Memento Mori

The journey

"Eman" Vivien gasps and calls for Eman, which starts to walk faster.

"Let's take a break, please, I can't-" she gasps again. They've been walking for a while now.

"We can't stop now, we'll soon reach the tree" Eman looks at majestic tree before them, it's unlike anything that they've seen before. Large trunk, wider than a mansion, it's height not known due to it growing and disappearing into smog clouds on the sky.

"I can't-" Vivien stops and loudly gasps, catching her breath. Surprisingly Eman stops as well, he observes surrounding and narrows his eyes attentively.

"We must keep going" he says sharply.

"For God's sake give me a minute" says Vivien between breaths, his impatience is getting on her nerves.

"We've been followed"

"Huh?" Vivien looks around quickly, there's nothing particular that stands out "I don't see anything"

"there's something" he quickly hints her to follow him, towards the tree, where they might find a shelter.

"What's following us?" She follows quickly, a hint of fear in her voice.

"We'll see" Eman keeps walking then suddenly looks at Vivien "run"

Vivien looks at him surprised.

At once there's a sound of rustling, stone against stone, something is moving towards them.

Vivien starts to run as there's a loud howl. Eman breaks the ranks and starts to run. They run towards the tree as something starts to chase after them. Vivien keeps running, she can feel the adrenaline, intense fear and exhaustion, but that doesn't stop her. Eman is already in front of her, he is getting closer to the bottom of the tree, to roots peeking out of the ground, surrounded by large pieces of stones.

"Ah!" Vivien starts to trip, the stone pieces are getting bigger, at times making it hard to get over them. She notices a bigger piece of rock in her way, a boulder, she tries to climb over it as a loud growl takes her focus. She glances back and at once terrified whines at animal, following her.

A lion, a snake for her tail; Chimera.

She catches up to Vivien, three jumps and she'll get to her. Vivien steps back slowly in hope that Chimera won't attack her. She makes another step but gulps as Chimera growls and aggressively moves her tail.

This is it, she's done for good.

She takes a deep breath then, at once, jumps back and runs towards the tree.

She runs to the tree, she runs for her life, Chimera hunting her down.

Vivien runs as fast as she can, she sprints towards the roots of the tree, which provide shelter. She jumps over bigger chunks of stones and slightly trips but catches her balance and keeps going. She doesn't look back, she can hear how is Chimera getting closer to her. At once Chimera jumps from the side and cuts her way.

Instinctively Vivien changes direction and sprints in another direction, trying to run around stones in her way and reach the roots to which Eman ran. She runs around the rocks, but quickly she realizes there are only rocks around her, there are bigger pieces of rock, high a few meters, their smooth surface making it unable to climb over and it seems she ran into a dead end. Panicked she looks for possible exit but it seems there's none.

A low guttural sound takes her focus. She turns slowly, a lion beast with a snake tail blocks her way out; Chimera.

Chimera wags her tail from side to side, she makes a low sound, she snarls, showing her sharp teeth. She prowls, ready to attack. Vivien gulps in shock, her body won't move, her fingers go numb, unable to make a single sound she stands before Chimera, which is ready to devour her.