Shadows

The moon sat in the dark night sky, illuminating the thick forest below. A million stars twinkled and danced tirelessly beyond the dark clouds that had begun to dissipate. An orchestra of countless instruments echoed through the great hall formed by an endless array of trees lined up as far as the eye could see. The wind whistled a melodious tune with vigorous energy. A chorus of crickets followed its lead with their beautiful voices, maintaining the rhythm of the leaves. For hours they went on and on, delighting the inhabitants of the forest with their masterful performance.

And then there was nothing.

The wind stopped whistling.
The crickets entered an eternal rest.
The sound of the rustling leaves ceased.
It was completely and utterly silent.

Crows, awoken from their deep slumber, cawed loudly and fled North. The leaves began rustling again. This time, however, the tempo was wrong.

Heavy footsteps resonated through the world hidden below the canopies. A young man sprinted across grass soaked from the rain. He let out loud grunts of pain with every tree branch that slashed violently against his skin. Deep cuts in his face and arms began to bleed. Not once did he think of stopping, however. His brown eyes remained fixed on the dimly lit dirt path ahead of him, guided by the spots of light scattered throughout the ground like a mirror reflecting the stars watching from above.

Through the sound of his labored breathing and his beating heart, he was still able to hear the horrifying cries of the creature behind him. He fought the urge to glance back just as hard as he fought the burning sensation in his legs. His heart rate had reached a point in which he genuinely believed he would die before the monsters caught up to him. In a twisted kind of way, that's what kept him going. Anything would be better than whatever that thing would do to him.

With every blink, he could see the haunting images that would follow him for the rest of his life -- short as that may be.
Gigantic wings protruded from a bony, deformed body. A black, pulsating heart stuck out of its open ribcage, leaking a dark, thick liquid. Sharp, bloody claws resided within a pair of sickly veiny hands. Horns poked out of its monstrous, canine-like skull. Serrated fangs the size of a forearm hung from the top of its mouth.

And its eyes.
A pair of blue orbs emitting a faint light hovered over two massive holes in its face.
But they were unlike the rest of the monster.
They were beautiful.
Like stars brought down from the heavens.

The young man remembered his first encounter with the creature. For a moment, he ignored its nightmarish appearance and deadly anatomy. He stared deep into its eyes sticking out of the darkness and felt an overwhelming feeling of grief and sadness.

For a fraction of a second, he wasn't looking at a creature escaped from Purgatory.
He was looking at himself.

He panted heavily, almost certain that he was moments from losing consciousness.
Then, deep within what appeared to be a cave in the distance, he saw his last glimmer of hope. Gathering the last bit of strength left in him, he sprinted across the forest faster than he ever had before.

And then, a few feet away from the entrance, his body dropped.
His legs gave out.
His body could simply not take it any longer.

He remained motionless on the ground, unable to take control over his body. Pain ran throughout every inch of his being. He wanted to scream and roll on the ground and give in to the agonizing pain. He wanted to drag himself inside the cave no matter how much more it hurt to do so.

But he couldn't.

He rolled on his back and looked at the blue orbs approaching him. A chuckle escaped him as he wondered whether he'd get to see his life flash in front of his eyes. Then he let out a sigh and looked up to the sky in defeat.