Beyond nature

A dark limp made of two tubes spiraling around each other, both already penetrated the ribcage of the paralyzed human.

Inside his chest the two tubes ended with what looks like a claw at the end of each tube.

Suddenly the dark limb spinned around itself pulling with it the flesh of the human then pulling outwardly, the claws pulled on the flesh and breaking the ribcage completely, blood spilled everywhere but somehow the human was still alive and drowning in agony, and wishing to at least get the luxury to scream but there was nothing for him but suffering.

I started regretting my decision to refuse the vile ghost's offer...

Mostly.

Shards of sharp broken glass-shaped pieces were thrown into my stomach.

Narrow worm-like things peirce my skin and slithered through my veins... and arteries then forcing explosive blood to burst underneath my skin.

My left hand was twisted so much that it was no more recognizable as a hand, blood busted out through many tears that covered the overly twisted hand.

My flesh was torn shredded, slowly cut pierced or twisted, my bones cracked out... and somehow I am still alive.

***

In a room made of stone walls the ceiling covered with moss, on a humble bed sleeping soundly, a young man was experiencing that horrible nightmare, but in this room he wasn't alone.

A see through and ghost-like fingers touched the forehead of the young man, those fingers were too long to belong to a human and the arm itself was long and very unhuman, it was wide long with some rigid muscles.

The creature itself was monstrous as well with it's head and some of its body covered in ragged pieces of fabric, it was impossible to see the face.

The body was huge with long arms and short legs and a head veiled with fabric, that's Avatha the ghost of his glove that can turn to a rifle.

Right now Avatha was sensing the presence of another entity but she couldn't exactly pinpoint where or how...

Until she realized that the only remaining possibility is that the unwelcomed ghost is in his dreams.

And now she is trying to invade his mind as well.

***

In a dark room on a flimsy bed, a body that looked like a hundred pieces of torn red fabric laid paralyzed on the stained bed.

A dark silhouettes of darkness itself that hid more than most of the room behind it's many limps.

One or two are still busy intricately torturing the shredded mangled body...

The pain I felt, felt as if it came from everywhere at once, as if my nerves extended to encase the universe and experience every possible pain all at once.

My mind was slowly going deranged until suddenly... the pain slowly faded into the background, and a very pleasant voice sounded in my head-

"Are you ready to take my offer?

I'll make all your pain go away... just say-"

Instantly and before I could accept her offer I suddenly opened my eyes in my empty room, the second I opened my eyes I screamed jumped and convulsed, the sudden release of my paralysis made me almost explode with multiple movements at once.

When my mind finally cleared I was already on the floor near the corner, I breathed forcefully and heavily.

looking at my room which now is empty again except for the bed, I moved my hands in front of my eyes and then they moved with a shake in them.

I stood up barely managing to stabilize myself, walked back towards the bed and sat on it like a chair.

I looked at my right hand again to check my glove, it was there, with a sigh I said-

"Avatha... I had a little nightmarə, I guess you noticed..."

She took a second then replied with her usual fake human voice-

"Well, ain't I the one that took you out of it? But seriously, I think we should leave this colony.

There are a lot of bad things here."

I thought for a second and then I said-

"Ugh... this is annoying, I finally got to talk to... humans? And now I havə to leave!

Just... I'll check something first before we leave"

The time was still at midnight, so most likely most of them are asleep, in the meantime I plan to investigate and explore the cave colony, with my belt and the pearl in it I'll stay invisible.

Avatha replied-

"If you're going to do this, it's on you, am I clear?"

A few minutes later I was already walking through the caves of the colony, my belt tightly tied.

The colony only got two levels, the upper one opens to the outside with the protruding platform, the upper level hosts the fighters closest to the gate, while civilians live in the rest of the first floor.

In the lower level exists stuff like storage, blacksmith, bakers, sewers and other artisans and workers, most of them live in housings in the lower level but close to the gate.

The places that are farthest from the gate hosts important things... and unknown stuff.

The first place I'll investigate is in the upper level specifically the furthest part of it from the gate.

There, there are the room of the elder and there is the library, I have high hopes for the library to be honest.

After a few minutes of walking from corridor to corridor I noticed each one looked more unmaintained, as if these parts did not matter, the elder really is weird.

But when I reached the gate to the library the corridor that leads to it has a few billers to prevent collapse, it seems they recognize that not maintaining the walls of the corridors is dangerous.

One of the things I noticed as I walked through many corridors is the thousands upon thousands of scratches and doodles on the walls, mostly done by kids, but with this number of them... it's hard to believe that they are new to this place.

Were there people or creatures before them?

With a deap breath I opened the door of the library...