Pandora's Box

It was red.

Everything was red.

Red skies above, the cobblestoned paths beneath ones feet, streams of dark red ran down the hills, chasing away from the bodies splayed all around. The screams were horrendous; pure absolute terror.

And they never stopped.

The sky stained crimson from a dusky morning dawn was the beginning of an end. A new dawn.

Shadows ran past, flitting and blurry as though nothing more than a horrible nightmare. Inescapable. Screams and shouts, prayers were jumbled and distant, as they ran for their lives, pushing, shoving and tripping the other up. Bodies tripped up next to me, struggling to get back up but the heavy crowd made it difficult...a fatality.

Babbled prayers for the God’s I could hear from a woman kneeling, her prayers remained lost in the terrible din. No Gods would hear her. The sky darkened with large shadows that swooped down and up, their screeches, high-pitched cackles that made my ears hurt further and curl in myself as though I could shield myself.

A body, several bodies, swooped up in the air, kicking and writhing. Others paused in terror to watch, screaming in terror at the predator’s that swooped and ducked over the crowd. Hunting. The voices above fading in and out, people scattering away, arms covering their heads, swatting the air as if it were flies attacking us. The screams grew louder and the shrieks echoed through the air, overlapping the voices of the hundreds of men, women and children running in terror. The sounds of evil cackled viciously in the air...bloodlust and violence a ruthless mix that danced around me as though I was merely watching. My ears burned as though the sounds faded dimly, catching the approaching sounds. The thundering of approaching evil...

Turning through the crowd, a piercing shriek cut through the air, made my ears ache and blood run cold. Through the ashes and dust, I saw something huge and dark thundering through the wreck of a crowd...coming to me. Like a moth to a flame. But I was the moth and the fire was seeking me.

To destroy.

Panicking, and jumping out of the way, a pebble under my foot wrong and my knees and hands hit the dirtied, bloodied ground hard, dust and ash stinging my nose and eyes. The crimson sunset light dimmed to darkness as the shadow loomed over me completely. My head snapping up in terror to face the horror I’ve unleashed and would be my undoing. The eyes, an echo of rage and violence, pierced from behind the dark, crimson steel. The sword was raised high above, the horse rearing upwards with a snarl. Death was coming for me.

I raised my hand in desperation before the cutting silver sliced downwards,

“Please!! NO!!”