MITO (DPR Ian x Reader)

Part 1

Forests are scary.

Unlike a desert, where nothing surrounds you, when entering a forest you'll find yourself encircled by a web of branches and leaves creating a barrier between where you are and the rest of the world. As you move on and get into the deep end, it seems that you are crossing the threshold which takes you to another place. The branches are moved by the gentle breeze and from time to time, they let the faint rays of sun pass through.

Ian entered the forest located on the outskirts of Tower Mills in the middle of the night and immediately he found himself covered by the most absolute darkness. That night there was a full moon but its light barely filtered through the thick foliage of the trees. Not that he cared, he had gone there to be alone, with the intention of ending his life.

He walked for a few minutes although hours could have passed. Everything seemed the same, the same trees, the same stones and the same grooves on the ground. So he decided to stop, he gripped the gun in his hand until his knuckles turned white. Did he really want to do it? He thought of y/n, who might be sleeping in her small apartment. At the thought of her he felt his eyes filling up with tears, she was the only good thing in his life. Yes, it was the only solution, although maybe...

He wasn't alone in the forest.

Ian blinked rapidly in order to clear his vision, the tears making everything look as if it were being seen through a layer of water. He heard something creaking somewhere at his right, or had it been at his left? It was impossible to assure it and be completely certain.

He remained utterly still, in silence, trying to hear it again but all he could hear was his own heart beating loudly in his ears. Perhaps it was nothing, some nocturnal animal. After all, he was in the middle of a forest and everybody knows that woods are alive.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was not his intention to leave this world so agitated. Ian knelt down by some ferns and put the gun in his mouth but just before pulling the trigger he heard it again.

This time it sounded closer, almost as if whatever that caused the sound were getting slowly closer until stopping behind him. Definitely, he wasn't alone. Ian could feel the gaze of someone or something fixed on him. The warm breeze ruffled his hair, bristling the soft hairs at the nape of his neck. It was too hot, almost like the breath of something alive. He opened his eyes but couldn't see anything, he could barely see the tree trunks surrounding him.

Slowly, he took the gun out of his mouth and without loosening the strength with which he held it, turned around and pointed the weapon.

What he saw left him paralyzed, it was the worst than anything that came out of his worst nightmares. Ian felt the urge to throw up, his mouth filled with bile and without thinking twice he pulled the trigger repeatedly. That seemed to do little damage to the creature, who got even closer, this time letting itself be seen completely.

Despite the darkness, Ian distinguished a dark figure, too tall to be a human, with long arms which ended in sharp claws. The way it moved didn't look human either, as if the scene were being seen through a sequence of photograms.

The creature reached out with one of its arms and grabbed Ian by the shoulder, digging its clawed fingers into his flesh. The sudden pain made him react, he felt a thick darkness taking over him, and all of a sudden he wasn't capable of controlling his own body. Ian saw how his own arm grabbed the creature along with a strong smell of sulfur and how the creature moved back. It seemed as if Ian had hurt it with his touch. But he was no longer Ian.

His new self fought against that strange being with a strength never experienced before, as if something were leading him to do it. Without knowing it, that night Ian crossed a threshold, he entered another place from where he returned changed. He could feel the change deep inside his bones, how the darkness had taken over his body and never left, as well as the terrifying creatures that lived in the woods of Tower Mills.