A Veil of Darkness – A Fantasy Short Story by Tim Harrison

Darkness, and then…

A burning light crackled in the distance, hallowed flame in this darkened night. The claw-like trees, reaching towards the clearing in which it resided, were now visible. Not for the casting of light upon them but for the silhouettes they made against it.

The path Kale stood on seemed like the advance out the mouth of a great beast. Those gnarled twisted branches the many rows of sharp teeth. This beast however, was asleep.

He stepped into the clearing, fire crackling… invitingly? He wasn’t sure if it’s warmth and light were welcoming or something entirely more sinister. What was a fire doing here, in these woods so apparently devoid of light and life?

He stepped forward, mesmerized by that dancing light. Coming up to the edge of the flames he gazed into the fire, entranced by the mystery it presented.

A voice broke the otherwise silent night.

“I think you’ll find the burning of your flesh a bit less desirable than simply enjoying the warmth from a distance”.

Looking up he saw a man. His face was old of age and flush with wrinkles. It was not so much a kindly face but perhaps a wise one with an expression hard to read. Was he tired or relaxed? Glad or annoyed that he now had company that he hadn’t otherwise planned for. He was dressed in a rather irregular fashion. Gray robes clothed his form in a way that was entirely too large for him, they draped about the log he sat upon as he puffed on a long pipe.

“Sit down kid”, the old man muttered around another drag of his pipe, “unless you’re in a hurry to go rushing off back into the…” he stopped, coughing around the smoke of his pipe and gestured generally at the forest around them.

“Where am I?” Kale asked, not entirely sure what his first question should be of this, his apparently only companion in the long dark, but this seemed like an appropriate one. “How did I get here?”

The old man snorted, fresh pipe smoke billowing out his nose as he attempted to stifle another series of coughs.

“I don’t think you understand the magnitude of the question you just asked boy”. He responded once his coughing had subsided. Taking another long drag on his pipe he continued. “Many others before you have asked the same question, most of them likely wiser too.”

“And did you give them the same vague answer as me?” Kale responded, growing slightly irritated. Having found at last some bastion of familiarity within the darkness Kale had expected… well he didn’t really know what he’d expected but what he didn’t need was some old dolt making the situation any more vague than it already was.

The old man, also seeming irritated, opened his mouth to respond but was racked with another round of coughs, this one seeming particularly nasty and ending in a particularly deep and hacking fashion. Once he had regained himself he took another long drag on his pipe, eyes closed in apparent bliss. Kale frowned slightly, somewhat confused by the insistence on partaking in that which was clearly causing quite some discomfit.

The Old man breathed out a long plume of smoke, a blissful expression upon his face. He opened eyes and mouth to once again respond but was bent double by an even more heinous fit of coughing than before.

This time however it did not end so fast. He coughed and coughed, almost sprawled on the ground now, his body shaking from the force of his own unwilling exhalations.

Kale’s expression changed from one of befuddlement to genuine concern, as the coughs continued each more forceful than the last. The age and frailty of the old man became more and more apparent and Kale feared for a moment that he may genuinely injure himself from the force of his own convulsions.

He needed worry for only a moment though, as at the climax of a particularly forceful cough the old man seemed to exhale with such force that his body… disintegrated. There was no other word for it. That final fatal cough left his body with such force it seemed to blow the very fabric of his being apart, leaving nothing but a fine mist of, what appeared to be, ash on the ground.

Kale stood there, the sounds of coughing now faded, replaced only by the crackling of the fire beside him, undisturbed and unperturbed, a silent watcher.

He paused for a moment, and then reached down and lifted the robes the old man had been wearing, now left sprawled upon the ground. He shook them briefly, holding them at arms length and turning his face away so as not to breath in any of that… ash.

With a satisfying amount of old-man-dust removed from the robes, he inspected it more closely. It enclosed a single internal breast pocket, that, when he reach inside, contained something that felt cold and metallic.

Pulling it out he saw a —.

The fire went out.

Kale didn’t move for a moment, stunned somewhat by the instant, complete and unexpected darkness.

Much like before the darkness was absolute. He paused then, not that he had been doing anything, as a realisation came upon him. Before? What had been before? All he could remember was being in darkness and then, the fire, appearing as though a great eye in the darkness, opening to observe him before snapping shut once more. He thought back now racking his brain, he felt like he’d been walking in this forest for, well for-ever. He couldn’t remember how he got here, he had just been here. Always?

