The Underworld Vagabond (Pilot Episode) Original Fantasy Short Story

OOC CONTEXT: This is a submission for a controlled assessment I did for my creative writing module at uni at the end of the year. It was a few marks off the top grade which honestly shocked me... It was the best piece I'd done for the module, but I didn't expect it to do that well!

It's based off a bigger idea I have for a much larger story I'd like to write, as well as expanding on my main character and the world she's exploring. I also want to tap in to some other cultural folklore - those who know me know I love that kind of thing

So, I propose... If the response to this does well, I'll start writing a bigger story that will expand on the idea that I want to cover. It's not perfect given the criteria I had to meet for this - the word count didn't allow me to have it reach to it's full potential so if the inciting incident and ending seem rushed, I totally get it - the word count was abysmal and was too short to expand properly on. But I love this story and I have all sorts of wacky ideas for this, but it'd be no good sharing if people weren't interested.

I eventually plan to remake this so it better suits my standards - ie. Fix the ending. But for now, let me know your thoughts with the survey! Happy reading!

THE UNDERWORLD VAGABOND

The Underworld was an inconceivably expansive parallel world. An endless, unfiltered, landscape of souls. Most of these were the souls of the dead, resting in the burial sites that were analogous to human world cemeteries across the globe. The other half were deadly manifestations of human beliefs. Ugly beasts that came into existence through human superstitions and fairytales, a smorgasbord of the deep, dark and dangerous. It was a world far too extensive for a single mind to comprehend. The only way to stumble upon it was if you were dead, undead or crazy.

The anomaly entered the realm when she was thirteen and was a whole new breed of uncanny. She sneered at poison, whistled at deathtraps and grinned at the creatures she encountered, bloodthirsty or otherwise. Fearless couldn’t describe her.

Eight years later Laurie still continued to walk the entire realm and document her own encounters. Her pale skin radiated like a light, her hair now platinum from the prolonged exposure. She walked with her hands in her pockets as someone with years of experience under her belt. She’d gained plenty where she could now survive with nothing except the clothes on her back, relying on sheltered trees for sleep and nontoxic plants and water for nourishment. The realm boasted death but Laurie knew where to find small mercies.

On a still night Laurie continued to walk along a desolate road. After run-ins with vampires and werewolves and marvelling in the thrills, Laurie was ready to scale back. Her cuts and bruises had finally faded and she wanted to keep it that way for a while.

She proceeded through a desolate wasteland. The air was cold and as she glanced about the environment she could see the bánánach wander aimlessly around the fields. She kept her head down as they shrieked of violence and blood with every passing moment. It felt like forever before she finally made it out of the desolate plains and further into the greenery.

After a week along the unending road, Laurie took a pitstop by a stream amidst a forest trail, sitting at the edge with her feet swaying whilst refilling a flask of water. She heard the Seelie fairies flitter between the branches and along the ground, secretly spying on her as they continued their mischief.
Laurie laid back on the ground, her elbows in the air and looked up at the abyssal sky. She noticed the navy tinge in its form, signalling midday. She spotted a few of the fairies from the corner of her eye and stuck her tongue out playfully at them, to which they giggled in response.

Laurie reached the end of the forest and out into a clearing later that day, where she beamed at the presence of the fabled Tree of Life, one of several across the Underworld. Like the spirits, the Tree dazzled with a spectral shine, the leaves a mix of green with gold embellishments, the trunk bright maroon surrounded by the glow of vibrant veils.

Laurie was glued to its beautiful sight before her smile faded. The colours suddenly washed out and the leaves burnt away, the branches bare as the Tree’s life energy extinguished. The decaying sight prompted Laurie to come closer to investigate until she spotted a man rushing out from underneath the Tree’s base, laughing jovially. She gritted her teeth when she saw one of them carry a box with a writhing snake inside it, sporting a similar appearance to the Tree.

“Snakes are a rather odd thing to steal, don’t you think?”

He turned to her, where she could see the snake writhing in desperation.

“Look who it is,” he sneered in a low voice. “It’s the walking meal herself.”

Laurie smirked at the passive insult before brimming with wit. “I didn’t realise you’re a culinarian. Maybe you could cook up a better greeting than belittling a foreigner?”

He scoffed. “Always the joker.”

“Aw shucks!” Her demeanour suddenly flipped like a switch. “Now why don’t you go and return that poor snake to that Tree there. It’ll start producing deathly omens otherwise.”

Her gaze lingered on the dying snake as it struggled to keep moving. It’s golden glow was fading fast. Another glance at the decaying Tree further added to Laurie’s impatience as she cut in front of him.
“Hand it over.”

“No.”

Laurie pouted. “Please?”

He scowled before yanking Laurie by the ponytail. She yelped as she hit the ground and was met with a machete to her face.

“Oh-ho, okay! Let’s uh…” Laurie tried to push it way with her finger before being stopped.

He swung down. Laurie narrowly avoided the blade by kicking him away and snatching a bat from his belt. She twirled it in her fingers.

“Swing batter!”

The man charged fiercely as he threw the machete around. Laurie evaded each strike, countering with a bat swing to his sides. They continued to brawl until Laurie was caught off guard and stumbled back, her cheek grazed with the machete. She retaliated with a forceful swing to the machete, jamming the bat in the blade. She snuck between his legs and wrestled him backwards before kicking his hands. The machete dropped to the ground with the bat still stuck. Before the man could get back up, Laurie broke the bat in two with the machete before bashing him in the face with the splintered wood. He fell flat to the ground unconscious and Laurie smirked.

“Home run.”

