The Burning Forest : Chapter 5

REUNITED
The fire crackled loudly in the lone cabin. The snow caked the mountain in a white blanket.
“You’re so beautiful,” Damien said as he lay below Liz. The two lay beside the fireplace with a
half-finished bottle of wine in arm’s length. He kissed her bright red lips before she upright and
straddled him slowly. He moaned while she smiled and placed her hands on his waist. He held
her to prevent her from falling and ran his hands down her chest till his fingers circled her
nipples.
It was her turn to moan as Damien increased the tempo and the two began to sweat regardless
of the winds that blew against the walls. They collapsed into an exhausted heap and smiled at
each other silently. Liz placed a hand on his face with her eyes locked in his gaze.
“I’m pregnant, Damien,” she said smiling.
Damien sat upright suddenly with wide eyes and a big smile on his face.
“When did you know?” he said excitedly.
“Last month,” she said as her smile matched the size of his.
“We’re pregnant!” he shouted before dancing naked in front of her. He stopped for a second
and lifted her off the ground before spinning around.
“Oh! We can’t do all that anymore” he said before placing her on the closest sofa.
“Damien, you’re so crazy,” she said to him as he knelt beside her and ran his fingers through her
hair.
“I can’t believe we’re pregnant.” He whispered.
Logan woke up next to Pin in the middle of a hollow tree. The torch had been twisted around a
vine and hung above them.
Logan’s body was sore from the awkward position and he crawled out to stretch. His heart sank
as he noticed it was still pitch black outside. He walked down the road a bit to see if there was
any point of interest in their route. He walked a few steps when he was covered in the
moonlight. Blood rushed to Logan’s heart and he grabbed his chest in pain. His knees hit the
dirt and his stomach muscles twisted painfully. His now black hair quickly grew along the length
of his nape and down to his back. His arms and legs twisted till they looked like a dog’s and he
fell on his side from the excruciating pain. His ribcage expanded and he could feel muscles
moving to the now expanded space. Then his mind went blank.
A beast now got its feet with its hind legs bending at an odd angle. It sniffed the air and howled
a deep and sorrowful howl. It got on all fours and took off down the cobblestone road.
Pin sat fixed to the spot. He had heard the howl and remembered the monster that had almost
killed him a few hours ago. His heart skipped a beat as he realized Logan was missing. He pulled
the torch from where it was hung and prepared to crawl out from within the tree. He could see
the forest floor as he looked out. All was clear at the moment. He crawled out slowly and now
stood alone on the road.
“Logan!” he shouted through cupped hands. “That dude ditched me,” he thought.
He was still thinking when a giant shadow flew past his eyes. The beast stood in front of him
and looked even angrier than before. It was breathing heavily and Pin was being covered in its
heat. Its eyes narrowed like it was trying to understand something. Pin was pale with fright as it
towered over him silently. It craned its neck back and howled loudly. Pin noticed this was a
different howl from what had woken him up earlier. A lone howl could be heard from a long
way off and the beast turned towards it. It took off without giving Pin another look. Pin
collapsed on the ground in sweat, his heart rattling in his chest.
Logan wept. He was trapped within his own mind; sharing it with the carnal intent of the
monster that had taken over his body. He could feel its wicked nature craving for the flesh of
the innocent. Logan towered over a small village. Its people screaming as they tried to escape
into the forest. Fire had erupted over a few houses when Logan had broken through a fireplace
in his entrance. He had already slaughtered two of these people; people that could have aided
him in his task to get to Mr. Skin or even tell him the location of Draug. He couldn’t apologize or
even control his arms that now brandished claws at the end of them. Logan grabbed at a small
girl and could feel her in his hands. Tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably. These
tears ran off her face and reached the skin beneath his fur. Logan’s heart pulsed as the tear
landed on his arm. The monster’s hold on his mind weakened and took a backseat. He could
suddenly control his body and he dropped her gently on the ground. She looked up at him still
slightly scared but now sure he wouldn’t hurt her. Her eyes widened as she looked at
something behind him. Logan barely moved his head when he was grabbed around the waist
and slammed into the building in front of him. He turned around quickly to look up at the beast
in all its massive glory. Logan’s transformation was nowhere similar in size.
