Day: 1357

Days Left: 4123

Lives Saved: 7

O'Sullivan reached the summit of the mountain, the whistling wind billowing through his long coat, but the man remained sturdy, unlike his followers who struggled to follow after him, having to bend and crouch against the elemental forces.

"There it is..." he said as he looked into the distance at a noticeable blotch in the sky, a bruise above what seemed to be a canyon in the dry wastelands, the grass brittle yet still flourishing a fluorescent green. He gazed down at his feet at this grass; though vibrant in colour, he easily crushed it under his feet, the grass breaking into fractures like rock rather than a plant.

"It appears you weren't lying to me, dear Henry." O'Sullivan turned around and smiled at Henry Best, the man currently being forcibly shoved up the steep incline by two hyena guards; another hyena guard was nearby, carrying the lantern cage that contained Nia the fairy as an incentive for Henry to keep moving.

"It could all still be a trick," said Karina, pressing her face close to Henry's tauntingly, gripping his cheeks before pushing it away, the man almost toppling over. "There may be a portal there, but who knows if it will ever open-"

"It will!" spat Henry, heaving deep and staggered breaths. The steep mountain was not tiring itself, but the constant being pushed and kicked around by the hyena guards and Karina had exhausted him, not to mention the mere scraps and drops of water he was given. "The portal will open-"

"And how long will that take? We must wait for them to throw a prisoner down, which they won't do when we're nearby."

Henry sighed, tired of explaining himself multiple times; it seemed that O'Sullivan didn't share the minor details with his subordinates.

Karina took his sighing as an insult, scowling and taking a step closer but stopped and grinned in satisfaction as Henry flinched from her approach.

Henry swallowed. "Many centuries ago, before mages had proper access to the Eternal Abyss, portals would appear in our world leading to the Abyss, only they would appear for just a few minutes at most, and were unstable, needing magic to stabilise them so that people could walk through and get here. The portals would appear constant, some opening on the exact day each year, others more frequent. Whilst our technological and magical advances have greatly increased, we can now open these portals whenever we want. However, we cannot stop them from opening at their natural time. They will open at that exact time and date without fail."

Karina rolled her eyes as if she wanted to insult Henry but could not think of anything.

"That portal..." Henry motioned to the bruise in the distance, his neck aching from raising his head slightly. "From my calculations, it should open in two days at 12:05 pm if my counting is correct."

"And how are we going to get up there?" asked Karina, squinting to judge the distance.

"You'll see when we get closer," answered Henry, risking Karina's wrath for being cryptic, but it was worth it as he did not want to describe it again. He had explained the situation to O'Sullivan, the man seemed indifferent, but just Henry saying it made him nauseous, almost throwing up, unable to suppress the images of what lay below the portal. 

"Let's head down," said O'Sullivan. "We will scope out the situation and then set up camp. And we will all be free in just a few days."

O'Sullivan led the Evil Eyes down the mountain; his eyes focused on the closed portal in the distance.

Henry could feel the sickness rising up his throat with each step he took. He could have chosen a different portal, but he wanted to be free from this group, especially Karina, as soon as possible so he could return to tracking down his cousin, Corinna Warren; he had already wasted so much time. Who knew how far away Corinna had strayed from her original sector? And then there was also Nia, who was supposed to be free quite some time ago but was stuck in her cage in her fairy form. With each passing day, the higher chance she would be stuck in that form forever, unable to leave the Abyss.

He had to do this for Nia and his second cousin, even if it meant enduring the image... of what lay below that portal.

When they finally reached the bottom of the mountain, closer to the portal, the wailing and screeching of the wind grew louder and more harrowing, but Henry knew that it wasn't the wind that was making that noise.

It was...

O'Sullivan froze as he reached the cliffside and peered down.

His followers stared in silence, a few recoiling and vomiting from the sight, some crying.

The two hyena guards that held Henry prisoner almost let go in horror.

"What is this!" Karina screamed, grabbing Henry by the collar. "Why did you take us here!"

"I told you," Henry whimpered, hearing the groans of pain and wailing nearby. "If you want so desperately to escape, then this is the portal to achieve that..."

"This is sick!" Karina gripped her hair. "This is sick!" She yanked Henry's arm and dragged him closer to the edge. "You showed this to us on purpose, didn't you!"

Henry shut his eyes tightly, but it was too late; he had already caught a glimpse. Below the closed portal in the sky was a slight ditch, just solid ground, nothing to break a prisoner's fall if they were sent through. It was one of the favoured portals to send criminals you did not want to survive the Abyss; their bodies would be crippled from falling at such a height, break their legs or maybe their head if they fell wrong, but enough to keep the conscious, enough for them to try and desperately drag themselves away as they were vulnerable to monsters.

