Crossing of Worlds
By: Keras Kane
Part 1: Witches of Lustwin
Chapter 1: Left Below
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Content Information and Disclosure:
All characters depicted in this story are over the age of 18. Any flashbacks, recollections, or memories characters may have, also depict characters over the age of 18. The themes in this chapter contains what appears as dubious consent or even what appears as non-consent. Please know that while it is not explained in this chapter, the actions are consensual and is explained in later chapters as the story progresses and you learn more about the characters situation. Also to add, some sentences or sections have been removed from the version that will be later published, in order to avoid crossing any community guidelines. If any are crossed, I apologize in advance. Sincerely, Keras Kane]
Alex inhaled deeply as consciousness began to return to him as fresh cool air from the outside wafted in to greet his senses with the scent of recent rain and blooming lilacs. A most pleasant smell in comparison to the dank earthen smell of his current location. From what he had managed to discern, he was far enough underground to only catch the occasional fresh gusts of air that managed to reach his location. The brief bouts of awareness that he desperately struggled to keep left him to ponder exactly what had occurred to arrive in such a place as this underground prison. Mere glimpses of events comprised of jumbled memories that felt altogether unreal caused him further consternation, leaving him with questions that he urgently wished to know the answers to.
Alex froze in his attempt to sit up as terrible pain shot through his muscles and body making them spasm as he lay propped in a corner of the cell. Cautiously, he reached with a shaky hand to his left side to feel how severely injured he was. His body ached from head to toe. Sharp piercing pain assailed him on the right side of his body, more so along the ribs and hip, where the pain seemed to be most concentrated. His lungs shuddering from it with each inhale that he took. Piercing pain as though needles were plunged throughout his body into his muscles was nothing compared to the pain he felt along the whole of his left side. The agony of which was a burning, twinging pain that had no end to it, as if his very nerves were being ground away. Yet, as his hand shakily felt along and prodded at ribs and flesh. There were no signs of any such injury, not even the barest scratch to be felt under his fingers. A spark of recognition as he realized that something actually was amiss with his body as his fingers traveled along rigid muscle where a little bit of flab used to be. Though he was not out of shape by any average means, he certainly was not a regular at the gym as the current muscles under his fingers would indicate. Despite the realization of healed flesh and hardened muscle, phantom pain still beset him that was made no less excruciating knowing that his flesh was whole and unblemished. The pain leaving him feeling as though he had been struck by a car at full speed.
A distorted image flashed in his mind at the thought of a vehicle crashing into him. Blinding headlights bearing down on him in the middle of a road late at night. His body tensed and seized in response to the image, the pain flaring throughout. As quickly as it had arrived, the image and pain faded away. Alex struggled to grasp at it, trying to determine if it was a memory or something from his imagination to make sense of the pain.
The thought and image lost to him, he let a long sigh of frustration as his mind failed to remember more. It was not the first time he had enough consciousness to remember vague dubious imaginings that he was unsure of being real or fiction. The car being amongst the worst in comparison to other fragmented glimpses of memories that made no sense to him. All the images jumbled together in his mind as they were with no distinct context to add to his recent predicament. One of the most recent being that of his arrival to the entrance to the area that he was being held within. It was one of the reasons that led him to be certain that he actually was underground and not elsewhere.
In the memory, he was being directed down a well-trodden dirt path that split the way between two larger sets of lilac bushes. The entrance of the area was set in a large mound covered with the green of fresh grass, a row of lilacs growing at its base, encircling the hill in a uniform ring, with various flowers of blues and purples littering the small hilltop. The dirt path, soft under his feet as he and his unknown captor continued past the entrance descending into a long tunnel creeping further and further into the grass covered mound. An occasional push on his back from his unseen captor his only way of navigation through the maze of tunnel once inside.
Blearily, Alex forced his eyes open, blinking slowly in an attempt to focus them to the dim light of his surroundings. He observed that with annoyance he was still in the same underground cell he was in the last time he was able to wake for a brief period of momentary awareness. Another annoyance that he could not place was where the light was coming from. There were no fixtures, no obvious bulbs for light to emit from, yet there was clearly light down here.
With the help of the unseen light, Alex gazed over his body as his vision cleared and the thumping in his head ebbed; he saw that there were clearly no signs of damage to his body. Regardless, he continued patting at himself and prodding areas that hurt the most and exploring his newfound muscle. Now able to see the unfamiliar muscle that was now his, his eyes shot to where he knew an ugly scar should be to confirm that this was in fact his own body. The familiar shape of the scar remained, but the raised excessive scar tissue was now only a flat and silvery outline. Alex's movements slowed as his sluggish mind processed that his hand was touching skin where cloth should have been. A quick glance down found, gratefully, his lower half was clothed but not with any kind of pants he knew belonged to him.
Nearly in a panic, with all the new changes to his body, Alex's hand shot to his crotch to make sure that at least one aspect of himself had not changed. Sighing in relief as his hand clasped around his wide girth. He had always found comfort knowing that his was the largest, and now again finding that it was still the same. A gentle grab confirmed that his balls, uno and dos, were present and accounted for. After his quick
medical
examination, he noticed the pants once more after readjusting himself, feeling the rough wool that had the look of being hand-woven. The wrongness of which panicked Alex even further, causing sharp needles of pain to shoot through his mind as he fought harder against the fog.
He battled within his mind trying desperately to remember something useful that would explain his situation, just as he had done with previous conscious moments. However, the harder he fought against the fog, the farther and farther the memories seemed to become, and more intense the pain. In comparison, the phantom pain in his body had greatly subsided from earlier waking moments, over what he could only assume to be possibly hours, maybe even days. Without proper memories, it was hard to discern any duration of time.
With only his shoulders propped against the corner of the damp walls, he stared up at the earthen ceiling, wondering how long he would manage to stay conscious this time. Craning his neck from side to side, he began to ease the rigid muscles back into motion slowly. Using the opportunity to survey the square room that at least had started to seem somewhat familiar at that point.
Hand-hewn walls of loose stone and dirt encompassed him on all but one side, which unfortunately sat a set of crude iron bars overcome by age and rust. Within these bars rested a cell door locked shut by old heavy chains and a matching lock the size of his fist. As Alex stared at the lock, he could not help but chuckle at its absurdity; it was like it had fallen right out of a fantasy video game, with its comical size, hammered texture and iconic oversized keyhole. He found some comfort seeing that the whole thing was not rusted over. The keyhole and lock mechanism showed signs of use where dull iron lay bare of rust.