It pulled its arm back ready to slash at Logan. Logan could see its movement clearly and noticed
how slow it was now. He dodged it cleanly and jumped into the air above the beast. Its head
craned painfully to see him. Logan knew that sleeping was no longer an option for this beast.
He had to take it down before it killed someone or made another one.
Logan fell fast with his claws stretched out beside him. He landed right on top of it and they
sank into its back. The beast turned around suddenly to grab at him but Logan was practically
reading its moves. He jumped off and ran back a few feet. The beast was getting frustrated and
howled loudly. The howl shocked Logan and froze him in place. It ran forward fast and slashed
at him. This time its claws hit home and he was thrown into a tree. The beast bared its teeth
and to Logan, it looked more like it was smiling. He suddenly remembered its utterance back
and the tree. He knew it could talk if it wanted to. He hoped he could beg it to stop. Logan
opened his mouth and attempted to make words but only a soft yelp escaped his throat.
“Don’t bother begging for your life boy. You can’t get through to me” it said mockingly.
It cleared the distance between the two of them and took a swing at him. Logan dodged it
easily and ran into his blind spot. He wasn’t going to try and attack him. He needed to see if he
could reason with it. He could still feel the monster fighting back in his mind to take control. His
head hurt from the effort.
He was now dodging slashes as well as trying to get himself to speak. The beast was getting
faster now. It was anticipating where he would dodge to and was now increasing the range of
its attack. Logan jumped over a house and ran into the forest. The people hiding and watching
the fight screamed as he broke through the trees. The beast followed suit immediately after
with pure rage pushing it on at this point.
Logan slammed into a tree too thick for him to break through and fell painfully onto the ground
in front of it. The beast caught up and took a slash at his neck. He dodged in time and heard the
tree being sliced cleanly in two. The beast knew it had him cornered now and raised its arm
above his head.
“Stop!” Logan shouted in a voice that was half beast and half human. “Why are you doing
this?”
“Because it’s fun!” the beast shouted.
“Then there’s no chance that you’ll stop?” Logan struggled to say
“Not in a million years.” it said
“Alright then” Logan said sadly before plunging his hand through the beast’s chest.
The beast’s eyes rolled in its head and it grabbed at Logan’s hand in an attempt to free itself.
“Y-you bastard” it said before it gave up and dropped to its knees.
Logan pulled out his hand and watched it fall to the side.
“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.” Logan said both sadly and in relief.
He felt his fear subside and almost immediately his hair began to retract and his body bent back
into place. He laid there naked both sore and in pain. The slash he hadn’t dodged left deep
wounds in his belly. He didn’t have anything to use as a bandage so he limped back through the
gap he had made in his fight back to the village he had destroyed. The villagers had found their
way back and were now fixing up what they could. They turned around in fear at Logan thinking
he was one of the monsters that destroyed their houses. Their faces eased up when they saw it
was just a man and turned to worry when they saw the level of injury he had sustained. Logan
limped towards them for a few minutes before he fell to the ground unconscious.
It was dark. He knew his eyes were open but all he could see was pure darkness. Darkness so
thick he couldn’t even see his hands in front of him.
“Elizabeth!” he shouted into the empty void.
“Elizabeth?” he asked himself. “Why would I shout that?”
The air became thinner around him and it was becoming a burden to breathe.
“Who is Elizabeth?” he shouted struggling to get a grasp on the connection. He could tell he
knew the name but just couldn’t tell where he had heard it.
He was choking now, suffocating from the lack of air.
He woke up in a pool of sweat. His entire torso was wrapped in bandages and an IV was hooked
up to his arm. He sat up easily, knowing fully well his wounds had healed and looked around the
room. The room smelt of damp wood and a lone light bulb swung from the ceiling. He pulled
out the tube attached to his arm and the clear liquid dripped onto the cracked concrete ground.