However, in time, more and more prisoners were sent down the portal, unable to drag themselves out of the shallow ditch before another prisoner fell on top of them, and then another and...

And until there was a pile of them, all too injured from the fall to escape, some crushed under the weight. Soon the pile of bodies grew taller, and new prisoners had a relatively soft landing... but the others had lost their minds, so hungry that...

No one could escape this mound of bodies.

"What is this!" Karina continued to scream, so scared and repulsed that she took it out on Henry like she did whenever she had any emotional outbursts.

"Earth nymphs..." mumbled Henry through clamped lips, doing everything in his willpower not to throw up. "They're what we call earth nymphs."

"There shouldn't be a term for them! They shouldn't even exist! This shit shouldn't-" Karina pushed Henry aside as her repulsion and horror finally were released in vomit.

Henry retreated away, taking in stagged breaths as he attempted to shake the images in his mind.

Everyone else did the same, not wanting to look at the horror before them, apart from Terra, who remained fixed on the portal above.

"We just have to climb up when the portal opens?" she asked, not breaking away from staring at the sky.

"Yes," answered Henry, seeing her bright green eyes have a semblance of determination.

"And then... I'll be free..."

*

After all of the tents were pitched, most of the Evil Eyes rested, exhausted physically from the trek up and down the mountain and mentally and emotionally from witnessing the earth nymphs. However, a few of them could not sleep, having nightmares and waking up screaming or shaking in their blankets. O'Sullivan's speech of inspiration and about freedom worked somewhat this time, the promise that fighting through this monstrosity would grant everyone freedom settled most of their fears, but then they remembered that they had to climb up those disfigured bodies, the thought of being dragged into the pile and becoming one of them, one of the earth nymphs, losing their mind and giving into hunger, grabbing and devouring whatever was nearby and...

Henry stopped himself from thinking about it again. This was for Nia and his second cousin. He had to do this. He would gain freedom himself with this plan, the Evil Eyes would escape through the portal successfully... or they would fail and become a part of the...

Was this right? Yes, they had kept him prisoner and tortured him, but was it still ethical to lure them into this trap? Did any Evil Eyes, even Karina and O'Sullivan, deserve such a fate? Did anyone truly deserve to become a nymph? There was no release from death from such a fate if they did fail...

And what if Henry failed? O'Sullivan wanted Henry to escape with them, to use his knowledge of the inner workings of the Abyss that was needed on the other side. Henry was planning on falling behind and running away, somehow taking Nia back, but what if he couldn't?

There wasn't that long left until the portal opened; he needed a plan; he needed...

He paused as he noticed Terra staring off into the distance, eyes still focused on the portal above, not looking down at what she would have to climb to achieve her dream of freedom.

Terra might escape the Abyss again, but would she stay free this time? Or would she be thrown back down with her memories wiped again? Repeating the cycle over and over...

Terra broke her concentration as she noticed Henry staring. "You said I escaped before," she said quietly, softly.

"Yes," said Henry. "I met you before."

"How did I escape?"

"You climbed up a tall mountain during a heavy thunderstorm."

She nodded slowly, returning to look at the mountain of earth nymphs. "I can't believe someone would do this..."

Henry bowed his head. "There are other types of nymphs out there... but this one, I would agree, is by far perhaps the cruellest." He paused. "Water nymphs are tied down so they are forever drowning... fire nymphs are thrown into portals above lava or other hot environments, forever burning... and then air nymphs are the rarest, usually situated on mountains." Henry swallowed. "They have ropes wrapped around their bodies, the rope would catch on the mountainside or trees... and they would be unable to get down, forever suspended, most of the time in windy climates, their bodies ravaged by the endless gale..."

He didn't know why he was telling Terra all of this, it wasn't exactly a cheery subject, but he hoped it might dissuade her from climbing that mountain of earth nymphs.

"They should pay for this..." Terra hushed in a cold whisper, her fist clenched.

"This is an archaic punishment," said Henry. "They don't do this anymore-"

"But nothing is being done to help those still being punished by it!" Terra shook her head. "It's disgusting..." She turned to Henry, her toxic green eyes narrowing. "When we escape... I'm going to get rid of all those kings and queens, all those people that think they can treat us like this... or maybe I'll throw them down here, and they can see what it's like..."

