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Copyright 2017 Teresa Vanmeter
Chapter 3: Nightmarish…
There is a darkness that hides in the night, like all monstrous things just out of sight. Its just a nightmare you start to shake, still it comes for you asleep or awake. The unnerving words had tumbled right into place.
In the midst of landing on a hard surface. Thinking nothing other than, "Where am I?" And, "What's going on?" Until the mind settled on its last clear memory. The khadaver dolls. Hadlin screeched, "Noooooooo!" Scrambling to keep the khadaver dolls at bay. Finding he could not move his arms, nor his legs. Panic coursed throughout his body. "What's going on? Why can't I move?" During which his eyes shot open. Just barely making out branches carved into a sloping ceiling. The light was dreadful. However he had enough sense to know he was no longer in the land of the lost. It must've been a dream. He would've much rather been dreaming about something else.
Bam! He looked at the knothole window half expecting to see a panotti. Nevertheless nothing was there. By that time his eyesight had adjusted to the sallow light. He found himself in a semicircle room. His bedroom. It appeared he'd fallen out of bed. His arms and legs wrapped in a blanket. Hadlin sighed with relief, "It was only a nightmare." Home safe and sound. Bam! He nearly jumped out of his skin again. Turning just in time to see the last khadaver doll hit the floor. In fact the floor was littered with all sorts of debris. Although the falling dolls explained away his nightmare. Nonetheless it didn't explain how everything ended up on the floor. His eyes grew large asking Eidolon, "What happened?" Scanning the poorly lit room. Hadlins eyes stopped under the bed. As clumps of dust bunnies had collected there. Certain he was safe and sound now. Whispering, "I'm home." Then he remembered his mother scolding him, "Hadlin get to bed, or the babasova will come spirit you away." He was self-assured there is no such thing as a babasova. A beast man that takes bad children. Hadlin started to laugh at the thought. Seeing the dust stir up from his breath. Causing something to shift in the darker recesses under the bed. Something larger than a dust bunny. A chill coursed throughout his body. While his mind was shrieking, "What was that?"
Without warning the ground beneath him began to shake. Then the floor tilted to one side. Everything on the surface began sliding in that direction. His mind screaming, "What is going on?" While desperately trying to unwrap his hands. He'd never felt anything like this, except... "Oh no...It can't be..." His mind refusing to believe it could be an enenra. How else could he explain all this? Still telling himself it was nothing more than a nightmare. All the while the floor kept tilting back and forth. In all the disorder he'd managed to loosen the blanket. Although only enough to grab the leg of his bed. Even as the blanket sandwiched in his palm made it near impossible to keep a hold.
Exactly as something ran from the darkness beneath his bed. Something the size of a rat. However it was no rat. Seeing that it ran on its hind legs. Running towards the curtain covered doorway. As the labored sounds of croaking came from its way. Just as something much larger stepped from out of the darkness. Something half the size of the door. The hairy three foot man stomped on the smaller creature. As the black remains oozed from under its foot. The ooze reassembling into tiny versions of itself. All darting under the curtain. Hadlin couldn't help but gasp. At that moment the dwarf like man looked in Hadlin's direction. However Hadlin couldn't make out any real features. Then just as quickly it too went through the doorway. The billowing curtain the only sign it had been there. Its shadow awkwardly springing out of sight. "What in Canaan was that?" Hadlin could not comprehend what he was seeing.
Soon thereafter he heard a squeak. One squeak right after another. Hadlin could almost picture the dwarf stomping on the small black creatures. Would it do the same to him? He really didn't want to find out. In spite of his fears he felt his grip slipping away with every tilt of the floor. Certain he would slide right through that curtain if he didn't keep the hold. Still his vision remained set on those curtains. Set on what was on the other side. As an orange glow sieved through the fabric. Many shadows passed athwart the cloth. Surely as if the objects inside adapted the balance with each tilt. Scores of tiny creatures skittered passed. Much more than he thought might be in there. Suddenly the smaller shadows vanished in all directions. The dwarf chasing after them. "What was it doing? Was it eating them? More importantly did it eat people?" Then the floor beneath him jerked again. Even as the dwarfs shadow seemed to stretch higher and higher. Until it was knocked out of sight in a clamor of beats and bangs. However not before Hadlins mind melded the shadow into the sludge covered creature from his nightmare. "No...." He had trouble breathing. That creature had to be the babasova. "But how could that be?" Hadlin had been so certain it wasn't real. Trembling from the inside out he prayed that Eidolon would help him. Whispering over and over, "Wake up!" His voice growing louder each time, "Wake up!" Still he could not wake from this new nightmare.
At that point the tremors began twisting the structure faster and harder than before. Even as dust and debris shook loose from every crack and crevice. Hadlin could hold on no longer. Beds and all began to shift with the structure. Positive it had to be an enenra. Helplessly he is tumbled back and forth, back and forth. Almost swearing several of those smaller creatures had scurried back into this room. In the midst of it all he'd rolled from out of the confining blanket. Then was slammed against the wall under his out of place bed. As soon as his hands made contact with the khadaver tree it conjured images of the Hadge. Memories of what once was. Who he happened to be. What he was capable of doing. Just as a multitude of debris crowded in around him. In view of that something white jutted straight into his face. To his surprise it was a bone. A human bone. The debris field was littered with countless bones of all sizes. How did he not see them before? Then the eerie words replayed in his head, "The babasova will spirit you away." Suddenly he wasn't so sure this was even Hadlins home. Hadlin or Hadge he was the same person. Even as his eyesight adapted to the dark. Still he knew there had to be more going on than he could remember, but what? The world of Canaan was messed up. "Canaan?" He thought back to a conversation with Churl. "Churl snickered and said, “ Or what?” And dared the divine being, “Kill the key of Canaan?" He was convinced Churl had to be the key of Canaan. What has that evil man done now? Hadlin had the book in his pocket. Now all he needs is Churl.
Hadlin had no more time to think as he rolled back to the middle of the room. At the time being he had to get out of here, but how? Catching a glimpse of the shadows on the curtain. As several of the small creatures darted by. They had to be shades. Children of the night, children of the Lilitu. Lilu Sumerian spirits. However the dwarfish creature he was uncertain of what it might be. Maybe it was the babasova. Still it lingered in the adjoining room. Back and forth Hadlin was tossed. Each time sliding closer to that damnable curtain. With every sway he'd catch a glimpse of the shades under the hem. All the while his sense of fear growing stronger. How could he defeat the unknown? Feeling each breath growing evermore haggard from fighting the tilt. Why hadn't the enenra just swallowed up the tree by now? Then he wouldn't have to worry about what was in the next room. Somewhere among the confusion the faintest noise could be heard. It was the soun
d of crying. He was not the only one trapped here. It sounded like another child. Hadlin too was no more than a nine year old boy. What could that creature be doing to them? Then he recalled all the bones, and the answer was clear. Babasova fed on children. Steadily the cries grew louder. Among the cries an ethereal voice was chanting. It too grew louder. Reminding him of the voices from the book. The edge of darkness. Until the noises churned into words. Repeating a child's verse, "There is a darkness that hides in the night, like all monstrous things just out of sight. Its just a nightmare you start to shake, still it comes for you asleep or awake. Nowhere to run or hide, from the night monster always at your side." It was a verse about the babasova. Even having Hadge's knowledge he could never be certain babasova was real, until now. Then the cries distorted into screams. Chill after chill ran up his spine. As the child's screams took precedence over everything.
Abruptly the floor took a heavy dip towards the doorway. The same doorway where an