Chapter 1
The Host
Firelights dimly flicker inside lanterns, chasing back the
encroaching darkness of night. The salty scent of ocean waves mingled
with the putrid stench of the recently deceased. A large wooden cart
creaked as the wheels sank and stuck in the sand underneath the Lumen Magnum
harbor. Two men struggled onward toward the waters.
“Dammit, I can barely see the water,” one of the men exclaimed.
“Shut it! Do you wanna get caught? Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Both men hung their lanterns on the cart and grabbed hold of a linen wrapped
body. They pulled it out and tossed it to the sand, landing with a soft thud.
Tsk! How dare they treat him so. A feminine voice whispered angrily from
within the confines of her host’s shadow. Though the elf’s reawakening was a
certainty, life had only just started to return to him and so the portal between
worlds was at this point no more than a crack. Safeguards would need to be put
in place should the host’s second chance at life be threatened. As the two men
turned back to the cart, a tiny spider birthed into existence from the depths of the
wrapped body’s shadow. Another body landed on the sand with a soft thud. The
arachnid wriggled and stretched its limbs, taking a moment to acclimate itself to
the mortal realm, and shifted its body left and right. Go on, my child, we haven’t
much time.
The spider took a few steps toward the body, then quickly scurried onward.
Another body thumped to the sand as the spider climbed the folds of the cloth.
Searching for an opening, the spider found a small tear in the cloth covering the
corpse’s face and crawled inside. Claws skittered over soft cloth as the spider
squeezed its way between the wraps, until finally touching skin. It made its way
across the body’s still face, up to the ear, and entered.
Careful my little one. Latch on to his optic nerve without damaging it.
The little spider trod cautiously along the body’s cold insides, mindful not
to push anything out of place or puncture the soft tissue. As the last body flopped
to the ground, the tiny spider reached the eye and wrapped its eight legs around it.
The claws latched to the whites and its fangs sunk into the optic nerve.
Now my dear vessel, open your eyes, it’s time to wake. I cannot act without
confirming they’ve sinned.
The corpse’s eyes opened to a faint gray blur obstructing his vision. A loud
gasp escaped his bandaged mouth, startling the two men as they reached down to
grab him.
“What the fuck!? I thought these elves were dead!”
“Oi, keep your voice down.” The other hissed, shooting him a glare.
“Fuck you! Is he still alive?”
“How should I know? Give me your knife.” He knelt beside the body and
pulled open the cloth, revealing a youthful, olive-skinned face. His dark brown
hair just barely protruded from beneath the wrap. His throat was split wide,
surrounded by crusted blood and bruising. Both men stared down at the elf, his
green eyes, wide and unmoving, stared into the night sky above. Thanks to the
little spider who now served as a conduit for the mysterious voice, she could see
through her host’s eye. The bodies of the two men began to glow with the color
of their sins.
Gray. Sloth is so unpalatable.
The two men stared trembling and wide eyed at the body. Soon, the kneeling
man released a soft sigh. “There, see? Nothin’ wrong here, just a dead elf—
heathenous shit. Now give me your knife.” He reached a hand out to the other
man, waiting for the blade.
“Why?” The standing man drew his dagger and handed it to the one kneeling.
“To make sure, what else?” He raised the dagger high, ready to plunge the
blade into the elf’s chest.
No! You must breathe. BREATHE!
The elf sucked in a deep breath, wheezing as his lungs stretched with life, his
body slowly reanimating. The wound on his neck began to heal, the skin weaving
back together, leaving only a thin faint scar over his olive skin. The kneeling man
jolted, nearly dropping the blade, and fell back onto the sand.
“What the—”
“Oh my, this just will not do.” A feminine voice bemoaned from the shadows.
The two men turned, scanning, eyes darting left and right as they searched for
the source of the voice. Sweat slid down the men’s brows. The man with the knife
held it forward, his grip tight and jaw clenched. The other man stood completely
still as if frozen in place, save for the shaking of his knees. Valdina watched with
anticipation as life returned to her host, and thus her pathway into the human
world opened. Terror grew in the two men’s hearts, and as their fear crescendoed,
two pairs of blue eyes, one set just inches above the other, fluoresced from within
the vessel’s shadow.
“You tried to kill my host.” As the shadowed voice spoke, two spiders the size
of horses, her children, answered her summons. “Sinners of sloth aren’t really my
thing, so you’ll feed my children instead.”
Her two children leaped through the opening into the mortal realm and
wrapped their legs around the men’s bodies. Only a quick shriek escaped their
lips before the spiders’ pincers bored into their necks, cutting short the last sounds
either man would make. As her children devoured the men, she stretched her arms
out from the elf’s shadow and pulled her torso through, feeling the weight of the
mortal realm pushing down on her.
Damn this realm’s pull! It’s stronger than I expected.
Valdina hovered over the elf, her white hair cascading around his head. With
labored breath, he gasped as tears flowed down the side of his face. He moaned
weakly, sounding like the croak of a toad full of sorrow.
“Shh. Shh. It’s alright, my dear Willka.” She slid an arm beneath his neck and
pulled him tight, cradling him as a mother would a baby. Rocking him gently back
and forth as she wiped the tears from his face with her long, stone-like claws. “We’ll
make them pay for what they did to you.”
Chapter 1 End
Thank you all so much for reading Chapter 1 of The Call for Finis: Lust. If you have any questions about my story then please feel free to ask. Thank you all so much for reading and please have a wonderful day.
Fantasy Worlds of A.J. Torres 