Afterlife [REWRITTEN]

Prologue

Despite the bright, half-moonlight shining through the branches above, it was still nearly impossible to see as he sprinted as fast as he could through the thick undergrowth. He could barely control his heavy, ragged breaths as he glanced behind him and kept running.

A metal blade gleamed through the trees in the moonlight.

That was all the motivation he needed to keep his tiring limbs propelling him through the wood.

Someone was out for blood tonight.

His blood.

His foot caught on a root sticking from the dirt, the hinged bone twisting sideways painfully as he tumbled down the slope he had been about to run down. He managed to roll into a clearing, his head pounding angrily. Warm blood dripped from a deep scratch over his eye.

Almost immediately the hooded figure was over him, blue eyes shining menacingly in the silver light that darkened the figure's features. But he wasn't looking at the figure. His eyes were drawn to the knife in their hand.

The blade twirled between their fingers as they raised it next to their own head.

"No, no, no- please-!"

He begged the figure for mercy, fear the only presence in him as he stared at that blade.

The figure gave no reply as they drove the silver end into his chest without hesitation.

He didn't even have time to scream as the light left his eyes as quickly as the blood flowed from the torn hole in his chest.

-

A pale blue light glided through the trees, the only illumination under the thick cover of leaves over his head. A short walk, that's all it was. Most would fear the darkness of the forest at night, but after a hundred years or so of exploring and a thousand more of sentience, it becomes a welcome sight.

Another light caught his eye. He was entering the part of the wood where the moon began to slip through the lush, late-summer branches, but this light was different. The same silvery white, yet dimmer. The moonlight almost overpowered it.

Curious now, the light glided through the thinning trees until he came across a clearing. This clearing was just like any other, trees like wooden sentinels and the branches entangling overhead. However, there was a white figure laying on the ground. His eyes were closed, his breathing still. A bright circle brightly pulsed from the ground, a good three-foot radius away from him in the center.

The light tilted his head, a small gasp of wonder escaping his lips.

Someone else.

The circle was something he'd never seen surrounding someone passing before, but he simply shrugged the oddity off. He was thousands of years old, but he still didn't know everything about this place.

He smiled slightly, noting the location before swiftly beginning to run westward.

-

EYYY HERE WE GO AGAIN >:)

479 words