Post by cmunn on Jan 11, 2022 12:13:33 GMT -5
“The green…is dying…”
She ran through a jungle at night, sweat soaking her clothing as she frantically navigated her way through the twisting vines and roots of ancient trees. Her white hair stuck to her face, dripping from the humidity in the air. 99 degrees in the dark and the water made the air thick and heavy, difficult to breathe, and smothering her under her drenched shirt and dress. She tore at her clothes as she fled through the brush, stripping herself down item by item until the choking fabrics were all discarded. Her skin, slick with perspiration, glistened in the moonlight.
“Follow…the sound of…our voices…”
“It echoes…through…your bones…”
She broke into the mighty grove, branches slicing at her exposed skin during her frantic rush. Sliding down a small embankment, she stumbled at the bottom, landing in a puddle that immediately rose gooseflesh across her body. She rose her arms and pushed herself up from the mire on shaking legs, her gaze slowly drifting up toward the heavens. Bathed in radiant moonlight, the tops of the trees swayed in a high altitude breeze.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered, her head turning at the recognition of voices echoing off the trunks of the massive trees.
“It…is coming…” she heard inside her mind, the words reverberating through her body. She wrapped her arms around her naked chest and shivered, the temperature around her suddenly dropping.
“What…what’s coming?” she asked, her voice soft and trembling.
“Find him…before it is…too late…”
The heat and humidity in the steaming jungle reversed itself in a brief span of moments, and to her surprise she felt the first flakes of snow hitting her bare flesh. She heard thunderous cracking sounds coming from the trees, while their foliage withered on their branches and fell to the ground. The canopy of leaves quickly evaporated, letting more and more of the moonlight into the grove.
“Find him…or the Parliament…will surely…die…”
The snow was accumulating swiftly, chilling her to the bone, creating a haze of steam as the heat slammed into the encroaching cold. Ice crept up the trunks of the mighty trees, the weight of the frost snapping their wooden limbs. She covered her head as the limbs broke off and plummeted down atop her, diving at the last minute to escape a particularly large branch. The sweat that had coated her body was freezing, giving her a glint of ice on her own limbs. Her hair froze in place, attached to her neck and shoulders in snowy patches.
“FIND…HIM…”
The sound of footsteps crunch through the frozen underbrush jolted her attention to the path through which she had entered the grove. The person from whom she was running had finally caught up to her, she had tarried too long with the trees and now she was doomed. The pursuer tore his way through the brush, his skeletal frame covered with a jagged carapace that made him look almost insect-like. His face was covered with a sackcloth, tied around his neck with barbed wire, allowing only two black holes through which he could see. Veins of pulsing red streaked through the bony patches between the pieces of shell, making his grey flesh throb like a pustule that was ready to burst.
“Your run is finished,” he said as he lifted a decrepit finger at the woman, “I have found you.”
“What do you want with me?” she shouted. She could hear the trees crying around her as they withered and died.
“Nothing,” the raspy voice replied as he entered the grove with deliberate steps, the earth dying beneath every footfall, “you led me to my goal. You led me to the trees.”
She gasped and turned to look back at the mighty trees, slumping and rotting away faster and faster as the enemy approached. “What are you doing to them?”
“I bring them my gift,” he said with a sickly cough, “the gift…of blight.”
She looked down at her hands, realizing that she had lost all feeling in her appendages. At first she thought it was due to the cold, numbing her unclothed body, but then she noticed the color draining from her arms, creeping its way up her legs and through her torso. It wasn’t just the intruder who was spreading the destruction of the green…it was her as well, damning the ancient forces with her mere presence.
She fell to her knees as her body turned the same rotten grey as her pursuer. Parts of her bare skin began to harden and calcify, while the veins beneath protruded with a similar pulse of red. When the corruption reached her face, her eyes turned obsidian black and a scream choked in her parched throat.
“FIIIIIIIIIIIIIND….HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM…”
She woke up screaming in her bed, the sheets soaked in sweat and wrapped around her like a funeral shroud. She kicked and fought through the linen bedding, stirring the man sleeping beside her out of a deep sleep and into a sudden panic. “Honey, it was just a dream,” he said, trying to wrap his arms around her shoulders to calm her down, “another nightmare.”
She threw his arms off of her body and leapt to her feet, rushing into the adjacent bathroom. The door slammed behind her and she braced herself against the sink, staring into the mirror reflection in front of her. Abigail Arcane desperately tried to calm her heart rate and catch her breath as she checked her hands for any signs of the corruption from her dream.
“I have to find him?” she asked aloud. “Find who?”
