Black Ice

It came crashing down in a straight line, as if there was a glass shield between me and it. The black wall, speckled with the glowing green light of the foxfire, turned into a wall of inky black water without warning, falling before me and splashing out beyond, spreading itself outward into a crystal black bog. The foxfire floated atop it, casting splashes of light that illuminated its vast expanse.

It would be beautiful, if the breadth of it did not evoke a terrifying thought. How do I get out of here now? The specks of light along the bog revealed how far it went, growing smaller and smaller in the distance until nearly out of sight. It stretched so far and so wide I could never consider swimming it. I’d certainly drown from exhaustion along the way. But I can’t go back the way I came – not after what I saw, after what I did. I needed to get out. Quickly.

My skin tightened with fear before I could even register why. Behind me. I heard it behind me. Crashing through the bramble. Leaves crushing beneath the weight of heavy footpads. Branches snapping from trees as it moved through the black forest, unslowed by the thick bramble. I could hear it coming for me. Hide. I have to hide. There was no time, it was moving so fast. I didn’t know what to do other than drop to the ground at the edge of the tree line before the bog and let the sheerness of my body camoflauge me behind the leaves and branches above the grass, hoping the gleam of the delicate threads holding me together would not catch the eye of the beast racing toward me.

It stepped through the woods and into the small clearing before the bogs edge, coming into sight. My stomach tightened. I sucked in my breath to stop myself from vomiting. It was horrifying. The monster had the head and body of a lion, but enormous in size. Its yellow eyes were focused, alert. Hunting. But its back. Behind its head, stemming upward from between its shoulder blades was the half-body of a goat - its torso growing out of the lions nape, from its belly upward, its front legs rearing behind the lions mane like the arms of a man holding the reins of a horse. And its head, bobbing in step with the lion’s paces as its black square eyes moved in unnatural directions, scanning for its prey. For me. But the lion’s tail - if you could call it that. The tail was scaly and thick, and it shone green from the reflection of the foxfire. At its end was the mighty head of a serpent. It hefted itself from side to side, searching the surroundings.

The Chimera paused at the edge of the water, as if it too was unsure whether to attempt passage. It did not hesitate for long. The Chimera then turned, all three heads in unison as if sharing one mind, before the head of the goat twisted its neck turning its long, thick horns around and behind it, toward the surface of the water. It hovered there, just above the surface, for a moment. As it did, the air around me grew instantly colder, and I suddenly found myself shivering. My breath was freezing as it escaped my body, letting itself go in little clouds that I prayed could not be seen by the monster. It seemed as if the air itself might freeze solid when the goat head swiftly smashed its horns onto the surface of the water – not into it, onto it. And when it did, the surface of the bog froze. Instantaneously. The slam of the goat horns – the Chimera - caused the bog to turn to ice?! A Chimera that is not only unafraid of ice, but can wield its power?? My gods, where am I. The ice tore outward, spreading across the entire bog. And as quickly as the bog froze, the Chimera tore across it in continuing pursuit, unaware I was masked in the grass.

I waited until I could no longer see the beast before I dared raise my head. I cautiously stood, considering my choices. Am I really going to attempt to walk across this frozen bog, formed by dark and unknown magic? But turning around was not an option – what if there were more Chimera where that one came from? I had nowhere good to go. So, I cautiously stepped onto the ice.

I placed each step carefully, peering through the clearness of my foot and what I hoped was the ice beneath it. It was so pristinely clear it was nearly impossible to tell whether I was stepping onto ice or water. I was only guided by the blurry green glow of the foxfire beneath the frozen surface. I relied on the sporadic patches of light to keep me moving in a straight path. In this darkness, still struggling with my new form, I was struggling to get my bearings. I could not afford to spend the night moving in circles, going nowhere. And I was exposed on this ice. Too vulnerable. Even in my nearly invisible new body, I needed to get across where I might have the cover of trees. And quickly. The sun was starting to rise, and the glow from the foxfire was beginning to fade, its evanescent green yielding to a soft mossy hue. The frozen water remained an impenetrable inky black, giving no hint of what lied beneath it. As daylight approached, I knew certain dangers would retreat for the night, but others would rise. In the daylight, out here in the middle of this frozen bog, I could be seen. The gossamers that bound my nearly transparent shape were fading, giving way the opacity of opacity of flesh tone. I noticed it first looking down at my steps, my legs, the outline of shape starting to cloud my view of the ice beneath my feet.

As the sun continued to rise, it seemed as if the ground was moving beneath me. I was so blown out I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Or is it moving? The ice was steady under my feet, but it seemed that deeper below a current was forming, almost swirling and curling around my foot with each step I placed on the ice. The current grew stronger and the swirling more rapid. I could see it more clearly now. It was rising up against the ceiling of the frozen bog, etching away at the ice, somehow melting it from below. The water was swirling rapidly now, the swirls beneath my feet having enlarged and merged to form one giant whirlpool below the ice. I could see its current growing stronger, more forceful, as it formed its vortex. I was starting to feel the downward pull, the sucking at the ice. The ice cracked and began to spin, yielding to the pull beneath it. I was still crossing, still on it, nowhere near its frosty edge. I tried to run, desperately, but there was nowhere to go. The vortex churned, growing faster and stronger, and the ice buckled into it, folding me in with it.

I felt the pull. Rapidly, violently, I was being pulled downward, chunks of ice churning around me, the sky above growing smaller as the black water tightened its grip on me, sucking me in. I felt the cold of it first, the icy water collapsing onto me as I was pulled deeper and deeper into the core, yielding to its force.