This was not making any sense, had there always been darkness? Why then had there been a fire and where had it now gone? And more importantly, if it had gone out, why could he still here it cackling?!

He could still here it cackling.

Kale froze then, rigid in place. He could still here it… cackling? That wasn’t the fire. Had it ever been the fire? Had there ever been a fire? Hadn’t he always been in darkness?

The laughter stopped. Kale wasn’t sure if that terrified him more or less. He was rooted to the spot now, terrified to stay where he was but terrified to move as well, who knows what waited him out there in the dark.

He heard something then, heard something, for the very first time, move in the darkness. This was too much, it was all too much. Kale could not take it. He opened his mouth, breath rushing in in the moment before his scream.

***

Kale sat on a log gazing into the fire. His thoughts wandered in that bright flamboyant light. Landing on nothing in particular but straying away from certain things to be sure. What things? He adjusted his positioned slightly, the dead wood beneath him hard on his old bony rear. Grunting softly around his pipe he took a drag.

That beautiful rot-wood smoke. He knew it was killing him but there was nothing he could do. To abstain was a fast agonizing death. To partake was still a fast agonizing death but a rather more delayed one. He hoped so anyway.

The smoke wound it’s way into his lungs, soothing his aches and pains even as he felt it’s poison seeping into his blood. His mind seemed to dull as the affects took hold, lulling him into a trance-like state gazing deep into that fire. He wasn’t sure how long he remained like that but was broken out of it abruptly, noticing that he was no longer alone.

A young man stood before him next to the fire, also gazing into it’s depths. His youth seemed juxtaposed against a weariness deep in his eyes and as Kale watched him it almost seemed as though he would take one more step and embrace the heart of the fire itself.

“I think you’ll find the burning of your flesh a bit less desirable than simply enjoying the warmth from a distance” he commented sardonically.

The young lad seemed to start, surprised. He glanced then at Kale, apparently not noticing him until now. Kale couldn’t really blame him, he’d been lost in a world unto himself as well up until a moment ago.

“Sit down kid” he muttered, taking another long drag of rot wood, if he was going to have company he figured he’d rather not have them looming over him while they spoke.

“Where am I?” the young man asked instead, barely getting out the question before he was taken by a fit of coughing. Kale frowned at that. That’s odd, he thought, I could have sworn… could have sworn... For a moment it was as though his consciousness was swimming in a vast ocean, or not so much swimming as struggling not to drown. Paddling fruitlessly in the unknowable depths of his own mind.

Struggling back to the surface of his thoughts he dismissed the lad.

“I don’t think you understand the magnitude of the question you just asked boy”. He puffed on his pipe again seeking it’s calming affects. “Many others before you have asked the same question, most of them likely wiser too.” What others?

The young man’s face twisted in irritation. “And did you give them the same vague answer as me?” he growled.

Kale was growing irritated as well now, he wasn’t quite sure if it was the boy’s tone, the rot-wood or the struggles he had piercing the veil of his own mind but he opened his mouth to retort. Before he could however, the boy was bent double, racking coughs shaking his frame. More and more, worse and worse they were ripped from his throat until they brought him low, till he was near prostrate on the ground, overcome by his affliction. Kale could not watch however, his eyes were glued to the pipe in his hand. This was wrong, something about this was wrong but what?

He looked up. Just in time he saw the lad give one final desperate enormous hacking cough and… he was gone. His very being blasted apart by the force of his exhalation.

A fine dust hung in the air slowly drifting down to cover the ground like powdered snow.

He looked down at his pipe again, confused. Then back up at what remained of the young lad. Is that how it was supposed to go? He wasn’t sure, something felt wrong but he couldn’t place his finger on it.

He felt himself reaching his hand up towards his breast pocket and placing his hand inside to find something cold and metallic.

He knew what happened next but at the same time he felt like he shouldn’t.

Turning back to the fire he saw it go out this time. This time? And noticed the sounds overlapping, the soft crackling of the flame giving way to that soft cackling laugh out in the darkness.

Was this the part where he screamed? But no, he couldn’t scream, his lungs were old and filled with rot-smoke.

He stood then, feeling as though he should be doing something but not sure what. How had he gotten into this forest? Why was he so old? When had he started smoking rot wood of all things?

The laughter stopped.

Something moved in the darkness.