Henry hesitated. "Or maybe... you could enjoy your freedom, try to be happy-"

"No." Terra looked back to the portal. "If what you said was true, that I've escaped before, my memories wiped, because it is entertaining, then I don't want to give them the power; I'm going to stop them from doing it from everyone else too." She gritted her teeth. "I am not anyone's plaything." Terra looked back at Henry, softly smiling, the anger from before still lying underneath. "You won't need to traverse the whole of the Abyss in search of your cousin; we can save Corinna, free her, free everyone! If we escape, we can save everyone from the Eternal Abyss!"

When Henry did not respond, only staring in utter silence, the smile on Terra's face disappeared, turning back into the focus on the portal. "You don't think we can do you?"

Henry shook his head. "No..."

"That's fine." She sucked in a breath. "I don't need your belief; I just need mine."

And with that, Terra finally retired to rest, swapping guard duties with another hyena-masked follower.

Though Henry had given up on saving Terra from her self-destructive notions of escaping and overthrowing the monarchy, he had not given up on his second cousin and Nia. Somewhat inspired by Terra's conviction, Henry devised a plan for his escape from the Evil Eyes. He forced himself to edge closer to see the mountain of earth nymphs, hoping that the longer he looked, the more desensitised he would be, which would mentally help when the time came.

His wardens did not care, wanting to stay away from the sight as much as they could but still occasionally glancing over to Henry, ensuring he wasn't planning on escaping or doing something suspicious.

Henry also looked for anything of use, an escape route, a...

He paused, seeing something move down below in the darkness. Henry squinted his eyes, his breath caught in his throat as he saw a monster near the earth nymphs, a large skeletal being, resembling a human but on all fours but with hands instead of feet, its enormous rib cage taking up the majority of its body. With a long skeletal hand, it dragged an earth nymph from the pile, and then its rib cage opened up, stuffing the crippled and wailing earth nymph inside, the bones closing around it. After a moment, the nymph inside withered and shrunk, and skin grew around the monster's skeletal frame until eventually it was covered, now more monstrous as it appeared more human with skin, but its disproportionate body was uncanny and revolting.

Once it had fed, the once-skeletal being scuttled away.

Henry wondered how often the monster would skulk to this feeding ground.

And if he could incorporate it into his plan to escape the Evil Eyes for good. 

Day: 1359

It was the day that the portal above the earth nymphs would open. To much of Henry's disappointment, the Evil Eyes were more prepared and clever than he had expected. O'Sullivan had devised a plan to ensure that everyone would stay safe whilst climbing the earth nymph pile by tying a rope around everyone's waists, connecting each other in a long line so that if someone was dragged into the pile, they could be easily pulled out and not lost to the nymphs.

As Henry was deemed important because of his knowledge and to stop him from fleeing so easily, he was near the front of the line, just behind O'Sullivan, so that he could be kept an eye on. At the very least, he was far from Karina, who was near the middle, alongside Terra.

How was he going to escape now? Henry glanced behind and saw the hyena guard carrying the lantern cage in which Nia was trapped inside; then he looked to Karina, who had his notebook of memories still on her person, or at least he hoped she still had it on her. She certainly liked to flaunt it in front of him occasionally, reading out extracts.

How would he escape whilst being tied to everyone, climbing up a pile of hungry zombies, and make it out with Nia and his notebook without facing the wrath of O'Sullivan and Karina?

All Henry was banking on now was for that skeletal monster to appear again. Whilst everyone was waiting for the day of the escape, Henry forced himself to watch the earth nymphs and noted that the monster seemed regular; four times a day, it would arrive and feed on one of the earth nymphs, regaining its skin, then leaving. By Henry's calculations, the monster should come roughly simultaneously with the portal. But what if it was late? What if the monster would barely distract the Evil Eyes? Not to mention how powerful O'Sullivan's mask was; with a single stare, he could likely cut the being in half. Would that be enough for him to escape?

They began to climb up the mountain of earth nymphs, all hesitant at first as they had to step on people's bodies, who were still alive, the nymphs squirming and writhing underneath their feet. They were easily saved if someone was caught, a hand wrapped around their ankle attempting to drag them down.

Why did the Evil Eyes have to be so efficient? What seemed an impossible task was overcome with their teamwork, all of them watching out for each other's safety. It was a breeze climbing up, and then all they had to do was wait a few more minutes for the portal to open and then freedom.

Henry attempted to slow it down, taking smaller and slower steps, but the rope tied around his waist, connecting everyone, just pulled him up, the pace too quick for Henry's exhausted and starved body. The person at the front of the line was already at the top.

Come on, he thought. Someone mess up. Something happen. It can't end like this. It can't-

There was a scream from down below as a clanking and scuttling sound grew closer.

"Monster!" yelled a follower. "Run!"