The Dark Serpent

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had strange nightmares. These are not like normal nightmares, these come in pairs and they only come every 4 years. These have been so real, that at one point, my girlfriend at the time had me taken to a hospital because, as she put it— I was being strangled! Yeah, that’s right. Not choking, her words to both the doctor and me were that I was coughing, struggling to breathe, and there was a shadow wrapped around my neck that kept getting tighter! To be honest I felt bad for the girl, especially after I broke up with her not too long after. That was right after the one which I am going to tell you now.

I arose from the mucky, moist ground. My vision was hazy, making me assume I had fallen asleep or something. But I honestly couldn’t remember where I was or what I had been doing before. It was all one big blur! I looked around, could see nothing! No walls, no windows, not even the damp stone floor I knew I was sitting on! Everything was simply black. I wanted to call out for help, but something told me that there was no help in here. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had to be dreaming again. Due to the growing severity of my nightmares, I had developed a way to, in a sense, “eject” myself from my dreams. The first step was to recognize your dreaming. Just like in the movie, Inception, I had a totem to always bring me back. Well, more like totems, to give me a more means to eject out of really bad ones. I reached into my jean pocket hoping to find the first of the 3 when a voice broke the chilling silence.

“You won’t be leaving sssso easssy.”

Turning around, I scanned the abysmal darkness. “Who are you, what do you want?”, my control over my fear beginning to waiver. I was searching each of my pockets now trying to find the damn totem, but the pockets were completely empty.

“As I ssaid, you will not be “ejecting”, at leasst not yet. I have been waiting for this for eons, and as to who I am, well let's jusst ssay we are old acquaintances”, the voice hissed in a very eerie, and to my own surprise familiar tone. Something inside me told me I did know this whatever it is, and that our relationship was not a purely friendly one.

“I don’t have many acquaintances that are talking shadows, show yourself”, I commanded. I knew there was no point in trying to dispel the darkness myself. If this entity knew about the totems and “ejection” then it was not part of the dream realm, meaning it had just as much if not more control of this plane than I did.

A strange sensation came over me, it felt like a glow like literally felt the physical luminance of something behind me. When I turned around, I truly did feel my blood run cold! From out of the continuous darkness was a pair of large, neon green, serpent-like eyes. Holding its gaze, I watched trying to contain my fear as a large glowing, black Anaconda slithered from the darkness. As the monster coiled, it raised its massive head till it was towering over me. I couldn’t tell if the creature was smirking at my apparent shock, but something inside me told me it was enjoying this.

“It hass been a long time old friend. You look as if you’ve seen an apparition. Don’t tell me the once-great Lord of Chaos and Darkness, doesn’t remember his old partner in crime! Oh, how you wound me Seth”, chuckled the massive serpent.

What on earth was this thing talking about!? I had no clue who this Seth dude was or what this whole “partners in crime” bit was, but I was starting to freak out! I tried to calm myself and focus. One of the better parts of controlling your dreams is that once you become conscious, you can create or summon whatever you can think of, including my totem number two. While I tried to focus on number 2’s shape, the great beast began to laugh even louder. “ Oh Seth, why do you continue at this folly? I told you, there will be no escaping this time. This meeting is long overdue…”

“Who the hell is Seth!?” I cut him off. Probably not my brightest idea but at this point, I was becoming exceptionally frustrated, my fear morphing into a cold rage. “I don’t know who you are talking about, what the hell is it th..”

“SILENCE MORTAL!!!”, the creature bellowed. Its reptilian voice, once sleek and hypnotic, now becoming deep and menacing. Causing me to stop in my tracks!

It held its towering glare over me for a moment, and suddenly, its horrific mask was a mere inch from my own. My mind went blank with terror! There seemed to be no way of ejecting out of this fevered dream of mine, and I was sure any further aggravation on my part would earn me an unspeakable retaliation from this gigantic fiend.

“ You are nothing more than a vessel, it is to the one who resides within you to whom I speak. However, it seems that he is still imprisoned. No matter”, the serpent glowered as it rose just above me. “Listen and heed, mortal! I am the great deceiver, the eternal torment, that bearer of all evil and suffering! I was there in the beginning, and I shall be that which signals the end of all. As it has always been, you shall attempt to usurp me, but in doing so you shall reap that which I have sown from before the great creation. I come to you with a message”, as it said those last words, the great black monster unhinging its mighty jaws, sank its immense daggers into my flesh!

The pain was unbearable! I writhed in agony trying what I could to fight back but to no avail. Its mouth covered the upper part of my body, from my neck to my abdomen. “This is where I die”, I thought to myself. This is the end. Just when I was finally about to let go and give in to my awful fate, the worse part came.

My body began to convulse violently, like every blood cell in my body was supercharged with electricity. I could feel my eyes rolling back into my skull when a caleidoscope of images came flooding into my mind. Scenes so horrible, so unimaginable, you would have believed no god could have ever existed! I didn’t just see these horrific scenes of slaughter and disappear, no, I lived every second of them! People being engulfed in oceans of flame, their skin boiling and melting off like butter. Whole cities falling to ruin, the inhabitants being crushed and torn asunder. Screams of agony echoing through every brutal visage I was forced to endure! I felt my sanity taking flight, leaving me to rot in this hell verse of pure pain….

“Babe? Wake up! You’re having another nightmare! Babe, please wake up!”

I shot up from the bed, gasping and coughing for air! My eyes are still shut! I was afraid to open them, thinking it was another part of my dream. I was clutching at my throat trying desperately to detach the viper from me when I felt Ella’s hands griping my own. “Babe it’s ok! You’re awake now, it was just a bad dream.”

I opened my eyes, blinking to make sure it truly was her hazel-brown eyes and olive skin I was staring at. She had a sweet, soft smile on her face, even though her eyes gave credence to the sheer terror she possessed. She asked me if I was ok and if I wanted to talk about it.

“ No babe, I just need a minute. Imma go sit out on the porch. I’m ok, just a really bad dream”, my voice was ragged, but I tried to sound as calm as I could. She looked at me, worry plain as a single stormcloud in a clear blue sky on her face. I ran my hand through the deep brown curls of her hair, kissing her lips and telling her I was fine as I got out of the bed and headed towards the living room.

I took a long pull of the cigarette as I stared into the vastness of the starlit night. As I released the smoke into the air, he spoke.

“ When next we meet, it will be upon a river of blood. This was but a taste of what is to come.”

I turned to face him, taking another drag from the cigarette as I addressed his dark shade. “ What do we do until it comes to pass?”

And for an answer, Seth simply smiled a most gruesome smile.