Sins Loom: The Unwilling Weaver

Why won’t it end? As he woke up, Ed could still feel the overwhelming heat torching his body. However, he no longer felt the fire dancing on his skin. Instead, it felt like he was being baked inside of an oven. The air around him was swelteringly hot. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at a hazy red sky. Where am I?

Sitting up, he took a deep breath, inhaling a lungful of ash and sulphur. He coughed harshly, as he felt a searing pain in his throat. His finger’s raked across the ground, drawing lines through the ash, revealing the dry, cracked ground beneath

He found himself in a place unlike anything he had ever seen before. Off in the distance, towering, volcanic mountains constantly spewed thick plumes of ash and smoke into the sky, blocking out the sky. He found himself on a vast plain. Desolate and coated in ash, with a thin haze limiting what he can see. There were no signs of life for as far as the eye could see.

Shakily, he stood up, trying to find anything that was different. I’m going to die here. Finding nothing, he decided to try his luck, setting off in a random direction. There’s got to be something out there.

As he walked, his skin began to blister and peel, turning a reddish hue. His surroundings remained as desolate as ever. The only change being that the volcanoes slowly began to disappear behind the haze, until eventually they disappeared entirely, leaving him with nothing of note.

Minutes passed as he continued walking into the unknown. A low gurgling sound started to slowly rise, starting so quietly that it took a while for Ed to even realise it was there. What is that? The sound continued to mount, and as it did, he began to see something moving in the distance. As he got closer, he was able to finally see what it was.

A long river of lava gently flowed, blocking his path. He looked up and down the river but saw no signs of somewhere he could cross. He kicked a rock into the river, watching as it sunk, causing the lava to fly off into the air.

Guess I’ll be going another way then. Keeping a distance from the river, he followed it downstream. There probably aren’t any normal rivers here. Maybe I’ll be able to find some form of civilisation if I follow this downstream. I just hope that whatever it is that can live here doesn’t crave human flesh.

Minutes passed of him walking downstream, and eventually he began to notice changes in his surroundings. The ground became rockier and started to rise and fall in elevation. Hills dotted the now rugged landscape. The river started to snake between the hills, so Ed decided it would be a better idea to climb to the top of one of the larger hills in the area.

He fell to the ground as he reached the top of the hill, his lungs burning, as he tried desperately to inhale as much oxygen as possible. Looking out into the distance, he watched as the river continued flowing, twisting and bending through the hills. I can’t keep going on like this.

As his eyes scanned along the river, they locked onto something on a nearby hill. A small hole was seemingly burrowed out of the side of it. Maybe I can hide away from the smoke.

Hobbling down the hill, he kept his eyes locked on the cave entrance the entire time. Reaching it, he found the hole to be much larger than he was expecting it to be. Walking up to it, he ran his hand along the edge, finding it to be surprisingly smooth. Stepping inside, he found the tunnel to be almost perfectly circular. This cave doesn’t feel like it was formed naturally. As he continued on, he found that the tunnel was constantly bending. For some reason, it reminded him of how worms' tunnel through the earth, and alarm bells began ringing in his mind. How big would a creature have to be to do this? I hope it isn’t nearby.

He decided against walking further into the tunnel, instead sitting down to rest. Where has Buddie sent me? Wherever I am, it feels like absolute hell. I hope I can find other shelters soon, but for now I’ll just rest here.

With nothing to focus on, the pain became overwhelming. His skin was a blinding red, as if he had spent hours baking in the summer sun without protection, his lungs were filled with smoke and ash, making it difficult for him to breathe. He felt pain whenever he moved. Even the slightest thing brushing against his skin felt like agony.

I can’t go on. This is probably how Buddie wanted me to die. Maybe I should just get it over and done with so I can go back to my room. The longer I’m out here the worse it's going to get. Struggling to stand up, Ed started to walk back to the entrance. I’ve always wondered what it’s like to swim in lava. That should end me quicker than the ash will.

As he was walking, he began to hear a low rumbling. He stopped in his tracks, and looked around to try and find where the noise was coming from. Placing his ear to the ground, he found that it was coming from below. He felt the ground start to shake as dirt fell from the ceiling. The tremors intensified as the rumbling grew louder and louder. Cracks formed across the walls of the tunnel, as it started to collapse in on itself. Shit! The tunnel fell apart around him, leaving him trapped and without any way to escape.

Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath him, and time seemed to freeze for a moment. For a moment, Ed stared directly into the gaping maw filled with thousands of razor-sharp teeth, before he was quickly swallowed whole, disappearing into the darkness.