Loop

"Oh crap what have I done no I can fix this"

I scream "Aaaaaaah"

A blinding light and a sharp pain in my back are everything before I open my eyes. It is a sunny afternoon and I have been sleeping through my ride up the mountain. An arranged marriage, in this day and age makes no sense right well my parents just told me about it last week and here I am on a bus ride up a mountain to put an end to this nonsense. I already told them that I am going to marry my partner of over 4 years, but they will not drop it, so my plan is to meet up with whoever I am supposed to marry and hope they are the same as me.

The bus comes to a stop at a village on the mountain.

"Oi! Oi! Come on lad! Get up, and get off!! Got ma wife waitin at 'ome for me"

"H-huh, oh sorry"

I grab my bags and get off to a dark but lovely star filled sky and quaint village. Confusion starts to set in and I turn back towards the bus but it is already heading back down the mountain. I try and chase.

"Sir! Sir, please wait I think you let me off at the wrong place. I'm supposed to be at a city not a rural village!"

Panting, I stop realizing the bus wasn't going to come back. Turning back around I make my way back to the village.

Stood in front of me is a giant of a man in a toga

"Welcome to Freosan Xihuitl traveler! I'm chief Dowr. Wow you must be a lot stronger than you look, so what brings you up the mountain?"

I stood there simply shocked, as I see a man behind him dragging a big feathery lizard no no wait it is a DINOSAUR. I stumble and fall onto my rear.

"WHAT THE F***, WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU FIND THAT!"

They both look at me and start very heartily laughing.

"Have ya never seen a storodla before lad? How did you journey all the way here without facing one?"

"St-storodla? You mean the dinosaur?"

"Dinosaur? Oh the big lug over there. You call them Dinosaurs huh? You are not from round here scrawny no one at the base of the mountain nor the other villages anywhere remotely near here call a storodla anything but that."

He picked me up and put me on his shoulder before strolling into the village. At the center of the village is a big marble platform, but all the other buildings are made of what looks like bones and hide or straw.

"This is our platform we use to offer sacrifices to the protectors!"

He has a look of pride, but what?

"The protectors? Is that your god?"

A cold feeling fills my entire body as the whole village looks at me stunned.

"What do you mean the protectors as if you don't know? The protectors are the whole reason we are alive. The ones who holds back all the demons from descending upon our realm, no never heard of them?"

"Uh, oh yeah the protectors of course I know. Actually no, not really, not at all."

"Now you know, foolish one and don't you forget it. Now, if you wish to remain in our village you must procure your own sacrifice and create your own dwelling. You can make it anywhere within the field of protection so just do not go beyond the statues."

They lead me to a large statue almost four meters tall and in the distance I can see another. They are all of people wielding spears or clubs.

"Go ahead and get started on making a house today you do not have to get a sacrifice, the darkness is almost here."

I just stand there dumbfounded. What happened to the snow-covered trees and lands coming up the starry night sky? All I can see is dense forestry and some open grass fields with humongous creatures in the sky and ground with two setting suns in the distance. I lay down and try to sleep hoping that I would wake up on the bus.

A boom wakes me up, looking around as darkness envelops everything beyond the statues. A complete darkness banging ceaselessly again the statues but unable to pass.

I put my head back down and just lay there till I hear voices.

"Help us! Help us!"

"MOM! DAD!! I'm coming!"

I get up and dart towards the darkness past the statues.

"Ahhhhhhh help us!!"

Halfway into the darkness I feel a tug on my back and it is Dowr.

"You stupid foolish lank! What are you doing? The voices are lies, no one is there. Do not let them whisk you away."

Alas it was too late, the darkness tugs on me, and I feel myself in a freefall.

With a sudden thud, I find myself looking up to the sky with what appears to be a jagged rock piercing through my chest. The last thing I see is the headlights of the bus that dropped me off.

"Oh crap what have I done no I can fix this"

I scream "Aaaaaaah"