This is an exerpt from a novel I am writing called “The Legend of the Two Kings”
Dylan opened his eyes, he was alive. Even though he had slowly bled out and died he was alive. It was a miracle so he had to cherish this second chance. Dylan looked around and saw that the laceration in his hip was still there but it seemed to be a scar. When he stood up he realized that he wasn’t in reality he was in a different place. The strangest thing about this place was that there were no other corpses or people. Not only that but there was almost nothing. He was the only one there.
“Hello! Anyone out there!”
There was only the sound of wind in response to his call out. Dylan started to feel paranoid at the fact of never ending loneliness. Then out of nowhere he heard a twig snap.
“Hey! Whoever is out there! You better come out! Face me like a man!”
He heard no voiced response so he looked around frantically. When he looked behind him that’s when he saw him. It was Johnathon and he seemed to look angered by the sight of Dylan.
“Johnathon! You’re alive!”
“No,” Johnathon said and then fell to his knees.
Dylan ran over to Johnathon and gripped him tight with his arms.
“We are no longer in reality.”
Dylan let go of Johnathon and said worriedly, “What do you mean?”
“We are in a version of our Realm that is lost and full of Etherias mistakes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We are in Limbo.”
“Johnathon!”
“The Realm of Forgotten Souls.”
Then Johnathon disappeared leaving Dylan completely dumbfounded. Now all Dylan had left was his thoughts. He twisted his wrist causing the hidden blade to pop out.
“Ok at least I still have my weapons.”
He looked up and saw the hilt of his blade sticking out of the ground. He slowly pulled out his sword from the ground. Then he felt a pain in his back. He turned around and saw Johnathon again but this time he was hostile. Dylan swung his blade at Johnathon which faded through him like he was made of clouds.
“What the hell?”
“You can’t always kill your mistakes Dylan Brothelhem.”
He turned around and sprinted from Johnathon in fear of what might happen. He heard a screech from the distance, unknowing of what it was Dylan kept running. Dylan dug into his suit jacket and pulled out a mechanism. It was small and metallic and had what seemed to be a grappling hook sticking out of the end. He aimed it at the castle in The Forever Lands. When he pulled the trigger of the mechanism the grapple shot at the castle and stuck into the walls. The mechanism then began to retract, pulling Dylan towards the castle. When he hit the castle wall he slowly started to swing while hanging from his grapple then he slipped into a window. When he was inside he caused the grappling hook to completely retract, then put it back into his pocket. He began to wander the halls. There was a strange presence among him in the halls as if he wasn’t alone. Dylan gripped the hilt and raised his guard. If there was someone else here they would fall to his blade.
Dylan started, “The funny thi-”
“There is nothing funny about this whole thing.” A voice uttered from behind him.
He turned around to see a man who seemed to be a king.
“Who are you?”
“I a- I mean was King James II!” James II said.
“Wait! The King of the Eternal Empire before it was The Forever Lands.”
“Yes. I hope my son is in charge.”
“What’s your son’s name?”
“Sit down and I’ll tell you.”
King James gestured towards a room with a table and two chairs inside. Dylan, accepting, followed him into the room. The two sat down at the table.
“I have two sons.” James said with a smile.
“One is named James III, named after me and my father. The other is named Alex. He was named Alexander but nobody called him Alexander.”
“I know James.” Dylan responded.
“Oh you do? But, either way Alexander was named that because in ancient Etherian scriptures there was a mighty king named Alexander. He was the greatest ruler in all of ancient Etheria.”
“Incredible.”
“By the looks of things Alex is the king of the Eter- I mean The Forever Lands.”
“Yeah, me and my leader are at war with him currently.”
“What! Why?”
“Our leader, Lord James III, is trying to take over The Forever Lands.”
“That is absurd!”
It took Dylan a second to realize what was going on. James III was at war with his brother.
“Why must my children fight?”
“I have no idea. One question though, how does someone leave here? This place. Limbo.”
James II looked at Dylan, fixed his crown, and then began, “You can’t leave.”
“Wh-”
“Let me go on. You must be brought out by a spell.”
James II coughed a couple times.
“Are you alright?”
He finished coughing and said, “I’m fine. You would think if this place healed our wounds that it would heal our sicknesses.”
“Yeah, I would think so but no.”
“Well, I never got your name, what was it?”
“My name is Dylan, Dylan Brothelhem.”
“Nice to meet you Dylan.”
James II shook Dylan’s hand. Dylan stood up, but his brain felt a little fuzzy.
“Well I am goin-”
Then Dylan started to sink into the ground and flashes of James II and Lord James III appeared in Dylan’s vision.
“-dabra!” Lord James III shouted.
Dylan had a beam of sunlight in his eye. He stood up on his two feet to which he realized that he was alive.
“I’m alive!”
Josiah awoke to see a dark sky. He looked at his chest only to see that his sword was no longer in his chest. It now was back in its sheath, but his cloak still had a hole in it where he stabbed himself. When he looked into the hole he saw that there indeed was a scar where he had stabbed himself. Then Josiah slowly stood up, as he did so he looked around some more. The sky was darker than normal, there was an odd wind, and there was no other corpses. He was all alone, or was he?
“Hello! Anyone out here!” He called out but it seemed to be to no avail.
When he finally realized this fact there was an awful bone-chilling screech. It came from the trees near Josiah. He brought his nads together. tilted his head forward, and then closed his eyes.
He began to pray, “I pray to you oh Lord.”
The trees began to shake.
“To please bring me from this awful place and to take my soul up to the heavens.”
One tree fell over, behind it was a horrifying creature. It was tall, lanky, and an oily black. The flesh on its bones seemed to drip off as if it was oil. The creature had eyes of pure horror and gore. The eyes of this creature were DARK red, it also seemed to share the consistency of something as much as blood. It began to bolt at Josiah. He didn’t see it coming.
He was still praying, “I hope to have my soul protected in your city of grace.”
The creature caught up to him and jumped at him. It knocked Josiah down and smashed him on the ground, then lifted him up to its face. Its eyes squelched as they rolled until they were looking at Josiah. It pulled him close to its face, the thing’s breath smelt terrible. It smelt of spoiled beef or a dead body. It opened its mouth slowly, exposing row after row of long sharp teeth.
It said in a low, growling, bone-chilling voice, “there is no god here.”
There was some silence while the creature licked his face. Josiah felt horrible.
“JOSIAH!”
It then extended its arms quickly and threw Josiah at his kingdom’s wall. The pain shot through his body. He screamed in pain.
“Please! Cast this demon away! Help me Lord!”
“No God can save you now!”
The creature bolted at Josiah once more. It tore through him like clay.