Rearing Demons

Darkness smothered him like a suffocating blanket, wrapping every inch of his battered body in unseen terror.

Slowly, an electric, prickling sensation clawed through his consciousness, sharp enough to rip him from the edge of oblivion.

What is this? Why does it hurt?

A twisted sense of panic ignited in Yur's mind. He wanted to thrash, to scream, but his body felt unresponsive—useless flesh pinned beneath agonizing pain. Yet he felt everything.

Wake up! Wake UP!

His own mental voice roared in desperation, and his eyes snapped open with a gasp.

The first thing he saw was a set of small, crooked teeth clamped onto the side of his neck. Thick, dark blood trickled down his collarbone. A savage wave of pain erupted where the creature gnawed, nearly stealing his breath again.

"Arg!"

He tried to cry out, but every twitch of his muscles sent scorching stabs of agony through him. Compulsively, he raised a trembling hand toward his neck—and froze at the horror that greeted him.

Several of those same grotesque creatures, each with pallid red skin and bulbous eyes, were latched onto his arms and fingers. 

They tore at his flesh, gnawing and gulping as though he were a feast. Blood splattered across their twisted features. Where his fingers should have been, only raw stumps remained.

"AH!"

An anguished wail tore from his throat. He flailed his mauled hand in a wild bid to fling them off, but they clung tighter, teeth scraping bone. 

A sudden cough sent hot blood spilling from his mouth—except it didn't all pass his lips. Some of it seeped out of a gaping hole in his cheek, dribbling down the side of his jaw in thick rivulets.

[Host is in critical condition!]

[Major blood loss will result in death.]

[Stop the bleeding!]

The glowing words that appeared in his vision offered no comfort. He could hardly see them through the haze of pain and terror.

"Get OFF!" he screamed, thrashing harder. His cries turned ragged as each creature greedily tore fresh chunks of flesh from his limbs.

"It hurts… Stop!"

Their razor-sharp teeth only bit deeper. Panic thundered in his skull. Exhaustion seeped into him, a numbing tide that threatened to snuff out his will to fight.

Why…why now?

He had been free—he was free—and still the torment refused to end. Anger flared, burning away the last vestiges of despair.

I was FREE! I AM FREE!

Crimson tears mingled with the blood trickling down his face. A wild rage lit his eyes, stirring something primal. With a raw snarl, he wrenched his hand toward his mouth and bit down on the nearest creature, feeling bone and cartilage crush beneath his teeth.

Kr Kr Kr!

The beast shrieked, a guttural cry of pain. Yur spat out a fleshy chunk and lunged for another, ignoring the sickening crunch and the spray of warm fluids across his mangled face. 

Frenzied, he sank his teeth into whatever he could reach—an ear, an arm, a leg—anything to rip these monsters off his body.

Bloodcurdling screams filled the air, both his and the creatures'. Flesh shredded beneath his onslaught, limbs flying aside in splashes of black-red gore. 

Through the blood-soaked haze, Yur's vision blurred, but he continued until each and every one of them lay dismembered around him.

At last, the final critter tumbled away, eviscerated. Yur collapsed to the ground, gasping through mouth and cheek alike, every breath a searing reminder of the wound splitting his face.

[Host has dismembered ten unknown creatures!]

[Host is severely injured!]

[Heal right away! Death in 02:00!]

New words appeared, shining with an urgent glow. Strange though it was, he understood them innately—like whispers carved into his very mind.

"Death?" he echoed, voice trembling.

[Calculating…]

He stared, half-delirious, as the cold, digital text hovered before his eyes. His heartbeat thundered as he watched the countdown tick away.

[Bahirath located!]

[Bathe in the Bahirath to survive!]

A thread of glowing red light stretched out across the barren land, leading barely a few meters from where he lay sprawled. He followed the line with his gaze, noticing the countdown already past its halfway mark.

[Hurry to the Bahirath!]

[Time till death: 00:59!]

"Ghh—" He couldn't muster words, only a choked hiss of pain. I have to make it…I have to…

Snarling with effort, Yur rolled onto his stomach and dug what remained of his fingers into the gravelly earth. The ground was scorching, each frictional scrape against his open wounds a fresh wave of agony. But he dragged himself forward, inch by inch, leaving a smear of blood behind.

Time felt agonizingly slow, yet seconds vanished like a cruel joke. Blood loss had him dizzy, on the verge of passing out. The digits on the countdown burned in his mind:

[00:30]

[00:25]

[00:20]

Without warning, he flipped himself sideways, deciding rolling might be faster than dragging. He forced himself not to dwell on the horror of his ravaged body.

Whole sections of his skin were stripped away, revealing throbbing muscle. A raw patch near his groin made him want to scream again, but he bit the cry back, saving every breath for survival.

[00:05]

[00:04]

[00:03]

[00:02]

With a final heave, he tumbled over a jagged ledge and plunged into a steaming pool of crimson liquid.

[Host has entered the Bahirath!]

He sank deeply into the roiling fluid that bubbled like a vat of blood, foul vapors escaping each burst. The smoke rising from the surface reeked of decay and metal, but his senses were too overwhelmed to care. Darkness closed in on his vision.

[Absorbing Bahirath!]

[Time till completion: 262279:59:59!]

Three years. The system's silent declaration meant nothing to the boy now. He slipped into unconsciousness, body going limp in the searing depths of the pool. 

There was no dream to greet him—only the black, endless void of oblivion as his frantic heart finally gave way, and the Bahirath began its grim work.

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Name: Yur

Age: 7

 Title: Freed Slave

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