DC 2000 Presents
SWAMP THING # 1
“The Screaming Trees, Part 1”
Written by Chris Munn
She ran through a jungle at night, sweat soaking her clothing as she frantically navigated her way through the twisting vines and roots of ancient trees. Her white hair stuck to her face, dripping from the humidity in the air. 99 degrees in the dark and the water made the air thick and heavy, difficult to breathe, and smothering her under her drenched shirt and dress. She tore at her clothes as she fled through the brush, stripping herself down item by item until the choking fabrics were all discarded. Her skin, slick with perspiration, glistened in the moonlight.
“Follow…the sound of…our voices…”
“It echoes…through…your bones…”
She broke into the mighty grove, branches slicing at her exposed skin during her frantic rush. Sliding down a small embankment, she stumbled at the bottom, landing in a puddle that immediately rose gooseflesh across her body. She rose her arms and pushed herself up from the mire on shaking legs, her gaze slowly drifting up toward the heavens. Bathed in radiant moonlight, the tops of the trees swayed in a high altitude breeze.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered, her head turning at the recognition of voices echoing off the trunks of the massive trees.
“It…is coming…” she heard inside her mind, the words reverberating through her body. She wrapped her arms around her naked chest and shivered, the temperature around her suddenly dropping.
“What…what’s coming?” she asked, her voice soft and trembling.
“Find him…before it is…too late…”
The heat and humidity in the steaming jungle reversed itself in a brief span of moments, and to her surprise she felt the first flakes of snow hitting her bare flesh. She heard thunderous cracking sounds coming from the trees, while their foliage withered on their branches and fell to the ground. The canopy of leaves quickly evaporated, letting more and more of the moonlight into the grove.
“Find him…or the Parliament…will surely…die…”
The snow was accumulating swiftly, chilling her to the bone, creating a haze of steam as the heat slammed into the encroaching cold. Ice crept up the trunks of the mighty trees, the weight of the frost snapping their wooden limbs. She covered her head as the limbs broke off and plummeted down atop her, diving at the last minute to escape a particularly large branch. The sweat that had coated her body was freezing, giving her a glint of ice on her own limbs. Her hair froze in place, attached to her neck and shoulders in snowy patches.
“FIND…HIM…”
The sound of footsteps crunch through the frozen underbrush jolted her attention to the path through which she had entered the grove. The person from whom she was running had finally caught up to her, she had tarried too long with the trees and now she was doomed. The pursuer tore his way through the brush, his skeletal frame covered with a jagged carapace that made him look almost insect-like. His face was covered with a sackcloth, tied around his neck with barbed wire, allowing only two black holes through which he could see. Veins of pulsing red streaked through the bony patches between the pieces of shell, making his grey flesh throb like a pustule that was ready to burst.
“Your run is finished,” he said as he lifted a decrepit finger at the woman, “I have found you.”
“What do you want with me?” she shouted. She could hear the trees crying around her as they withered and died.
“Nothing,” the raspy voice replied as he entered the grove with deliberate steps, the earth dying beneath every footfall, “you led me to my goal. You led me to the trees.”
She gasped and turned to look back at the mighty trees, slumping and rotting away faster and faster as the enemy approached. “What are you doing to them?”
“I bring them my gift,” he said with a sickly cough, “the gift…of blight.”
She looked down at her hands, realizing that she had lost all feeling in her appendages. At first she thought it was due to the cold, numbing her unclothed body, but then she noticed the color draining from her arms, creeping its way up her legs and through her torso. It wasn’t just the intruder who was spreading the destruction of the green…it was her as well, damning the ancient forces with her mere presence.
She fell to her knees as her body turned the same rotten grey as her pursuer. Parts of her bare skin began to harden and calcify, while the veins beneath protruded with a similar pulse of red. When the corruption reached her face, her eyes turned obsidian black and a scream choked in her parched throat.
“FIIIIIIIIIIIIIND….HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM…”
She woke up screaming in her bed, the sheets soaked in sweat and wrapped around her like a funeral shroud. She kicked and fought through the linen bedding, stirring the man sleeping beside her out of a deep sleep and into a sudden panic. “Honey, it was just a dream,” he said, trying to wrap his arms around her shoulders to calm her down, “another nightmare.”
She threw his arms off of her body and leapt to her feet, rushing into the adjacent bathroom. The door slammed behind her and she braced herself against the sink, staring into the mirror reflection in front of her. Abigail Arcane desperately tried to calm her heart rate and catch her breath as she checked her hands for any signs of the corruption from her dream.
“I have to find him?” she asked aloud. “Find who?”
DC 2000 Presents
SWAMP THING # 1
“The Screaming Trees, Part 1”
Written by Chris Munn