Inanimate Love

A Cursed Wood

A pitch-black darkness surrounded me as I traversed the difficult terrain making up the forest's domain. The thick canopies barely let any moonlight pierce through, only strands of light hanging down from above like a torn spider's web. If the lack of sight inside the forest wasn't bad enough, I was constantly unnerved by the sounds of the forest. Birds hurriedly take flight from brittle branches, bushes rustling with the slow wind, and the occasional "crack" from out of sight, out of reason.

I never considered what was hidden out in these forests. I've always known it to be infested with beasts and wicked creatures, but I never imagined they would do so well in hiding themselves from me. 

The shivers made me nauseous, hell, I was freezing. It was late into the Calidus season, typically warm times, yet it was as if the forests existed separate from anything outside. Separate from time, separate from civilization, separate from any safety. What could be hiding out there?

I felt up the side of a tree as I gathered myself. My teeth started to chatter as the chilly wind wrapped me in its cold embrace. It was a matter of time before I'd have to stop. But where could I settle down? I wasn't going to make a fire out here, it'd attract too much attention. Not that any knights would know, then again, what if something else noticed? I can't risk it!

The sound of my chattering teeth is suddenly interrupted by a large crack that echoes throughout the forest, sending all kinds of noises flying around me. I quickly turn around to identify its source, despite barely seeing anything through the nightly miasma. 

Yet... there is something there. I felt my eyes widening at the display of the darkness twisting and turning. Everything was dark, but it was as if everything became lighter around a figure some distance away, a massive creature engorging on something in the brush. I didn't know what I was looking at.

Then it turned to me. I froze as the figure stared me down, and as if it felt my fear, it made an effort to deepen it by revealing its glaring red eye. It murmured as it stood up, its head reaching into the leaves above.

I didn't need any more convincing. I had forgotten about the cold, about the hunger, about any guard or quest. I could only concentrate on the fear as I bolted away from the creature within the darkness. 

My voice grew hoarse as I forced the cold air down into my lungs, my legs were numb yet they moved on their own, supported by a rush of adrenaline that worked to keep my body moving at all costs.

"Is it chasing me!?" was all I thought.

The sounds of my leather boots, leaves, and twigs that broke beneath me were all I could hear as I dashed into further darkness. I needed to find something... something! Anything! I can't die out here!

And then it was revealed to me. As if the forest had pried itself open before me, I was hit with the glaring moonlight as I emerged from a thicket and ended up in a large clearing. I breathed painfully, my throat stinging with every inhalation, as I turned around.

There was nothing. No noise, no movement, no figure. Nothing.

Taking a moment to gather myself, I felt the pain sneaking in on me as the adrenaline ran dry before I sat up and gazed into the glade. Before me stood a towering dark structure, its edges and details only revealed by the light of the moon. It was a mansion.

I felt a shiver run down my spine as I froze at the sight of it. It looked abandoned and ominous, out of place in a forest such as this. Perhaps that's what disturbed me the most, the idea that someone either lived here or still does...

My eyes veer back toward the forest momentarily as I weigh my choices before I repugnantly make up my mind.

"Damnit, damnit, damnit!" I growled, stomping in the grass as I moved towards the doors of the mansion.

As if I had a choice... Hopefully whoever lives here doesn't mind guests.