*”Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever.
**** **Neron* ***
Aleksandar Hemon*
*Sinister hissing reverberated off the thick air*. *The crimson miasma billowed with the harsh wind flaying my skin*. *Ominous silence dominated, my harsh breathing barely agitating the stillness*. *My hands clamped my neck as I struggled to breathe, gasping for a small remnant of oxygen*. *I made the mistake of looking at the red sky for a sign of hope, but all I found was a curse*. *The sun didn’t shine its purifying light, for an eclipse stood in its place*. *An irremovable eclipse”.
*How long has it been since I last had a nightmare*? *The years felt like eons, yet I’m plunged into a familiar trepidation I’ve long forgotten about*.
*Dread’s spidery legs crawled up my arms as I hobbled under the hellish atmosphere*. *I needed to find an escape*. *The longer I remained, the more disorienting my vision became*. * My breathing grew loud in my ears and the red blurred like a splotch of watery paint*. *But there was a danger hidden beyond the red haze*. *I felt it sinking into my skin, seizing my bones in a violent grip*.
*Leave*. *Leave*! *I must leave*!
*Suddenly, my energy was zapped. *I fell to my knees, continuously gasping for breath”.
“The hissing grew louder. “The ground moved beneath my legs*. *My heart-wait, the ground is moving*?!
*One dumb decision after another*. *When I looked down, the haze momentarily faded to reveal snakes*. *Nausea crept its way into my stomach at the sickening sight of the surplus of black. scaly bodies bumping and grinding against one another with reckless abandon*. *The earth rumbled, but the snakes paid no mind*. *One snake stood out from the rest, noticing me with its beady, red eyes*. *It slithered up my thighs, careening its head up to get a better view. Its forked tongue flicked out twice before returning to the herd*.
“I hated snakes with a burning passion”. “I had Osiris to thank for that*. *This nightmare was making it worse*!
**You don’t have a clue why you’re here, right, Alpha*?” *A deep, callous voice growled in my ear*. *The earth quaked again, the aftershock running through my body*. *A portentous shadow loomed over me, swallowing my body whole. “When I whipped my head around, I nearly collapsed on my back in fear of the gargantuan serpent glaring down at me with eyes the color of the deepest fraction of blood*. “*Alas, I wanted to make my arrival unannounced, but oh well, I cannot help it.*”
“Who are you?” “I demanded; my voice broken in wheezes*. “Why are you showing me this*?!
“I’m not the one showing you this vision, stupid dog”.” “The viper hissed, lowering its colossal head toward me, his nose nearly brushing against mine*. **Why would I show you the future when your power conjures up the future itself?”
“*P-power*? *F-future?” *The haze cleared to reveal nothing but absolute devastation that stretched for miles*. *Corpses of innocent men, women, children, and animals littered the earth*. * The snakes slithered to and from holes of the bodies*. *Adrenaline was dead*. *Panic rushed through my body. “N-no… you lies! *This is not the future!”
**Not yet*.” *The serpent’s evil boomed with every chuckle it made*. *My skin crawled*. “*But it will be the future once I take this plane as my own”.”
**The future is not for certain*.”
“That rule doesn’t apply to gods, little puppy*.” *Its laughter boomed through the world when it caught sight of the confusion on my face*. “Ah, I forgot your feeble minds cannot comprehend the presence of a god*. *But it won’t matter once you surrender your life to me*.”
**Like hell, I will!” *I snarled, pushing my body off the snake-infested ground*. *The giant serpent cocked its head before shaking it in disappointment, rising back to full height*.
“*Wolves are as stubborn as the wretched goddess who created them*. *This will change your mind. Look behind you”.”
*With a thunderous snap echoing across the air, I looked behind me to see a scene so horrific I thought my heart would rocket out of my chest*. *Thick snakes suspended Kiya in the air by her neck, entrapped by the coils of snakes and cobras slithering around her body from her shoulders to her feet*. *Her breathing hollowed out to almost nothing as the reptiles’ bodies tightened around her chest*. *I could hear her ribs snapping*. *Her russet eyes lost their light, now a deathly pale brown compared to the brilliance I loved so much”.
“*N-N-Neron…” She whimpered as dribbles of blood slid down the ends of her lips*. “*p- please…”
“My heart didn’t leap; it exploded*. *My panic-turned-adrenaline fought against my fatigue as I tried to run toward Kiya, but the mini serpents were smart creatures*. *They sensed my fear. In their amusement, many shot up from the ground, coiled around my limbs, and threw me on the ground on my back”. “Their barbaric strength held me to the earth as they forced me to listen to Kiya’s screams of terror*.
***NO*!” “I screamed, struggling against my binds*. **Let her go! *RELEASE HER”!”
“I’m not done*.” *King cobra laughed; the thunderous roar heard once again”. “Dropped on either side of Kiya like rag dolls were Phoebe and Violetta in identical states; their bodies ensnared by the devilish serpents, tightening around their fair flesh, leaving deep purple bruising* Recognize them?”
**What do you want with them*?!”
“*They took something precious to me. *Do not believe I haven’t forgotten about your involvement, dog*.” *It snarled*. ***It is only fair for them to die first, is it not?”
*I heard the girls whimper and choke*. *This beast was going to kill them in front of me*! *I looked into Kiya’s eyes to see her silent pleas swimming in the sea of pallid brown*.
*And I saw the glimmer of an… apology*.
I’m sorry for involving you,’ she mouthed
**A life for a life*.” *The serpent towered over me, his gigantic, forked tongue lapping on the sweat dripping down my temple*. *Taking what belonged to me signed their deaths*. *Once I get my fangs onto all who were responsible for my loss, I will exact my revenge, even if I must destroy heaven and hell, myself*!”
**And it’ll start with the moon’s avatar*.”
*The snakes tightened and twisted with a sickening crack silencing Kiya’s screams*.
The loudest scream I’ve ever mustered tore through my throat when I shot up from the bed. Sweat clung onto me like a second skin, entrapping me in unbearable heat. The world was in a muddled fog of black instead of red, but it didn’t make the horrors any less real. The panic that bound itself to me crumbled my defenses, pummeling my chest and lungs while I struggled to calm down. But I couldn’t calm down. My head pounded in the only thought buzzing like an angry hornet.
*Is Kiya okay*?!
Gasping, I grabbed my phone and sent her a flurry of text messages, begging for her to wake up. I needed a sign that she’s alive. A sign that she wasn’t dead with a broken neck. A sign to ease my biggest fear. Onyx’s overwhelming presence flooded my own, sending a thick heat to my fingers. He’s telling me to stop. I growled and fought against my wolf, dropping my phone in my lap, thrashing on the bed, and gripping at my head.
***Neron, listen to me!” Onyx shouted, pouring his warmth into mine. “**Listen to your charismatic and troublesome wolf**! **You’re safe and Kiya is safe, I promise**!”
**No*! *I need to know, Onyx! *I need proof!”
***She IS safe**! **Anthony would’ve let us know if something happened**! **I promise you our sweet angel is alright. She’s okay**.”
She is…?
She is.
I finally stopped, catching my breath. I picked up my cell and held it to my chest. My heart was an uncontrollable drum hammering against my chest, but it lessened when the world cleared up. I was in my bedroom. The air conditioner hummed at the window, the ceiling was dark, and around me were familiar items that made my bedroom mine. My breathing leveled out as the panic left me, my lungs sucking in the precious oxygen my nightmare deprived me of.
I’m safe. I got out.