Dust and Bones

A small wooden carriage rode through the wasteland leaving behind only dust and trails making sure to avoid the giant bones of unknown creatures.

The coachman saw a brilliant light in the distance urged by his curiosity he just couldn't ignore it, he quickly turned the carriage over to the direction and rode like the wind.

It wasn't long before he arrived but the brilliant light was gone seemingly leaving behind a man that seemed to be in his late 30s, he was wearing a brown coat and a hat with a very crude face.

.......

The mysterious man was woken by the sound of galloping and the shaky carriage, the coachman looked back and saw his guest was awake so he stopped the carriage and asked him to come forward.

They sat next to each other while the coachman skillfully rode through the wasteland avoiding the enormous bone of long forgotten creatures.

The mysterious man was in awe of this sight, seeing skulls the size of mountains and arms that reached out of sand as if trying to grab something in the sky above them. It was as if there was a great battle with no victors and the wasteland became the final resting place of these creatures.

The coachman stared at him, a little bit frightened by the look of wonder and curiousity in the depths of the man's dark eyes at this horrific site.

"Most people would be terrified,I guess you are not most people, the name's jack"

The coachman was a bit annoyed that the guest did not pay any attention to his words but suddenly he replied.

"Thank you jack, you can call me William Harris".

"Well, William Harris I don't know about you but this place gives me chills"

"Yet you ride here, when there's clearly nothing but a wasteland"

Laughter erupted in air from Jack but his face soon grew solemn.

"What else can I do"

Jack said no more and focused on riding the carriage, William wanted to ask what he meant but felt that it was not his place so he continued admiring the ruins of the forgotten battlefield as they rode in silence.

........

Even after hours there was still only silence between them, Harris had no intention of striking a conversation and jack felt embarrassed to speak of the issue after his dramatic pause, then Harris turned to face him.

"Where are we going"

"Are you curious"

There was a sly smirk on his face, he felt triumphant in making Harris speak first but Harris responded to his question with a blank expression which infuriated him even more.

"We are heading to a town"

"I'm surprised there's a town in this wasteland"

"It's really the only human settlement you can find. For any of us who were able to survive here, we all had the same feeling, head east".

"What do you mean survive"

"This place is crawling with monsters"

"Have you ever seen one"

Jack let out a weak laugh and smiled, he turned his sights away from the road for the first time and said with a hoarse voice "I've had my fair share of close encounters but even so this place still sends a chill down my spine whenever I think what might be out there'".

After that jack told Harris that you can only ever encounter a monster outside the town. Harris still looked unnerved he put on his hat and rested his back on the carriage seemingly taking a nap.

Harris closed his weary eyes seemingly taking a nap but he wasn't asleep in fact he never slept in the outside world he had been asleep for long enough, still he tried to mimic the familiar darkness, closing his eyes and putting his hat over his face to block the light.

He let his mind wonder and wander until he was lost in his own thoughts, even the sound of the carriage riding through the battlefield faded into nothingness has his mind began to clear sending his consciousness down an everflowing river, it was the closest thing to sleep he would be getting in a while and the closest thing to a dream he will ever get.

......

Darkness fell on the the forgotten battlefield and the carriage came to a halt, it was already a dangerous endeavour to explore these wastelands during the day and moving at night is akin to asking for death.

Jack rode the carriage through a small hole at the back of a dead giant's skull using the carriage to block the entrance, there was enough space for himself, Harris and his horse.

His horse laid down at a corner of the skull, happy to finally get some rest after today's long journey, jack had hoped Harris would take first watch but no matter what he did his guest refused to wake up from his slumber, so he stood guard as seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours and inevitably he drifted to sleep as he too had had a really long day.

"Wake up master"

Harris heard a familiar voice that awakened him from his slumber, he quickly opened his eyes but saw nothing but darkness, the familiar voice was also gone.

Harris saw a strange light emanating from outside the skull and decided to investigate, so he climbed out with the help of a small knife through the eye socket of the giant unto the top of the skull and stared at the sky.

