The Fury Anon

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

My room rotated upward past me as I was jostled awake. As the horror sought to envelop me in its volatile chemistry, I resisted the mad temptations that ran through my mind.

Yet, as the minutes passed, and reality began to take its seasoned hold once more, the phrase that underlined that horrendous image remained resolute. There was something so pressing about it; so indicative. Clearly, it was one of those dreams that would hang around long after its, quote on quote, "welcome". And, if history proved true, the welcome mat would find its place under feet, and before the threshold of invasion, and incorporation, nevertheless.

I rose nervously, moving toward the open window like an unexposed shadow. The moonlight spilled forth before me, transposing a door of light onto the darkened wall to my left. I listened. There was little to fan my skepticism but the soft breeze through the distant trees. Even the spaced and erratic chimes and groans of establishments revealed little animosity in their muted tones. There was only a feeling: that despite the atypical still, the Valley was at attention. It was as if the clouds above the distant mountain would soon billow with fire, erupting like a volcanic explosion undersea.

The image burned itself within my mind through the intensity of expectation, albeit with no pressure from the outside. Despite the growing threat of frenzy, the mountainian sky remained unblemished and unstirred.

The minutes passed, and I retreated to my bed. I lay with my hands behind my head, studying the ceiling absently. The canvas of black wriggled and writhed as my mind sought to project its contents there, coaxing my secrets to center stage in a play for resolution.

I must have drifted off to sleep once again because I was suddenly brought to by an odd creaking, as if one of my parents had dropped in to check on me. As I trained my senses toward the source of the sound, I came to realize that the "door" of light set forth by the Moon hadn't sheared or elongated in the time I had found myself away. It had remained perfectly still.

I felt immobilized as my eyes sharpened on the infraction, pulled taut at a crossroads where no way out seemed a logical one. How could this be?

As I continued to watch, nothing happened. The image just stood there, resolute, as if uncontested by the passing time.

Then, as if a spirit was manifesting there, an amorphous orb of black rose from its base. I thrust myself backward in terror, watching as it rose and centered itself, its shape stretching; expanding; becoming more clarified.

Within no time at all it had consumed the bulk of the light, and in that moment, true terror had amassed within me, driving me to leap like a surrendering renegade, thrusting myself toward the supposed door.

I did little more than collide with the wall as the shadow drenched me in its ebon guise. Sent sprawling backwards to the floor, I was met with cold comfort by the thinning carpet and solid oak foundation. As I watched, dazedly, the shadow consumed the doorway completely, and it was gone.

Swaddled in horror and helplessness, I could do nothing but wait, and listen. The night air appeared unstirred; unsullied by any handhold of doom. The abscess of dark that had clotted the Moon's touch showed no sign of wavering; no hints of investigation proximal to me. It was as if the darkness had always been there.

Then, as if by the mechanics of nightmares, something eased itself levelly through my bedroom window; a triangular shape, revealed in horrific slowness, that probed irrefutably onward into my sanctuary.

It stopped;

And turned toward me.

A wet, sucking sound filled the air, as if a clogged vacuum had suddenly received a massive surge of power. As it halted, the darkness was incised by two massive shots of neon, like cats eyes in the night. Within their depths, a fluid ebon-scarlet burned.

As the sound changed direction, and the room filled to the caustic brim with the fragrances of staunch death and decay, there was little I could do but wait.