***

The door was sturdy, oak, full of frame and oiled of hinge. Kale supposed so anyway, it was rather hard to tell since the door didn’t have a handle. Not to mention it also wasn’t attached to anything, it just stood there in the middle of the forest, minding it’s own business.

Kale scratched his head, not really sure what to do, he just stood there, staring up at the door quizzically. After a moment he began to walk around it, struck by what may be on the other side of a lone door in the middle of a forest.

The answer, as it turns out, is more forest. Kale frowned slightly, not surprised perhaps by this turn of events but still confused. Turning back to the door he saw… well not a door, that was gone now. Instead he seemed to be standing at the edge of a clearing, a crackling fire burned enthusiastically in the center and next to it were two men. One young, one old. One standing, the other sitting.

Kale tilted his head, a small frown now upon his face, watching with curiosity and mild confusion as he observed this encounter. After a couple of exchanged words the old man seemed to be entirely taken by a horrible coughing fit seemingly caused by the pipe he had been smoking. A moment later he exploded, quite literally, into a cloud of ash.

Kale was shocked. Despite this he couldn’t quite manage the horror he saw on the young man’s face or muster up any real concern, it was just too… strange, too unreal. How does a man literally explode from coughing, even if he is that old.

He watched, somewhat bemused, as the young lad shook out the robes the old man had been wearing before reaching inside them and then… darkness.

Kale couldn’t help it, a low laugh began in the back of his throat, what an earth was going on, this whole scenario was completely ridiculous. What was all this? A random door in a forest that disappears. Two complete strangers one of whom literally explodes and a disappearing fire?

The laugh finally died in his throat. Shaking his head in bemusement he decided there was no point standing there alone in the darkness and started walking into the clearing towards where he’d seen the two men around the fire.

Walking around it and then turning back towards it, the door vanished, revealing a clearing with two men next to a campfire, one young, one old. One standing, one sitting. One watching in horror, one exploding into dust.

The young one reaching into the dust covered pocket of the older ones robes and… darkness. Kale’s laughter, walking forward and then…

The door was sturdy, full of frame and oiled of hinge. Kale supposed so anyway, it was hard to tell since the door didn’t have a handle. It also wasn’t attached to anything, it just stood there in the middle of the forest.

Around and back.

A clearing.

Two men, standing and sitting.

Horror and explosion.

A hand in a robe, then darkness.

Laughter, motion.

The door was sturdy. It didn’t have a handle. It just stood there in the middle of the forest.

Around and back.

A clearing, men, explosion, robe, darkness, laughter.

Kale looked up at the door. It was sturdy, oak, larger than you’d expect of a regular house door but otherwise not particularly unusual except that it seemed to be missing a handle. Not to mention it also wasn’t attached to anything, it just stood there in the middle of the forest, minding it’s own business.

Kale turned around. He paused, confused. Was that right? Was he supposed to turn around, or was there something else first? He shook his head, what was he talking about? His own confusion was confusing him.

Looking up he was soon distracted however, a clearing in front of him showed a scene of two men. One young, one old. One standing, one sitting. The old man was puffing quite contentedly on a long pipe although even from here Kale could recognise the acrid stink of rot-wood. I guess if you’re that old, he thought to himself, you haven’t got long left anyway. Still, a nasty way to go. He shivered at the thought but found himself distracted a moment later as the young lad bent over in a coughing fit.

Kale frowned, that seemed odd, he’d have sworn the old man was supposed to cough here, he was the one after all, smoking rot-wood.

A couple moments and another coughing fit later, the young lad was on the ground, his body shaking and then… he was gone. A gray dust filled the air. Kale was stunned. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen was it? The old man was supposed to die and the young… Supposed? What was he on about?

Still, Kale could not shake that feeling of confusion, he couldn’t say why if asked, but the very nature of this felt wrong?

He watched as the old man seemed to recover his wits and then reach into his pocket. A moment later the fire went out. Not slowly doused or in a shower of sparks but simply out. Instantaneous, an eye blinking shut.

Kale did not feel like laughing and yet it somehow welled up in him anyway, spilling out of his mouth until it was time to be done.

***

He went to walk around the door and see it’s other side but something stopped him. Something seemed to weigh him down and hold him to that spot. He realised then he was holding something. Something cold and metallic.

He looked down at his hand, clutched in a fist around something, and, uncurling his fingers, he finally saw it.

Sitting there, in the palm of his hand, was a door handle.

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