Will O' the Wisp

 

Cool mist swept in from the bog, rolling over the blackened landscape. A moonless night hung heavy, the stars blinking as frogs croaked, owls hooted, and crickets sang. The fire had died down, leaving the campsite in near total darkness, save for a few flickering amber hues that shone off the coals. They hissed as the mist came in, futilely resisting the moisture.

My eyes opened, peering up at the trees and seeing nothing. I winced, discomfort roaming up my back from the cold ground I laid upon. My head turned, eyes focusing on the dying fire that promised it could not be revived. Around me, the marshland was alive and well, yet a creeping sense of malaise settled into my stomach.

Gooseflesh rose on my arms as I lay in the dark, listening to the wildlife thrive. The mist drifted over me, adding wetness to the skin of my face and arms, swirling around my legs that had kicked themselves free of the weak blanket. A loose dress hugged my body, enough for in the summer’s heat yet the cold night brought a chill.

I rose, sitting up to pull the ratty blanket back, the fabric hard to find in the dark. My hands patted the damp ground until I found it, a foot away, rejected in my sleep. As I pulled it back towards me, the world around me illuminated with green ghastly light but for a moment before fading back into darkness.

My muscles froze. I turned my head up to look through the trees towards the swamp, yet dense foliage blocked me from seeing anything. Brow knit, I stood, dropping the blanket on the ground and pulling my boots on haphazardly. My feet thudded to the ground as I stumbled forward, hands touching a tree trunk to keep myself from knocking into it.

The intensity of the swamp’s music swelled as I moved around the tree to gaze into the marshlands. Fireflies drifted lazily, signaling to each other as I watched them. They were the only light in the dark, the new moon promising dank darkness. 

Water splashing interrupted the peace when I stepped forward and nearly slid into the bog’s dark surface. I gasped, sliding downward, booted feet moving into the water. My hands dug into the clumps of mud and reeds, pulling myself from the water’s edge and back to the safety of the tree.

Panting, I leaned against the rough bark, deciding venturing into the dark was a fool’s errand. The skirt of my dress clung to my shins, wet from my misadventure. As I regained myself, I stood, glancing back to the faint glowing embers and taking one step toward them.

My shadow suddenly showed before me as eerie light filled the swamp behind me. I turned, glancing into the marsh’s heart to see the source of the illumination. It hung several feet away, flickering as though it were a lit torch. The darkness hugged it, as though drawn to its lumination. 

I paused, staring at the ball of light as it hovered in the marshland, a suddenly clear path forward obvious. The swamp hummed with life, seemingly undisturbed by the spectral creature. It dipped lower, moving in small gestures, beckoning me forward.

Around the orb, its light cascaded over the waters and hung in the mist that grew thicker with each passing moment. Between the cattails and tall reeds sat a simple path, with hints of puddles seeping through the green earth. I hesitated, gazing at the path through the mist before looking back to the glowing entity that danced, compelling me to follow.

My booted feet moved forward, eyes adjusted to the greenish hue that the orb emitted. I wandered after it, arms wrapped around myself as the chilling mist sunk into my skin and bones. Every step was wet, the earth drenched from days of rain, and walking was precarious at best. 

The orb waited until I grew close, my breath crystallizing in the air with every step I took. I looked to the creature as I neared, eyes narrowing at the strange shadow I saw beneath. It stood, a shadow in darkness, body hidden yet visible, hand holding the invisible torch that was the light.

I blinked and it was gone. The orb danced and swayed as I lifted a hand to shield my eyes from its glow, attempting to see the shadow that had been there a moment ago. The orb flickered, going dark and leaving me suspended in the pitch.

My eyes scanned the infinite darkness, listening to the bullfrogs as though they would hold the secret to my way back to the campfire. I turned, looking back behind me, but the embers were long since gone and only darkness remained.

“Shit,” I muttered to myself. Fireflies floated around me, mocking me with their ability to see in the darkness. A sigh escaped my lips before I did what idiots always did. “Hello?” I called to the swamp, hoping some creature would answer.

The owl hooted its amusement as nothing else replied. My lips purse and I nodded. It was my fault, in a way, for choosing the bog as a refuge. I turned, hoping I was headed in the right direction and stepped. 

As though mocking me, the light returned, once again from nearly behind me. I turned, looking at it nearly fifteen feet away. As before it advanced and twirled, a mimicking display to entice me within. 

I shook my head, sighed, and walked towards it. “You could just talk to me,” I said petulantly as I trudged through the swampy landscape to the ball of light. “Rather than try to lure me to my death.”

It trembled. I imagined it was laughing before it blinked out again, disappearing as soon as I was near enough to see the shadowed figure that lurked beneath it. I waited this time, standing in the cold and wet until it reappeared, and once more asked me to follow in mocking dance.

Our exchanges continued, leading me deeper and deeper into the marsh. Time seemed to extend, prolonging as I followed the shimmering creature, trusting it was leading me to a place where it felt safe. 

