In Search Of Well — series

Volume One

Blue Demon (Source of Water)

— CHAPTER TWO —

"Sofia"

The night was as black as the void, and the storm didn’t spare but unleashed its fury with a ferocity of a hurricane that amplified her dread.

Sofia, drenched to the bones by torrential rainfall, desperately sprinted through the dense forest. Her soaked blue hoodie clung to her body, and so the wet strands of her mid-blonde hair—disturbed her visions. 

Each breath she drew came in quick, panicked gasps, while her heart pounded like a war drum itself, louder than the thunder that boomed overhead.

Lightning slashed through the sky. Illuminating the trees and casting fleeting shadows, as she ran like a frightened child lost in the wilderness of woods.

*I can’t… I can’t die!*

The words echoed akin to a chant in Sofia’s mind.

Though the air was heavy with the earthy aroma of rain-soaked soil, a soothing scent that should have been calming, yet all she felt was the suffocating grip of fear tightening in her chest. 

Panic surged through her veins. Her foot slipped several times into the slick leaves, sending her stumbling. But after each fall, Sofia scarped her hands on the soaked ground, and forced herself up, driven by sheer will to flee. 

*Not here, not now…*

To run blindly into the unknown, that she didn’t even dare to look back—for she could hear those who chased her behind.

*Not by these soulless reapers, at least!*

And Sofia could sense their presence — demonic beings unlike anything she could’ve imagined. Their forms were writhing and contorted with rage, seemingly as though they were melting, evaporating, and reforming all at once.

The little away Sofia fled with each step, the louder their growls grew, a chilling symphony which sounded like boiling water, mixed with a hum that resembles a whale’s song. 

*I am exhausted! This… is never going to end!* 

With her death pursuing her, Sofia’s mind was all consumed by nothing but frantic thoughts. Fatigue clawed at her limbs, but panic fueled her steps, propelling her despite her exhaustion, for she was acutely aware stopping meant her demise. If only she faltered, the water ‘fiends’ would close in and end her with a cruel fate.

Shortly, Sofia emerged from the forest. She paused, leaning forward with her mouth wide open. 

Gasping for air, she found herself standing on a protruding surface entangled with tree roots. 

Her hands on her knees, her expression echoed one of a silent scream of despair while she witnessed a vast, desolate landscape stretching out before her. It was barren. Shadowed. Devoid of life and light. Jagged stones seemed jutted from the earth like broken teeth of a shattered jaw there.

For a moment, Sofia stood staring into nothing. 

The land before her was shrouded in an eerie dimness, with a few faint glimpses of ribcages and bones scattered throughout the expanse, sending chills of macabre down her spine.

The silence was deafening, more than the noises could ever be — broken only by the pattering sounds of raindrops, distant thunder rumbles, and the monstrous howls that came to reverberate from the forest behind her. 

They were drawing close, Sofia realized. 

Apparently, she found herself at a critical crossroads: considering whether should she leap into the darkness ahead with no idea of what lay beyond, or face the creatures after she barely managed to maintain a distance from them?

To her ease, the heavens helped her decide when lightning bolt split the sky.

Sofia’s heart skipped a beat. 

She let out a scream, but the source of her fright appeared to be a glimmer of hope that sparkled in her tired eyes. 

By the brief illumination, she was able to catch silhouettes of what seemed to be structures or perhaps—a city…

“Buildings?” Sofia whispered, her voice barely audible over the storm’s fury.

Though she squinted to make out the shapes with another lightning strike. But her moment of rest was abruptly shattered. The growls of the demons pierced the air around her. Shivers coursed through her nerves with a reminder of the danger that still persuaded her

Sofia took a deep, shuddering breath and dashed forward, hoping to reach the distant buildings that she believed would provide her safety.

With her hands pressed against her ears, she was so focused on running through the chaotic roar of thunder crashing around her—shattering the ground and her senses—that she didn’t notice the earth disappearing beneath her until it was too late.

A startled scream escaped her lips as she skidded to a halt, realizing she had reached the edge. It felt like the end of the world, something she hadn’t anticipated, but as she peered down, disbelief washed over her.

A startled scream escaped her lips as she skidded to halt, realizing she had reached the edge. It felt like the end of the world, something she hadn’t anticipated. But now as she gazed down, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“What in the hell is this?” Sofia whispered, unblinking.

A wave of terror washed over her, and her breath caught in her throat. She stood briefly froze, her steps teetering at the brink of a chasm, where a River of molten Lava flowed dauntingly below her, marking the end of her long run.

“W-What now?”

The longer she stared at the abyss of hell, her determination to flee appeared to falter ounce by ounce. 

The longer Sofia stared into the hellish abyss, her will to escape seemed to diminish with each passing second. The glow of the lava illuminated her face with a fiery hue, while the spark of hope she once held faded out as she realized the buildings she’d seen were on the other side of the chasm.

Wiping the drops of sweat and rainwater from her brow, she scanned her surroundings but found no escape or way to cross the smoldering river of lava—but it was stretched to her both sides, as far as she could see. Hence, it was indeed a dead end!

At the moment, before Sofia could think otherwise, her breath hitched as she watched the demonic creatures finally reaching her.

Glancing back over her shoulder, hopelessness in her gaze was palpable. She took a hesitant step back and fell into the abyss, into the seething, bubbling lava that seemed hissing like a living thing eager to consume her very existence!

Mid-fall, where seconds felt like hours, Sofia arms flailed like a bird with broken wings falling from a tree. The water demons dove after her, their contorted forms glowed against the fire and rain.

Then—a light shined.

A spark of electric, yellowish, and abrupt.

Not from the sky, but right before Sofia’s face. In a blink—a figure appeared out of thin air. 

Concealed in the shadows of a cloak, the stranger’s hand reached out, fingers wrapping around hers in a firm grip, only to forcefully fling Sofia to the across-side of the lava river.

Sofia crumpled to the ground, her head striking the earth with a bone-jarring thud that reverberated through her skull.

Sofia collapsed to the earth, her head hitting the ground hard with a bone-jarring thud that reverberated through her skull. 

Stars burst behind her eyes as she gasped for breath. But her consciousness slipped away like sand through parted fingers. 

As she lay sprawled, facing the direction from which she had come, her visions blurred against the encroaching darkness that engulfed her sight. The world around her faded into silence. She could only hear the pulse of her heart, and the relentless patter of rain against her skin, mixing with the blood that now spilled from her head. From the wound. It seemed to pool beneath her.

*What. Just. Happened?* Sofia wondered. 

Her mind struggling to piece together the fragments of situation through the darkness creeping in. 

Barely though, Sofia caught fleeting glimpses of the water demons that had unforgivingly pursued her this far.

*Who was that person?* 

And she did catch the sight of her mysterious savior…

*Am I... saved?*

…watching how they all met their fiery end by falling into the river of molten lava.

However, as the silence grew louder, wrapping around her ears like a serene lullaby, Sofia succumbed to the darkness, slipped into unconsciousness. 

— TO BE CONTINUED —