Starlit Mirage: Tales from the Darkest Desert

The town of Starlit Mirage got its name from the countless stories travelers told at the local saloon, The Black Rose. You see, Starlit Mirage is the only speck of decent civilization for sixty miles in any direction. The harsh Arizona desert claimed many travelers’ lives if they didn’t make a pit stop at Starlit Mirage. Desert’s and their harsh conditions tend to make one’s mind a little wonky to the point that you start seeing things. Folks call that a mirage.

The thing is, the twenty miles of desert right before arriving at Starlit Mirage has its own nickname amongst the locals. They call it the Darkest Desert because even with a full moon out, you can’t see more than ten feet in any direction.

That kind of darkness gets to a person. So much so that some locals that live on the outskirts of town have gone mad. Spewing nonsense like seeing invisible demons, creatures made of pure shadow, carnivorous living cacti, sand foxes as big as wolves, or even a man dressed in all black wandering the desert at night with no horse, travel pack, or even a canteen.

But in the daylight, Starlit Mirage is like any other Arizona settlement in 1869. Carriages carrying local harvests come in early in the morning and drop off their goods to the pharmacy, grocery store, and of course The Black Rose. Children dressed in clothing covering as much skin as possible to avoid sunburn run up and down Starlit Mirage’s one road. Its population always in flux due to strange disappearances, crimes of desperation or passion, and disease. However, there are always about fifty or so people in town at any given time. Some of them were even born here, but that is very rare.

Riley Roswell, a young man eighteen years old wearing black boots, blue jeans, and a red button up shirt with a black leather vest over it, digs his stirrups into his trusty steed, Cassie. Her chestnut brown hair shakes back and forth as she bursts forwarded faster, pushing past her limit but she knows this is important to her master.

Cassie gallops into town just after supper time, startling a few other travelers and one local family. Riley pulls on the reins to bring Cassie to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office. He jumps off, hastily tethers her to the provided post, and runs into the building.

“Sheriff Blackman!? Where is the Sheriff!?” Riley runs up to the deputy on duty his eyes wild from adrenaline and desperation.

“Easy now, partner! Where’s the fire?” The deputy raises his hands.

“It’s Becca! She done wandered off into the Darkest Desert in the middle of the night! I’ve looked for her everywhere!” Riley slams his fist into the counter

“Hey now! Take it easy! Or I’ll have to throw ya in the clink! Who are you anyway?” The deputy puts his hand on his holster. Just then the door swings open again, and Riley turns around and sees Sheriff Blackman, a man about thirty wearing lite tan slacks with a black belt, grey button up shirt with a shiny silver badge that says “Sheriff” and a very stylish handlebar mustache.

“Simmer down Johnny. This here’s Roswell’s boy. Ol’ Randall is Starlit Mirage’s doctor.” Sheriff Blackman takes a nonchalant bite out of an apple as he walks over to his desk.

Riley shakes with frustration as he says “There is only one place I haven’t searched yet. The Old Miller Mine. She must be there somewhere! Probably hurt or lost in its twisting tunnels!”

Sheriff Blackman takes a moment to contemplate this request. The Old Miller Mine has been abandoned for almost six years now. The Miller Mining Company declared the tunnels as dangerously unstable after the accident. On top of all that the mine itself is located a good six miles into the Darkest Desert, and Starlit Mirage doesn’t have enough horses for a whole posse so they’ll have to walk. Plus it could take them hours to carefully search the mine’s tunnels. However, the other side of this inner argument is that Rebecca Lightwell is Mayor Lightwell’s daughter. If he doesn’t do everything in his power to find her, then he can kiss he reappointment goodbye.

Sheriff Blackman looks at Riley and puts his apple down. He says “You are asking a lot from me, Riley. Becca may be the mayor’s daughter, but if she is in the mine, then she could very well be dead already. Those tunnels are mighty dangerous and have claimed five lives since the accident. Usually, some stupid kids looking for ghost stories to tell. I’ll tell ya what. You come back here with at least two other people willing to risk their hides my deputy and I will join you in your search.”

“Fine! I’ll be back in ten minutes! You better be ready to move! We are burning daylight!” Riley runs off into town.

Ten minutes later Riley returns to the Sheriff’s office with his two good buddies Hank and Flynn Patience. While they put up a fuss about joining the search party, Riley quickly reminded them of the “free” medical supplies they got from his pa’s personal stores. Together the small search party of five head out into the Darkest Deseret as the sunset radiates a burning red color the lights the sky on fire.

***

Normally, travelers can trek five miles of desert in about three hours, but the Darkest Desert is anything but normal. Sudden sandstorms, sand dunes as high as hills, venomous wildlife, sweltering heat that can make the toughest person pass out from sunstroke and at night as cold as the ice box in The Black Rose.

Riley pulls out his golden pocket watch and looks at the crude engraving made by his hunting knife. It reads “Happy 1 Year, Love Becca.”

“I know you didn’t mean what you said. Love forgives all. We’ll be back together soon. I promise” Riley whispers to himself.

