Chalden

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

~*~

A horde of woodland children clustered around the shed, black sunken eye sockets gaping in anticipation. Zeth stumbled forward in reply, weakly grasping his howling stomach. The children's long fingers scratched the earth. Their lipless mouths open and closed in unison, releasing a silent chant. Zeth begged the shed to have a morsel of food that would finally fill his stomach. As his palm brushed the door handle, a chill danced across his skin, the hair on his neck stood straight. The presence within the shed was not right. It was heavy, thick, and hysterical. If darkness could touch someone, it touched Zeth in that moment. He hesitantly pushed the door open. In the center of the shed sat the decapitated head of a stag. Its antlers spread like glorious tree branches, its black eyes hummed with madness, and out of its lips dripped a deep red blood. Grass stopped growing in a perfect circle around the stag head. The blood flowing from its mouth sang to him. Fingers twitching, Zeth grasped the large head and slowly turned it to face the other way. With the deepest breath he had ever taken, he lifted the head and slowly slipped it over his own. Hot flesh and blood burned his skin, the corpse was grafting itself to him. What organs remained squelched as he shifted his way into the head of the deer. Finally, he could see. The world was darker than he remembered it, hotter, and much drier. Arcing his back in agony, Zeth cried out for something to appease the hunger torching his insides.

Zeth emerged from the shed as his true self. Long fingered children lurched left and right in delight. He felt no fear now, he knew they would lead him to the place he would no longer be hungry. No longer be thirsty.

The children slowly led Zeth deeper into the forest towards the distant sound of laughter. The stag gave him such strength, he could feel it coursing through him. He was becoming a god. With regal movements he followed the river of the undead creatures, willing them to lead him to sustenance. Vision contorting with shadows and hues of orange, Zeth began to adjust to the stags overpowering spirit.

As he walked through the fog in the depths of the woodland, he felt like a king. Regal authority dripped from his presence. He was king of this nightmare, he was king of the children, he was king of the darkness, and he would fulfill his calling. He was Chalden.

The hunger scraped its claws down his throat, down his intestines, crying out for relief. Laughter crescendoed then fell.

"I hope he's alright, it's not like him to not answer his phone." A familiar voice called out to the others. Through his new eyes, he saw a group of friends around a campfire. Blackening marshmallows decorated the tips of their long sticks. The warmth radiating from them was enveloped in hues of orange and shadow. His new eyes relished the sight.

He could hear the song of the children now, the chant rebounding in the fog. Their voices were filled with thousands of screams that didn't belong to them. Zeth could've sworn he heard his own. Their worship coursed through his veins giving him the strength to step into the light of the fire.

Raw power and rage and hunger consumed him as he spoke to the people gathered before him. A language unknown to him spilled from his lips. Alyssa screamed first. Why did he know her name? He guessed a god would know all things. Some sprinted away in panic, a few of the friends fell to the ground and screamed in terror.

"Zeth?" Alyssa's cry was broken and so shrill it didn't sound human. But he wasn't Zeth. He was a king now-a god. And he was starving. Lurching for Alyssa's arm, he caught hold if it and gripped it tight. With his other arm, Zeth grasped Alyssa's hair and pulled her into his maw. Fear had such an intoxicating scent. Sinking his teeth deep into her flesh, he moaned with satisfaction. Nothing had ever tasted so good. Her cries were drowned out by the flavor of her artery, her esophagus, her liver. Tearing into her flesh, he licked up every drop of her remains. The song of the children echoed around him until he heard nothing at all.

Zeth woke up full, and disoriented. Alyssa's clean bones lay around him. As he remembered what happened, the bones began to rattle violently. Slowly, they began to shrink and gather together. The fingers elongated until they were the length of a child's legs. A thin layer of moon-white skin stretched around the tiny body. A child was born. Nausea threatened to steal his satisfaction from him. As if responding to Zeth's internal conflict, power shifted within him. It felt as though a dark force wore his skin. It lifted him up into a standing position. Oh that's right, he was a god now. Glancing at the new child standing before him, he saw that not a single drop of blood defiled the land. His land.

"Go my children, bring me food so you might have more brothers and sisters." The stag sang. With great pleasure, the creatures dispersed throughout the woodland. Wobbling and shifting, they scratched their fingers along the earth.

The sound triggered a terrifying feeling, a human feeling. He needed to visit the cabin. The woodland children froze in unison. Each child snapped their heads completely around to stare at Zeth. Hundreds of tiny mouths gaped open as all of their fingers fidgeted in a chorus. The blood rushing in his ears got louder.

Through the eyes of the stag, he saw shadows shift around him. And then he was within the cabin once again. Its dark wooden heart encompassing him in its dream-state. A woodland child stood down the hall before him. It's long, thin fingers scratching the door to its right. Slowly, Zeth stepped down the hall and up to the doorframe to what had once been a bedroom. Dread drowned any remaining hope he had. The stag's head seemed to weigh too heavy now. Testing the handle, he realized it was locked. Zeth turned to stare at the woodland child, its return gaze making him shift uncomfortably. One moment the creature snapped its little bony neck, the next Zeth found himself in the center of the bedroom.

To his horror, the room was filled with people hanging from the ceiling. Sitting atop their shoulders were unnaturally large non-human heads. A pig. A bear. A fly. Burning liquid rose up Zeths throat as he vomited blood. With each massive spilling of organs, memories flooded his now conscious mind.

He was driving to the campsite to meet up with his friends. Alyssa was waiting for him there, unknowingly waiting to become his fiancé at sunrise. He drove peacefully through the night until a child-like form appeared between his headlights. Frozen with panic, all Zeth could do was stare at the creature with translucent skin holding its tiny skeleton together. The distant memory of the legend his grand mother would read him resurfaced. There was a legend of woodland children that lure good-hearted people into the forest. The legend of the Chalden. Earth crunched loudly under the weight of his tires as he turned the car around. The distant sound of his scream was barely processed. Every turn he took somehow took him deeper into the woodland. His stomach began to growl. The creature continued to reappear before him. It appeared between the trees ahead and in the passenger window. In his review mirror. With each glance at the creature's whispering hole of a mouth, he felt his mind slip into what felt like a dream. His hunger grew to an intolerable level. He was being lured. Before long, a rotting cabin came into view. For some reason he parked and went inside, completely ignoring the creatures around the cabin. The only thought that existed in his mind was to eat something. A few minutes after his arrival at the cabin, he had already found the pantry. Flinging the doors open, Zeth sighed at the hundred cans of food neatly stacked inside. He ate the contents of every single can. Awaking to the cans scattered about the floor around him, he felt the impossibly large bloat of his stomach. But his hunger was insatiable. A presence called to him from outside the cabin. Woodland creatures scratched the window panes with their unnaturally long fingers, calling to him. Risking a glance out the window, his gaze met the infinite dark of a woodland child's eyes. From then on, his limbs were not his own. His mind was not his own. Chalden was consuming him.

Zeth spilled the contents of his stomach completely, hunger burning his veins. Terror raked down his spine. This couldn't be real. Decomposing corpses hung around him with the haunting testimony of the truth. Out of the corner of his eye, a candle flickered on the windowsill. In the darkness beyond the window, a woodland child's head rose into view. It's open mouth sucked in the flamed until smoke was all that danced on the wick. Shadows fell. Unimaginable hunger pained his body. Gasping from the sudden thirst, he peered at the bodies hanging around him. His hunger needed to be satisfied.

Without hesitation Zeth dug into his chest, ripped his heart out of its home and devoured it.

Chalden was born.