The rot was starting to spread, the greenery below melting away into black oozing puddles. Laurie glanced down at the snake with a tender expression.

“Let’s get you home.”

She smiled confidently as she hurried towards the Tree, ploughing through the ooze and approaching the trunk where a decaying tunnel led underground. Stepping inside, Laurie treaded carefully as darkness took over her sight. She slipped when her foot went too far and she sailed down into the depths of the Tree before landing abruptly in an open cavern that dripped with putrid gunk that looked far from inviting to touch. Laurie grimaced as she scrambled to her feet with the snake in her hands.

She stepped over the gunk as it polluted the area, attracting flies as it melted the walls of the trunk. Her feet jerked away as she descended further into the heart of the Tree, letting out strained effort noises while she navigated through the decaying mess like a spy avoiding a laser beam. The hollow cavern became obscenely dark with the snake’s dimming scales the only source of light left. It wasn’t long before Laurie went into a pouch attached to her belt and lifted out a small blue orb. She shook it a few times vigorously.

“Come on, you-!”

The orb suddenly irradiated bright enough to shroud the entire cavern in a blue light. Laurie was taken aback by how quickly the Tree was diminishing with all the decay that stained the walls and the ground beneath her. The smell got fouler the more she kept going, though she would honestly admit that it could’ve been worse out of all she experienced in eight years.

“Better than a wendigo’s den any day of the week,” she said undoubtedly. She looked down at the ailing snake as it shifted slowly in the box, its scales becoming darker by the minute.
“God forbid you catch a cold huh?”

She could hear the snake struggle to breathe. Looking back up towards the top of the trunk she could make out a canopy of dying flowerbeds that were rotting into mush.

“I’ll assume that’s your home up there. Let’s get you back up there before it redecorates itself further.”

The Tree continued to melt into death and a droplet of yellow gunk landed on Laurie’s sleeve, making her flinch as it bore a hole into her sleeve like acid. She groaned with an eyeroll.

Suddenly the droplet morphed into a bigger chunk and bore its way through Laurie’s shoulder, making her gasp and shake around as it entered her skin. At the same time, the gunk around the Tree reacted similarly as it travelled down the cavern walls towards Laurie. She felt a tight pull in her shoulder and her breath hitched as it spread throughout her entire arm. Everything suddenly clicked.
Even Trees have antibodies…

Frick.

She felt something crawl under her skin. She pulled her sleeve back to see a tiny bump wriggle inside her. She froze as the bump multiplied into several smaller organisms, spreading up her arm. Her attention shifted back to the gunk that was rapidly flooding the Tree all whilst heading straight for her.

Leg it, Lambert!

Laurie began sprinting through the trunk with the snake still in her hands. The gunk chased after her, trying to cut her off as it webbed the trunk walls. Laurie dodged over and under the lengths of gunk that was gaining on her at rapid speed. Laurie was all over the place as she raced up the trunk, only to have the gunk catch her ankle and throw her off balance.

She cried out and slipped halfway down, the box falling out of her arms as more gunk spread into her body. Laurie writhed on the ground as she felt her spine pinch and her muscles contract, eliciting pain with each second. She felt as if she was being suffocated as she watched the organisms underneath multiplied further, now spreading to her torso.

She struggled to her feet and grabbed the box, tucking it under an arm as she tried to climb back up to the canopy. Her skin rippled with the sensations from inside and bit her lip as she tried to ignore it.

Shake it off, Laurie… It ain’t nothing.

She suddenly cried out when the sensation got stronger, her head spinning. She felt her blood boil, her skin squirm and became extremely nauseous. Laurie covered her mouth when her stomach lurched. Her body was on fire as she hauled herself back up with laboured breaths, her vision now failing.

She howled as she trudged up onto a stable platform. Another lick of ooze grazed her back, making Laurie arch and spit when the sensation made her more nauseous. It wasn’t long before she collapsed down to her knees and threw up, her throat and sinuses burning as the ooze closed in.

“Even getting mauled by werewolves is better than this…We ain’t losing… to a Tree… of all things!”

She limped across the platform before shifting her weight up another, again and again further up the trunk, getting closer to the dying canopy that was quickly dripping into waste. Through her failing vision, Laurie could see small rays of light where the top of the Tree had melted away.

Her limbs quivered and the organisms punctured her skin from the inside, small droplets of blood swelling and her veins bruising.

It’s right there…!

She made it to the canopy but fell on her front when she lost her footing. The box shattered. She couldn’t see where the snake landed. Blood rushed out her nose and her body went limp. The last thing Laurie felt was a breeze of air before keeling over…
…
Laurie had lost all track of time when her body finally jolted back into working gear. She felt heavy and drained like she was cemented to the ground underneath her back. She felt a powerful light hit her eyelids and squinted when she finally awoke. When she properly came to she found herself lying on a bed of fresh grass and flowers. She heard the rustle of golden leaves that shone across a healthy Tree that now teemed with life. She sat up with a tired groan as she searched herself, finding herself naked but healed with no signs of the virus, though plastered with scars made by fang marks.

“Could be worse…”

She collected her clothes that sat behind her all clean and fixed and got up. Her jittery legs forced her to cling to the sides of the trunk. She looked up towards the canopy and found the snake sitting regally among the flowers in all its returned garish glory. Laurie smiled as she held up her arms.

“Thanks for the emergency surgery.”

With an acknowledging hiss the snake slithered into the bushes. The foliage opened a path that Laurie followed back out, admiring the new life as she exited the Tree. The outside was exactly as she left it before, black and beautiful.
Laurie let out a lightened chuckle.

The joys of the Underworld.

The End.