A Subterranean Dream

A Story by Jason Damstra

An intriguing scrap based on a dream I had a few days ago :D

And deep deep down in the unfathomable darkness of this place... This, pseudo-refuge I saw them, two figures. Both shockingly pale in aspect, one standing on echoing metal stairs, the other kneeling before him. The latter seemed more ghastly than the former, his bright white skin making him glow, he stood out amongst the damp subterranean darkness... This was probably due to the fact that his shirt was off. The figure underneath was neither fat nor emaciated... Merely a figure unworked bearing an incredible metabolism. His dark rimmed eyes seemed to shimmer and spark in the gloom as he prostrated himself on those stairs. The stairs themselves were bolted to a great and terrible concrete tower that rose to unimaginable heights and sunk to darker depths still. The stairs culminated in a metal cat-walk that clanked under ones tread. Before the stairwell stood a chain link gate and I saw, as my eyes adjusted to the gloom several more of these structures latticed around the gallery, hundreds of catwalks leading into unknowable vapors and slowly whirring machines. The pale one who sat prostrate on the stairs began to mutter unintelligibly as he fell and rose in what appeared to be some form of ritual. His partner looked about him, wild eyed and clammy... Finally I saw the cause for concern... For out of the darkness before them limped a figure, a gruesome figure all teeth and snarls. It hobbled forward in a broken sort of way, its skin looked loose and fibrous, hanging about its high boned jowls... Upon reaching the gate it proceeded to shake and rattle and push the old thing. The standing man suddenly struck a match against the wall. The thing behind the gate recoiled from the small flash, but in that instant I saw its eyes, sunken and black they glittered a reflective green akin to the eyes of beasts. I also saw its head more fully... Were I had assumed the thing bald I noted the glimmer of slick wet tissue, convoluted and pulsing gently I realized that I was staring at the brain of this snarling thing in the shape of a man. It's banging on the gate became heavier since the light, its eyes fixed on the man holding it, the links rattled more and more in their old hinges until finally a corner gave way, the creature continued its assault, writhing and pushing and dribbling and snarling, soon it was leaning in towards the prostrate, still mumbling man, his companion looking all at once horrified and angry launched a kick at the thing... It caught his boot and for a moment he thought he'd lose his balance and plummet off the stairwell - leaning against the sparse railing he shoved with all his might launching the thick leather boot and the terror backwards... And alas there is no more, I woke at this point swimming through the dull fogs and layers of sleep.