《The Fall》


 Prelude

    Human history has always been bleak. Up until several generations ago, the default setting for mankind had been war and misery. The wars eventually subsided, at least the major ones did, and Mankind ushered in a new Golden Era. We knew a time of relative peace and plenty, unknown in our whole violent existence. So much so, that people began to think life in the modern world was difficult. Entire generations that never had to fight for anything, decided to find hardship and difficulty in basic living. They saw problems in their simple lives, that paled in comparison to what our ancestors experienced.


    Society began to get comfortable, too comfortable. Blind to what real struggle actually was. So, we created films and books that glorified the hard times our society lacked. We trivialised it, had conversations about how, if the world ended, that we would be the ones to survive, in whatever apocalyptic hell fantasy we thought the future would hold.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    How wrong we were.


    When society crumbled, it was not nuclear war, a zombie apocalypse or even a wide spread natural disaster. The truth was much more terrifying. Deep from the bowels of the Earth, an ancient terror arose. A darkness so malignant and deceitful that it put all of our pre conceived ideas to shame. They emerged from the stygian depths. They copied. They adapted to every aspect of our psyche, and they tore us apart. Shredding our sanity to the core, until society and life as we knew it buckled under the weight of the infestation.


    There is no hope. No escape. This is the Fall.

 Precognition

    You see, the thing is, I have always thought there was more to existence. Like the life that I lead seemed hollow, somehow wrong. The day in day out drudgery of work, eat sleep, repeat. I wasn¡¯t unhappy by any means, just unfulfilled. I guess that is just a side effect of living in modern society. Everything seems to lack substance, because if you are being honest with yourself, it really does. If I want something, there is no struggle to get it. I just need to jump in my car - scratch that ¨C jump online and simply have it delivered. No hassle, no fuss.


    That is why the dreams have started to intrigue me. Its always the same, I wake up next to a cabin in the woods, the sun devoid of heat, the wind whipping through the Oak trees somehow stale, sinister, as if the trees themselves were laughing at my predicament. I would stand up slowly, dry leaves crunching under my weight and take in what I see. The cabin, a standard wooden construction with horizontal oak logs for walls and a serviceable roof of aspen logs woven with thick branches and leaves. I stand next to the cabin in a small clearing some 60 feet across. Meandering into the woods to the south is a narrow stone path covered with detritus. I hesitantly walk towards the entrance to the path, the cool wind picking up as I move, causing goosebumps on my arms. Looking down the dark path, the light slowly fades to blackness some 15 or so feet down. That¡¯s when the voices start.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Come. Come to us. We wait for you. We are watching¡±.


    I wake in a cold sweat, the haunted spectre of the cabin and the ghostly voices of the dark path give way to my sheets, soaked in perspiration and my mind, as foggy as the fading simulacrum of my dream scape. I still don¡¯t know what it means, all I know is that I am already late for work.