It takes them five hours to make it to the Old Miller Mine after getting turned around thanks to the Darkest Desert’s treacherous terrain. Riley’s pocket watch reads midnight. The moon is especially big tonight, and yet he can barely make out the mine’s entrance in the pale moonlight.

“Alright. Get out yer torches, but be careful with them. There is a bunch of old dynamite that has no doubt been sweatin’ for the past six years” says Sheriff Blackman.

“BECCA! BECCA ARE YOU IN THERE!?” shouts Riley. The mine echoes his words back three times before becoming inaudible.

Sheriff Blackman pulls at Riley’s sleeve as he says “Quiet you! You tryin’ to have the whole mine come down on us?! What part of unstable does yer brain not git?”

Riley pulls back as he says “I ain’t stupid, but if she is close she needs to know I am coming for her.”

Hank and Flynn stand at Riley’s side as they all look at mine’s foreboding, eerie entrance. The sign all jagged and worn down from weather and age. It almost looks like crude wooden teeth of a large, gaping, demonic maw ready to swallow them whole.

Hank looks at Riley with a concerned look on his face as he says “I don’t know about this Riley. Becca is a smart lady. She wouldn’t come in here even if she was desperate.”

But as he finishes Flynn points at something shimmering on the ground to the torch’s light.

He walks over and picks it up and says “No she is definitely here.” He tosses the small glimmering object to Riley.

Riley catches it and sees that it is Becca’s engagement ring. He kisses it and tucks it away in his pants pocket. He raises his torch high, looks into the deep, dark abyss of the Old Miller Mine, swallows his fear, and ventures into the unknown.

Hank and Flynn give each other solemn look.

Hank shrugs and trots after Riley. Flynn lets out long sigh and follows his brother and Riley. Sheriff Blackman and the deputy bring up the rear. As the darkness of the mine swallows their five lights the full moon turns a blood red color, and the wind makes an eerie howl almost like laughter.

***

Together the search party spends the next hour searching every tunnel after Flynn gives the okay that the tunnel is stable enough to explore. Their torches light up the otherwise pitch black tunnels.

“I thought the Darkest Desert was as dark as the world could get, but this is something different. Almost sinister” remarks Hank as the group takes a minute to rest and sip on their canteens.

“These shadows ain’t normal, I tell ya” says the deputy with a bit of a tremble in his voice.

“Yer right, Johnny. I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stick straight up anytime I see a shadow move a way no shadow should move.” Sheriff Blackman’s voice is steady, but Riley can hear the fear in it.

The darkness is starting to affect their minds. Creeping into the small cracks of their courage. Riley is a good ten feet ahead of everyone now as the flames of his courage burn the brightest in this dark pit.

He opens his pocket watch. It reads “1:10am” and suddenly the whole mine shakes violently.

“Earthquake! Get back!” yells Flynn as a bunch of dirt and large rocks come raining down ahead of them. A rather large rock knocks loose and plummets straight for the deputy’s head.

“What in tarnation! Sheriff!? What’s happening?” The deputy looks up and the boulder has frozen in place mere centimeters from his head.

Sheriff Blackman looks around and sees that the whole tunnel is like this. Dirt, debris, rocks, pebbles, support beams, old lanterns, shattered glass, all frozen in place.

“I don’t know, but whatever this is it can’t be natural. We should turn back” exclaims Hank.

“Turn back? Are you out of your mind!? Becca is still in here somewhere! I ain’t leavin’ till I find her!” Riley turns around to start going down another tunnel, but he sees something that shakes him to his very core.

Standing in front of him is Becca, a young woman dressed in a tattered white sundress stained with blood and dirt. Her beautiful curly red hair wet and matted, her once gorgeous porcelain white skin a sickening pale grey now. She smiles a grotesque bloody smile at Riley as she laughs, but its not her usual sweet, giggle. Instead what comes out is nothing short of a demonic, low pitched chortle.

“Hello Riley. Here for this sweet piece of ass?” Becca’s body contorts and twists unnaturally until her butt is sticking up high in the air as her hand slaps it. The snapping and cracking of bones and sinew rattles in Riley’s ears.

“Well, too bad. She’s all ours now! A shame to waste a body like this though. Think I’ll take it for a spin with your friends there.”

Becca’s body lunges at Hank and Flynn who are frozen in place with fear. With inhuman strength Becca’s body forces the two full grown men onto the ground with ease. Snuffing out their torches. The shadows on the wall dance with glee.

“My children are hungry after all” the demon says as it cackles.

“AHHH I’M OUTTA HERE!” screams the deputy, but a shadow on the wall wraps around him like a viper, chocking out his pleas for help. Then they all hear the snap of his neck.

Run, Riley! Live!

Becca’s voice, her real voice echoes in Riley’s head. The shock of hearing her voice makes Riley drop his torch as he turns around and sees that the Sheriff is already running right behind him.

