The World of Myth - Samuel Hayne - Faro’s Ring Part Three

The liquid poured over its face, trickling down what used to be its throat and continued to spill into its torso and lower body.

“I can’t do this anymore. It’s awful. I wanna wake up from this nightmare.” Nick’s frustrations and fears could not stay suppressed and bubbled up in his throat.

Surprisingly, the creature then fell to the floor, apparently choking on the liquid.

Nick backed away until he felt the cold marble of the coffin at his backside. Greenish tendrils of smoke rose from the heap of bones and rotted flesh that lay on the ground. Like hundreds of snakes about to attack, the sounds of hissing echoed in the room. Nick remained fixed against the coffin.

“Not snakes hissing,” he whispered. “Flesh sizzling.”

The time to leave was now, while whatever was happening kept the creature from acting. Nick pushed himself away from the sarcophagus and slipped one duffle bag over each shoulder, then ran for the door. He grabbed the handle at the bottom with both hands.

“Please let it open,” Nick prayed under his breath. He tugged up on the door. It didn’t budge. A green fog floated around Nick’s feet, the smell of burning skin accompanying it.

“Nick,” the creature called out to him. “I need your help.” Its voice was softer, not as harsh as before.

Nick tried to lift the door again. Nothing. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold metal. He felt weak. “I’m coming,” he answered. He dropped the bags and returned to the monster.

Something was different; there was a transformation occurring. The mummy was on its back, arms splayed open revealing an emaciated body. Its ribs lay exposed under the parchment-thin skin that had the shiny appearance of being varnished. A black tattoo of an Egyptian eye was drawn over a nasty scar on the monster’s stomach. Nick stared into the eye sockets, which were no longer hollow. Two beautiful eyes as blue as a summer sky stared back at him. The crisp, burned lips were a reddish color and more full, surrounded by new, pink flesh.

“What’s happening to you?” Nick could not have imagined that anything more could shock him, but as he watched open mouthed, the creature’s withered arms filled out with muscle and fresh, tan skin.

No longer having the appearance of a complete monster, the man lying naked on the ground reached up to Nick, who gripped the man around the wrist and pulled, but surprisingly did not have the strength to fully lift him up.

“What’s happening to me?” Nick now asked. He took an empty seat at the dining table.

The half man, half monster rose easily and positioned himself between Nick and one of the mummified diners. “Let me introduce you to some of my friends, Nick.” With one pull, he ripped the linen wrappings off one of the mummy’s head to reveal a horrifyingly familiar face to Nick. One of the Dark Watchers sat in the chair next to him. The crocodile-faced beast opened its mouth revealing the deadly double row of teeth and the black, reptilian tongue. Nick began to cry.

The man-monster tightly gripped Nick’s left shoulder with a fully fleshed-out hand. Nick looked into the man-monster’s gruesome face, not yet completely covered in new flesh. The eye sockets seemed to glow with a bluish intensity.

1 2 3 4 5 6