Queen cried out as soon as her gaze fell upon you. "We need to get you out of here! Can you walk?"

"I'm afraid not. I have a gash on my leg," you explained, motioning to the coat covering your calf.

The Beast understood, her face growing pale beneath her white mask.