Don’t look back, Riley. Keep moving. They are as good as dead. You can’t save them. Just keep moving!

Riley dashes towards the mine’s entrance. The spurs on his boots clink against the cold, hard ground, and his strained breath seems to echo all around him. Behind him he can see the flickering light of Sheriff Blackman’s torch. Its flame struggling to stay alive as the encroaching shadows engulf the twisting hallways of the mine. Not a speck of light can penetrate the oppressive darkness that is biting at the Sheriff’s heels.

“Hurry, Sheriff! Keep running! We are almost to the entrance!” shouts Riley. A full blood moon stares back at them like the Devil himself is staring at his handy work. Riley can hear the maniacal laughter of the demons that are tormenting the rest of their search party.

The shadows continue to consume everything in their path. As Riley runs through the entrance he can feel some strange invisible force push against him until he is flung back into the mine’s entryway. He manages to keep his balance and stay in the light of the torch. Its light seemingly the only thing standing between them and the hungry shadows.

Riley can hear the disgusting grunts, growls and mischievous cackling of the demons hidden in the darkness. They are surrounded.

“What’s your problem!? Stay here and die for all I care! I’m getting the hell out!” Sheriff Blackman pushes Riley aside and throws himself at the entrance.

“Wait!” Riley shouts, but he is too late.

The same invisible force pushes against Sheriff Blackman, but the less nimble Sheriff is fully thrown back, feet swept off the ground. He reaches out to Riley, dropping the torch.

Riley watches the torch fall towards the ground. He knows the instant it hits the cold, damp dirt will snuff out the last flickering embers of the torch. Sheriff Blackman continues to be flung back farther. Riley knows that if he doesn’t catch him he will fall into the shadows, and be lost forever like the others.

You can’t save him, Riley! I’m sorry! Please, live!

Riley makes his decision and lunges for the falling torch. He catches it right before it hits the ground as he skids across the ground on his stomach. Riley turns around onto his back as he holds the torch as high as he can. He sees Sheriff Blackman fall into the shadows and hears the laughter of the demons circling their new prey.

“No! NO! PLEASE, HELP ME, RILEY! HELP ME! PLEASE!” The Sheriff shouts as an invisible force drags him back into the pitch black mine. Once he is swallowed by the darkness his cries for help and mercy are silenced.

Riley stands up still wielding the torch. The creeping shadows inch closer and closer. The flame of the torch rescinds as the frigid darkness chokes its air. He tries to leave one last time, but that same invisible force pushes against him.

“I guess this is it. Not much time left. I’m sorry Becca.”

The shadows dance around Riley patiently waiting for the last ember on the torch to extinguish. Riley can feel the malicious glee of his hunters. Their bloodlust almost suffocating. Riley decides to meet his end with the last bit of human defiance he has left.

“C’mon! C’mon! I’m right here! Right here! What are you waiting for?! Scared of a little fire?!” Riley lets out a defiant roar into the empty darkness.

He turns around to get one last look at the world beyond the mine. There he sees the beautiful dessert that he has known his whole life. Time remains frozen as Riley sees a Queen of the Night cactus flower mid bloom. Its gorgeous, delicate white petals still partially curled in on themselves and a little sand fox in mid lunge towards an unsuspecting beetle.

Riley pulls out his gold pocket watch and flicks it open. The clock reads 1:11am with the second hand ticking back and forth between the first second of minute eleven, but that’s not what Riley is focused on. Instead, he looks at the engraving one last time.

Tears stream down Riley’s face as he sees out of the corner of his eye a small glimmer. The light from the torch reflects off the watch’s glass and illuminates a small wooden crate. Riley looks over at the crate and sees in large red paint the letters “T.N.T” with the lid cast aside on the ground.

Riley can’t help but laugh as he prepares himself to do the right thing for once in his short, cursed life.

He taunts his invisible hunters “You played with your food too long, stupid demons! If I’m going to hell, then I might as well take you with me!”

Riley quickly aims and then throws the torch. It cuts through the darkness and lands inside the crate.

“I’ll be with you soon my love” Riley whispers to himself. The next thing he feels is a large concussive force followed by the singing heat of fire, then came the deafening sound of an explosion. He sees the mine’s ceiling light up as dirt and rocks collapse onto the ground. The fire wraps around the invisible demons, now silhouettes of pure fire, and Riley sees them writhing in agony. Then his vision goes black.

The next thing Riley sees is the night sky, back to its normal deep black-blue color with the white light of the full moon shining down on him. He can feel his arms and legs still, but then he smells the stench of burning flesh and clothes.

He opens his clenched fist that was grasping his watch. It reads “3:33am.”

“Still alive. You got your wish, Becca. I just wish, you could’ve been here with me.” Riley laughs to himself. “Thank you, my love.”

***

Riley Roswell is found six hours later by the mayor’s search party, and rushed off to prison for the brutal murder of Hank Patience, Flynn Patience, Deputy Johnny Smith, Sheriff Matthew Blackman and Rebecca Lightwell.