Months later, as Seren lay lost and alone in the plague wastes beneath the ground, his mind would often run back to the beginning of it all. The day centuries of sacrifice came to nothing; the day The Lid was opened.
The three friends trod briskly down the moonlit forest track. The one, leading several paces, and the other two, lagging behind. A dense clustering of oaks and tall grass created a natural cloak to either side. The moon stalked the silhouettes as they trod the path below.
“It’s certainly isolated out here,” Rande said. His eyes tried vainly to make out the slightest silhouette within the dense cluster of trees to either side of the track. “You sure it’s safe for us to be walking out here at night?”
“I can’t say I’ve ever heard of anyone getting waylaid in these parts,” Seren replied.
“Dead men don't often tell others how they died.” Rande’s eyes continued to scan the bushland on their flank.
“How come we have to check your traps right now anyway?” Eleanor began.
“Because last time I set my snares and took too long to check them, I came back to bloodstains instead of rabbits.” Seren shook his head.
A small black shape emerged from the scrub in front of them. Rande gasped and stumbled backwards. The creature hissed at them and slunk back into the grass.
“Aren’t you brave.” Eleanor cuddled up sarcastically to Rande. “My hero.”
He blushed and pushed her aside. “I thought it was a bandit.”
“Sure you did,” she teased.
They walked in silence for a moment.
“It should be just up here,” Seren said.
They happened upon a small overgrown clearing. The path suddenly terminated where it met a great stone circle buried in the ground. Beside the circle stood a rusty iron bench. An unlit lamp jutted from the ground next to the bench.
“The traps aren’t too far from here, but you two can stay and rest here if you’d like while I go and check them.” The grass swallowed him as he crossed the threshold between clearing and scrub. Not long after the sound of his feet crunching sticks disappeared as well.
“How long do you think he’ll be gone for?” Eleanor asked.
“Long enough,” Rande said, unbuttoning his waistcoat with a grin.
Finally, the sound of heavy footsteps emerged from the bushes.
“He’s back, quick put your clothes on.”
They slipped back into their clothes. The footsteps moved closer and closer until Seren was right on the edge of the forest. Then they stopped. A grotesque stillness crept into the air.
“Light the lamp,” Eleanor whispered.
Rande was heading for the lamp when a shadow breached the forest wall.
“Rande!”
Sparks flew from the flint and steel that Rande struck together. The figure was within a pace of them when the inside of the lamp erupted in flames.
The lamplight smote its shadow, revealing a melted candlewax face. Its eyes were small and perfectly circular, like two black suns burning in their sockets. The corners of its thin mouth protruded unnaturally from his face. It was draped in a long, dark cloak that concealed his body beneath the neck. The man turned his head from the glow.
“Good evening,” he spoke in a cordial tone.
Rande felt his vocal cords constrict. “Gggood evening.”
The figure withdrew from the bright aura and moved towards the centre of the stone circle. He crouched, and a slender arm disappeared inside his cloak, returning with a small pouch. He emptied its contents onto the stone.
“If the lid opens, life closes,” he remarked with a melancholy smile. “The old words run thus, but what do youngsters care for that?” He pushed himself up from the ground with a soft grunt and strode back towards the green wall. The bushes cowered from his presence, only gingerly returning to their places long after he’d trodden through them. Silence once again claimed the clearing after his footsteps had died out.
“Who was he, and what’s that stuff?” Eleanor asked.
Rande didn’t speak for a long time, he was too busy buried in the machinery of his mind. “I don’t know,” he finally said, “I’ll have a look.” He bent down before the stone circle and examined the powder on its surface. The dust began to emit light, burning red, like coal at the bed of a raging furnace.
“What’s this? It’s glowing-”
An explosion kicked him backwards.
It was treacherous in the forest where Seren was stumbling. Sharp branches groped at his sides and face. Each step threatened to send him lurching forward catching his foot on some decrepit root. None of his traps had caught anything so far.
He came upon the small track where he had set the last snare. The brass noose gleamed in the faint moonlight. A rabbit hung limp within its metallic grasp. Seren smiled at his handiwork and pulled the rabbit from the snare. Off to his right somewhere, an animal could be heard stalking through the scrub on heavy feet. Seren turned back with his prize, sighing at the prospect of stumbling his way back to Eleanor and Rande.
A quick rumble shook the forest. Seren fought to keep his footing atop the shaking ground. A scream reached his ears from the distance. He leapt through the bushes, heedless of the branches, and roots below him.
A pillar of black smoke rose from where the stone lid had stood. Eleanor was crouched behind the bench, peering through its slits. The sound of the blast still rung in her ears. The sight of Rande’s corpse stained her eyes. The bushes rustled and the creature once again passed into the clearing. She stifled her breath, willed her deafening heartbeats to stop. It drew closer, first slowly, then sprinting. It knelt before the body of her friend.
“Rande!” it screamed. But it wasn’t the creature.
“Get out of the open, Seren!”
“Eleanor,” his voice was soft and airy. He made for the bench.
“It’s not safe here. We need to leave.”
“Help me carry Rande.”
“We don’t have time, Seren. It’s nearby. It could be watching us now.”
“What could be watching us? I won’t leave Rande here.”
“Then die here by yourself. I’m not staying.” She got up and hurried down the track. Seren watched as she slowly blended with the darkness around her. He decided to follow.