He had been fitted with everything except for a shirt and looked around for one. The Crow
man’s gun was also missing. He stood bare-chested in the middle of the room wondering where
he was exactly. He ran his hand over where the beast’s claw had dug out and felt the abs that
his sister had given him.
“So magic is the only way you get these,” he said smiling down at the muscular ridges.
He walked out the room and saw the low standard people of the forest had to endure. He stood
over a balcony that was on the twentieth floor of a building that overlooked a city full of
hundreds of similar ones. They were all tightly packed with narrow streets and even smaller
roads with vintage cars parked along them. It was still weirdly nighttime or at least closer to
dawn as the sky had a blue tinge to it. People walked around regardless of the time, covered in
dirt, scars and wearing rags. Kids couldn’t be seen anywhere but he could hear them crying
uncontrollably in every direction.
“What am I doing here?” he said genuinely not knowing his mission in the forsaken city.
“To save your wife” a voice boomed from behind him. A black man in a doctor’s coat stood with
a grim look on his face. He was totally bald except for a thick goatee and was quite muscular
underneath the coat. “You need to lie down right now before it’s too late.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” Logan said edging away from the strange man that seemed to
have magically appeared in the room.
“You do if you want to save Elizabeth,” he said still stony-faced.
His words hit home as Logan quickly calmed down.
“Elizabeth is my wife?” he said with his hands pressing down on his temples.
“Indeed, now please Damien, lie down quickly,” he said pointing towards the bed he had just
gotten up from.
“How did you know my name was Damien?”
“The magic disguising your identity is weak. The one that is canceling out the memory of your
wife is even weaker. Please relax.”
The man ran his hand over Damien’s head before pressing his thumbs against his scalp. A sharp
pain suddenly shot through his head and he fell into the void again.
It was warmer and friendlier this time. Yet it was still dark. He stood there wondering what
would happen. A light shone in the darkness. A tiny one but it was enough to see he was naked.
The light ran upward till a vertical line cut through the black. Suddenly a hand pushed through
and remained there. Logan ran forward and grabbed at it. It was stuck behind the light and he
pulled hard. He pulled for what felt like an hour before Elizabeth tumbled out. The tiny light
opened wide and the void was drowned in a blue tint.
“Damien!” she gasped as she lay on top of him.
“Elizabeth,” he said as tears ran down his face. “I’m so sorry, for everything that has happened
to you.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Damien,” she said as tears filled her eyes and she ran her hand
along his face.
She kissed him longingly and cupped his face in her hands. He flipped her on her back and kissed
her neck. She gasped as his lips met her nape. He kissed her chest till his lips circled her nipples.
He sucked hard on them like it was the first time he had seen them. She moaned before running
her hands down his back. He ran his hands along her thighs before spreading them around his
waist. He kissed her as he slid into her. They both moaned remembering the feeling. Her hands
held onto his back firmly as he increased the tempo. Her chest heaved with every thrust and her
erect nipples rubbed against his chest. They went on for hours; resuming every time they
regained their energy till they lay on the blue floor kissing deeply.
“How can I ever get you back?” he said remembering this was only temporary and in his mind.
“I’m not sure where I am. All, I can say is you have to go to where the sky is red and the ground
is scorched. That’s where he has kept me.”
“That’s where Draug has kept you. What does he want from you?”
“He wants a family. He wants a bride.”
“Wait a minute, so then whose body is in a coma in the hospital?”
“I’m glad I’m here to tell you, Damien. I’ve been here for months. That body is not mine”
His eyes widened as he thought of the time and money he had spent on nothing.
“So I’ve been crying over an empty vessel.” He said grinding his teeth in anger.
Elizabeth screamed suddenly and Logan could see her body vanishing into specks of light that
were rising into the sky.
“The magic is fading.” She said panicking.
He tried to hold onto her but each part he grabbed exploded into particles and joined the others
vanishing into the air.
“Find me, Damien! You have to end this nightmare” she said crying
“I will Elizabeth,” he said still trying to grab at her until she disappeared entirely and the black
void returned.
“I swear I’ll find you”