Every few feet it would blink out, refusing to reappear until I braved a step or five. Each time it disappeared longer and longer, reappearing only when I had almost fallen in the dank water, or lost my footing in a tangle of roots. What felt like hours passed as the fog grew thicker and it became harder and harder to see the shimmering light in the dark.

It paused in its swaying, coming to the end of the road it had guided me upon. Bones littered the pathway, with skeletal hands resting in the water, the remnants of those who had followed before. My eyes took in the death, the forgotten who lived in this dank place, before turning back to the orb.

“I can see you, you know. What is it you need?”

The orb paused in its thrumming movements, shimmering in the air a few feet from me. I looked past its brilliance to the shadow behind. “I see you. It’s okay.”

I took a step forward, closing the distance so that nothing but the orb sat between us. With one deep breath, I raised a hand and looked at the trembling light. It shivered, seeming to anticipate the moment I would reach for it.

My heart thudded knowing it would disappear yet longing to feel its strange presence. This close I could see the swirling amorphous colors that were nearly indescribable. The swamp around us disappeared as I looked into the depths feeling a strange coolness, or almost lack thereof, that surrounded it. 

A shiver wound up my spine as my hand hovered near the illuminated entity. “Can I?” I asked softly, looking into its light but also beyond, to the shadow that lingered. 

Their head raised, a shadow in the darkness, concealed entirely by swirling tendrils of night, and simply nodded. My hand pressed forward, touching the surface of the orb before slipping within it. 

Chilling cold bit the skin, leaving pinpricks of pain and burning in its wake. I gasped and then shivered as the pain subsided into a strange numbness. The light expanded, moving outward to slowly curl around my body, swallowing me into its luminescent center.

The sounds of the marsh disappeared, leaving me suspended within the light. Everything vanished and the world grew far away as I floated within the light. It pulsed, pushing against me, testing the limitations of my physical body as though I should not have on.

Inky darkness slid within the orb, filling the light until I could see nothing again. Where the light had been burning cold this was soft and void like, an emptiness that bespoke sorrow and longing. It slid along my skin, light, and haunting, as voices whispered in the night, filling the silence with an eerie story I could not understand.

The darkness filled the world around me and then pressed against me, running through the strands of my hair, along my earlobe to my neck and jaw before pressing against my lips. It felt like a thumb’s caress and my skin tingled from the sensation, yet nothing was there. A phantom’s touch leaving me lonely and hollow.

My lips opened to the unknown entity’s touch. It hesitated, touching my lips with curiosity and fear. The touches were light as feathers, the down of a duckling, and filled with a promise I didn’t understand. After a moment I opened my mouth further, inviting it within me, what I had come to understand it wanted.

With a rushing power, it invaded, moving into my mouth and throat and then into my body. The shadow sent ripples of pleasure through me, expanding my body and mind in one moment of longing. My body shuddered as it collided with me, the darkness swarming over my skin and sending jolts of sensation through me.

Each moment it pulled more of itself in and yet surrounded me. Its mass slid inside everywhere it could, letting its cool and inky sensations pulse inside of me. I cried out, the rush of its life throbbing in my bones, sending ripples of pleasure with each passing moment. 

It spun through and around me, increasing in its speed of melding and exploration. I saw nothing but its darkness as I felt it coil around my center and push outward, building pressure within me as chills and electric waves of tension built. Its throbbing growth expanded again and again, cold finger-like projections pushing deeper and exploring.

Finally, it pulled itself fully within me, nesting inside of me. I fell to the ground, the luminescence gone, and writhed as it filled my body, each muscle twitching and tight. Heat rose in place of cold as it merged, my own hands gripping the ground, nails digging into the mud as it threatened to explode out of me.

My mouth opened yet no sound came out, breath held as the pleasure built to a crescendo I could not describe and I fell from its height in a silent cry. Every muscle tightened as I trembled and felt the wave of release roll through me, leaving me breathless and sobbing on the wet ground.

I swallowed back the darkness within and lifted my head, panting from the throbbing pleasure as it played my body like an instrument. Slowly I shifted to all fours, muscles still tightening from the intensity of my release. I pulled myself towards the water’s edge and reached for the skeletal hand that waited there, its finger arched towards where the light had been.

My body slid into the water as I hit the edge. I gasped, the cool water was not as shocking as it should have been as the entity dwelt within. Guided by its presence I pulled the dead from the water and brought its decaying corpse to land, struggling against the weeds and muck with every movement.

The smell of old death and swamp rose. The frogs stopped their song as I knelt over the aged body. My hand caressed its bony face before I leaned down to kiss the unhinged jaw. “You are released,” I whispered. “May you find peace.”

Within me a scream of infinite age erupted as the darkness spilled out of my mouth, ripping from my body like a tide. It blossomed into golden light, filling the air with glittering beauty while I collapsed next to the skeletal remains of whoever it had been. 

The light particles gathered in a heated frenzy, growing in mass until the marsh was illuminated by its brilliance. The tension broke as the light shattered, turning into a million glittering stars that filled the bog, slowly descending to the murky waters. 

I slowly pulled myself up to sit on the wet ground, the skeleton now just dead beside me. The last of the light sparkled out of existence and I was left alone, in the dark, in the night.