Eternally Mine - Druig

-1-

My colleagues and I all sat around the campfire eating our dinners, and discussing the day we just had. There hadn't been any discoveries in a few days, but something felt close. The air just smelled of groundbreaking information waiting to be found.

The conversation was light and airy, everyone trying to make the best of our situation. It had been about two months since the trip had started and every day was chock full of work. There was never a day off out here because of our limited dig time.

We were all just a bunch of historians and architects hoping to uncover the secrets of South America and make a name for ourselves. I was a historian and had made my life into the study of ancient Southern America. I recently focused my studies on Brazil and the Amazon River, and that's where we were.

Our small little campsite was just about a mile south of the Amazon River and was deep in the Amazon Rainforest.

"Hey Annabelle, what was that thing you were talking to me about the other day? That thing you were hoping to find?" One of my colleagues tried to get my attention.

"Hmm? Oh, it's this tool that we think they used thousands of years ago. They used it for farming and all their nature work and stuff, we'd be legendary if we could find an authentic one and bring it back with us." I started to ramble on after getting started with talking about my interests.

The conversation kept going back and forth about what kind of things everyone wanted to find when there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. All the liveliness of the rainforest and the noises around just seemed to stop.

Everyone immediately stopped talking as they realized that something was seriously wrong, nature never went silent without serious cause. There was a predator among us and everyone knew it.

"Everyone go get in their tents right now, it's not safe out here." Our dig site leader ordered us around.

We all stood up to head to safety when we heard it, the roar of a jaguar.

From that moment forward, everything happened too fast. I watched as the spotted animal tore through my peers, mutilating their bodies. Everyone tried to make it to safety, but no one succeeded. Every last person that I had cared for over the last two months, who had helped me so much in my life, now gone.

The jaguar looked up at me as I stepped on a twig that snapped. The noise caused it to be aware of my presence, and it made eye contact with me. I felt my stomach drop and at that moment, I knew that it was the end.

I started retreating backward as tears began to fall from my eyes. I started pleading for mercy to anyone that would listen, having empty hope that I would be saved. Everything started to blur as I cried harder and tried to move my way to the tents.

As I turned to run, I tripped over a tree root and fell to the forest floor with a loud thud. My heart started to race and it was all I could hear, the methodic rhythm of my heart would be the last thing that I would ever hear.

The animal stalked towards me and I closed my eyes, figuring that if I was going to go out, I wouldn't want to stare my killer in the face. I shook my head, I could sense the jaguar coming closer and I wasn't ready to accept being dead.

I sat on the ground helplessly, just waiting for the moment where I would be ripped through, but the moment never came.

I opened my eyes, fully expecting to see something, anything, but nothing was there. The only thing in front of me was empty forest, no jaguar in sight. Everywhere I looked, every direction, it was just empty space.

"What the fuck?" I whispered to myself, staring at the lifeless campsight with no jaguar in sight.

One last turn left me faced with someone, a person I've never seen before. Panic flowed through my veins as I stared at the unfamiliar person.

"Am I hallucinating?" I started to hyperventilate.

The man cocked his head to the side, maintaining eye contact with me the whole time. I took a step closer to him, hoping I would get some answers from him.

"Are you real?" Tears continued to flow from my eyes.

The man smiled at me, his eyes starting to glow a bright gold color.

"Oh my god your eyes, they're glowi-"

Everything went black.