>>4658760Still I see him before my restless eyes, still he haunts my nightmares.
The old woman had told me of the darkblooded things that haunted the land past the old wall. So I went past it, to see if the stories were true.
The first thing I noticed was the smell, how the pleasant scent of nachos and spices gave way to the stink of faeces. Then, how the sound of banjos became but distant memories. Nothing replaced them. There was nothing but silence in the desert beyond the wall.
Night fell.
I heard his voice first as a distant murmur from coming from beyond the remote mountains in the horizon. At first I could not make out what it said, but I knew I did not want to know. I knew that I had to run.
He ran faster. Little by little, he gained on me, I knew, because his voice grew louder, and so did that wretched stench...
He was close, and the border still far away.
Still I could not see the border, and I no longer had the strength to run.
I turned to face the beast to face the nightmare that I would face over and over, night after night.
Lord...
This was the thing the old woman had spoken off...
The beast beyond the wall...
The one whom all light has left...
The walking corruption...
La Creatura...
The beast looked at me with lidless eyes and spoke:
"XHUR NROTT HXWTHWAAYT!"
...And then I fainted
