The world is dark here.
Layers upon layers of inky black shroud the space around. Stars, burning holes in the sky provide the only hint of illumination, yet their reach is limited in this ancient and eternal domain. Grasping branches reach, skeletal fingers closing around the sky, determined to digest you in the forest's ravenous gullet. Just beyond the thin line of the path, a supposed lifeline to a civilisation far out of your reach, outlines tease the corner of the eye, suggestions of what lurks behind, just out of sight.
This path, too, is impermanent. The forest, a force since times immemorial, nibbles eagerly at its edge. It need not rush, for it has eternity on its side to win the war against the blight upon its skin, the path formed by the arrogance and fear of man. And what is that, moving just beyond sight?
Watching, waiting, lurking. It has seen you, but you have not seen it. Do you hear it, cracking, rustling, the sounds of some unknown horror behind the veil? Feel the gaze of the beast as it follows, just beyond the limitations of sight.
It must be behind you! A warm, moist breath slithers down your neck. You turn, but it has vanished once more into impenetrable thicket. Your mind, ever active, fills in details for what you know is following you, each more great and terrible than the last. As the tendrils of fear fill your mind, your body begins to go stiff. Your eyes dart, looking for shapes that never existed, mind racing, a paranoia and anticipation filling every cell.
Suddenly, from the darkness looms a bright tear in the mantle of shadow. The cabin which, the object of this trip so many times before. You dash into the illusion of safety its walls provide. The breath was the wind, the rustles chance, the gaze and fear a product of an overeager mind. With these comforting lies, you retire to sleep, never grasping your situation.
For you are surrounded by the rustling brambles that reach the sky, by the enemy, one day to, with eternal patience, reclaim what has been ever so briefly stripped away.
But for now, you have survived this journey for yet another day.![]()
