Something About Septimus

Prologue

This is the new and improved version :) Welll...it didn't change that much...just a little. Song is Requiem for a dream, the horrific version. I love it!

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Prologue

I was walking. Just walking in a dark forest. The full moon was shining brightly and lit up my path as I walked. It was unusually quiet and the moon was unusually bright. Never have I seen the moon like this. It was a full moon of course but it had a strange glow to it.

Didn't someone tell me not to go out during a full moon a while ago? I can't remember...

I looked down from the moon and at my bare feet. I somehow lost my shoes in the commotion that happened earlier and I just continued walking and forgot all about them. I don't really remember what happened since I hit my head. 

I ignored the pain of the sticks and other things on the forest floor and the throbbing of my head and I kept walking until I found a clearing up ahead.

A quiet wind blew as I approached the large clearing in the forest. It was about 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. On the other side opposite from me was a rotting wooden bridge that didn't look so sturdy. It was covered in moss and the rope sides were frayed and if a feather landed on the bridge, it looked like it would fall into the rapid moving river that was only 10 feet below it.

Where was I? Had I wandered too far out? Why does this place look familiar? 

The trees around me were rotting and dead, just like the tiny one person bridge. A black raven flew across my path and landed on the tree next to me. The raven's feathers looked blue and purple along with the black. It was mesmerizing. It looked at me through its beady black eyes. Or...well it looked like it was looking at me. I tilted my head sideways; staring at the bird curiously and it tilted its head too and stared right back. It squawked once and flapped its wings.

"What's the matter?" I asked the bird.

Had I just asked that? Why am I talking to a bird? Silly me. I turned away and took a step towards the bridge.

Turn back.

I froze. Where had that voice come from? No one else was here but the...bird. I turned to face it again, my eyes narrowed and confused.

"Did you just talk back?"

Turn back.

"What? Why?"

Its gaze intensified.

Turn back.

It kept repeating the same thing over and over. Turn back. But why?

Run.

Turning back then running? Sounds like a good plan to me. But I didn't move. I couldn't, I was stuck. I looked down at my feet. They were still there like they should be. But the strange thing was nothing was holding my feet down. I was stuck. Too frightened to move? Maybe.

Another strong wind struck but this time straight at my face, blowing my hair back. The raven squawked again and flew to a different tree.

I heard a strangled scream and I jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the noise. The raven flapped its wings and nudged its head towards the bridge. I turned once more to the old bridge and saw that a mist now covered the other side so you couldn't see anything passed the other side of the bridge.

Another scream sounded and a figure emerged from the mist. It was a woman who looked to be in her mid twenties. Her dark brown hair was whipping around her face violently as she fought against the wind as she approached the bridge.