Through Shadows Untold

Prologue

The darkness of the forest was so absolute that it seemed to be reaching out towards you. There was a waxing half moon out tonight, but the light could scarcely be seen through the branches of the trees.  The night was alive with a the sounds of creatures, all making their voices heard in the night.  The symphony of night life would occasionally rise, all the beast crying out,  one by one, as  if they were checking in with one another. The cries could be deafening and could last for hours, and often did. It was so loud on this particular night that you could barely hear anything else, save forthe sounds of the beasts in the forest. That is also loud enough tohide the sound of footfalls as they hurry through the forest, whichis exactly what one young man was hoping for.

He Stumbled quickly through the dark woods, the ground warm beneath his bare feet. Blindly stumbling, he attempted to use his hands to help guide him in the darkest parts, and hurrying when he found the occasional beam of weak moonlight. Darting quickly through a moonbeam and returning to the darkness, he leaned with one arm against a tree and the other on his knee, stopping to catch his breath. Because of this he didn't notice several pairs of eyes the appeared on the tree,a few feet above where his fingers were placed. Nor did he notice the eyes slowly and silently moving down the trunk of the tree towards his hand. Just as quick as they appeared, the eyes disappeared, but this was all unknown to the young man.

Then all in the span of a heartbeat, five small tendrils shot down from above him and quickly wrapped around his arm. He struggled against them silently, the fear trapping is voice in his throat. He Attempted to back away, but the grip on him was like iron and pulled him closer to the tree. He flailed at the tendrils holding him, but their grip only got tighter. Turning away, he looked around for something to use as a weapon. Finding a thick stick, he turned around and and raised above his head, where it was quickly ripped away. Five more tendrils shot from the darkness, locking around his other arm and holding him in place. He struggled against the tendrils, never making a sound. He dropped to his knees, tears falling from his eyes and landing on his tattered cloth pants. All at one both sets of tendrils tensed and pulled, ripping is arms away from him. He fell to his side, his breathing becoming shallow and his vision swimming.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the feet of a hooded figure, briefly illuminated in moonlight, slowly advancing towards him. The figure reached inside their cloak and drew a sword, raising it high above their head. It swung down quickly and surely, severing the now dead boys head from his shirtless body. He sheathed the sword and pulled a small green pin from a pouch on his belt. Crouching down, he stuck the pin into the boys heart, marking him. He retrieved the boys head and held it at eye level by his matted hair.

Theboys eyes snapped open.

The night symphony all at once screeched.