The sky was empty, there were no clouds nor were there any stars just the darkness that came from emptiness.

He looked downwards unto the blood red sands of the forgotten battlefield, they were sparkling embracing the wasteland in their crimson light, it was has if heaven and earth had switched places.

And he thought If someone were to see him from the sky above, it would look as if he was sitting among the stars.

He chuckled to himself "that can't be right"

But it was beautiful nonetheless.

....

Little jack sat at the table holding a little baby girl in his arms, his father laid on the floor motionless and his mother on the table, blood gushing from her throat, she tried to tell him something but she couldn't all she could do was choke on her own blood as her son watched over her final moments.

Little jack saw the light leave his mother's eyes little by little until her eyes became dark and cold and as little as he was he understood his mother and understood what she was trying to say, she wasn't trying to apologise for the the things she did and the things she didn't do, she was saying.

"Help me please"

"Selfish, heartless, greedy"

Those words echoed in jack's heart, he was filled with rage for what his parents made him do as a young child but still his heart never let him forgive himself and his mind punished him by giving him horrible nightmares.

...

Jack stood at the heart of the world surrounded by countless stars and galaxies, even though they were billions of miles away, he still felt so close to them, he could feel their warmth, their love and their very source of life even though he was billions of miles away from them he had never felt so close to the world as in that moment.

Tears fell from his eyes into the vast darkness of space and he heard a voice tell him.

"Push the wheel jack"

Tears still in his eyes he walked towards the enormous wheel, it took all his strength to make it move, it was the heart of the world, if it stopped the world would cease and jack would burn, this was his punishment.

The creaking sound of the wheel filled the vast expance of space, echoing In the void, jack did has he was told, he pushed the wheel, he had been pushing the wheel for so long now, his clothes had become rags, his hair was long and unkept, his beard covered most of his face, his skin and flesh clinged greedily to his weary broken bones, he stopped for a moment, he stopped for the thousandth time and asked the same question "do I deserve this" and the voice gave him the same answer "push the wheel jack".

He put his hands on the wheel again to continue his punishment, so that one day he would be forgiven until he heard another voice.

"Stop jack"

He turned around but no one was there, it came from nowhere just like his tormentor but it was soothing and pleasant.

"This is my punishment for what I did"

"It's okay to forgive yourself, you do not deserve this, the hearts of humans is wicked, you are not the monster they said you were, you deserve to be happy"

Those words made jack feel alive again, he stopped pushing the wheel and slowly but surely instead of the sound of the creaking wheel, the quiet sobs of a lonely child filled the void.

And then he screamed his heart out

"Push the wheel jack"

"No"

"Push the wheel jack"

"I said no"

" I do not deserve this, I did nothing wrong, I am a victim, I have been a victim all this time, they should be the ones in this hell, not me"

The voice remained silent, jack felt the love, the warmth and life of the world slowly fade away into the darkness, as his body burned from the inside, his flesh turned Into dust and his bones to charcoal.

"Thank you"

"Are you sad"

"No, not at all, I was going to crumble away anyway, right"

His body turned to dust but his cries still echoed.

...

Everything fell apart descending into a terrible darkness and In that darkness a horrifying nightmare hid itself, one which fed on pain and despare.

Little jack was next to it, floating in the darkness, his stomach was sliced open, spilling his intestines and his skull was cracked open so both it's head could feast.

"You must be quite full now"

The two headed monstrosity turned around angrily to see what disturbed it's meal, it's eyes were already brimming with hate but what it saw was a nightmare more horrifying than it's own.

"A creature like you, only exist to devourer and cause pain, you can not be called life"

It's voice was no longer soothing but horrifying and hateful, the two headed monster tried to run away but it had already lost it's legs to the nightmare before him so it tried to crawl but it had lost it's arm, all it could was sqarm on the ground screaming in pain.

"That's it, try to preserve your worthless existence, you do not get the pleasure of death, if you are a monster that devours, it should only make sense for you to be devoured".