THE FOREST
My senses were strong. Stronger than usual, I could smell everything in the air. The pine trees, to the oak trees, the daisies to the blueberry bushes all around me. Everything though seemed a bit off, the smell of sweat, and terror reeked in the forest. I knew that I was in danger standing alone in the dark. I came out here every night for some peace and quiet, for a nice simple run to calm my aching nerves, but tonight the air felt ramped and frustrated. The movements of the trees were tense. I could sense I was not alone.
I lifted my snout sniffing the air. I received a whiff of an unknown source. It smelt like onion, and maybe like blood. My senses tightened almost constricting me, turning my stomach into a clustered mess; to the left I heard what sounded like rustling of the leaves in the stricken wind. I turned to face the noise. There again, behind me the leaves started rustling. I turned my senses up, I was in danger but I wasn’t going to stop.
I walked forward making as little noise as possible. On I walked in and out of the trees for about ten minutes, sounds came from behind me I was being followed. I picked up my steps. I was almost to a half sprint when out of my peripheral vision I saw the eyes of what was chasing me.
Dark red eyes taunted me, almost like it was on the prowl for its next prey. They had that sense of evil about them.
Suddenly they were gone. Vanished behind a tree.
A howl came from in front of me off in the distance. Another werewolf?
I was not alone out here but right now I felt like I was the only one, and I soon was to be a goner. The eyes were in front of me again, this time darting back and forth across the black forest. I could make out a shape.
A person is what it reminded me of. Humans though are few and far between in this region of the forest. They know what lies beyond the hills of Austre City. It was a nightmare.
I could now make out heavy, gruff breathing and it was not my own. It sounded close, too close. All I could see was trees for miles. Darkness engulfed the midnight air, making the trees dance about their spots casting shadows where the moon shown in.
All around me shadows appeared, left, right and in front. Shapes of many unordinary creatures. They are what we call The Scented. The Scented have been haunting the woods for millions of years, they only begin where one ends.
Meeting creatures like them would be your last wish, and right now it had become my reality.
Trolls with faces not even their mother could love came forward. Moles covered their faces and arms. There dark green scaly, scratchy skin looked worn and wrinkly. Dark black hair crept down there backs, making it impeccably hard to tell a gender. Fingernails about 6 inches long were attached to hairy, disfigured hands. The creatures were not tall; maybe 3’5 at best but there bite made up for their small size. They had the teeth of a vampire and the bite of a werewolf, they bit a hard bite.
Austimers, former living human beings, walked the night as zombies. They approached me but stopped short. They were tall, lanky creatures who were almost done decaying, only to be stopped by the curse of Mere. They were to forever be the zombie they were. They had been cursed about 100 years ago by a witch trying to protect these woods. Their hair was mangled and dirty; many pushed the hair out of their eyes to see what they had caught for lunch. Their fingernails were a lot like the troll fingernails, only much sharper for their killing. Many thought they were the worst of the worst. Stench was there best friend.
A new species I have never heard of walked up to me and gave me a look of death. I knew he was the most dangerous. I would give him the title of “Receiver”. Those dark red eyes came back to me. Only to be haunting me even more, they came with a mysterious figure to add to their petrifying features. This figure was the only of his kind here tonight, he looked human, but his slit eyes, and missing nose, gave it away that he wasn’t. “He” I’m assuming, had brown/blondish hair. He was about my height and was slender. His clothing told me nothing but darkness. He wore all black and covers everything. He spoke.
