A Single Ray of Light in a Sea of Darkness

Fateful Meeting

Eric was certain he was lost when he couldn't find the path he diverged from. He was curious about that girl he saw entering the forest. Everyone he talked to in Brinegarde said the forest was too dangerous for anyone to go in yet that girl just strolled in without any hesitation. What made him even curiouser was that no one tried to stop her, with some people actively ignoring her if they looked in her direction. Out of the goodness of his heart, he followed after to warn her but ended up in his current situation.

With night quickly approaching, he had no idea if he'd find his way back in time. He knew Alek would raise hell against the lord of Brinegarde if anything bad happened to him while he was here. Alek was pretty scary when his partner's safety was at risk, which strengthened Eric's resolve to get out of the forest of death. As soon as he could find his original path, that is...

Despite that, however, there was yet another reason he wanted to get out before night fell. Whilst gathering information about Brinegarde's lord, the townspeople had given him warnings to stay clear of the Vlixeox. He had never heard of such a thing but he believed asking about it to be troublesome, due to everyone's belief that mentioning it was a sort of taboo. Going on from the little info he had, he assumed the Vlixeox to be a horrific beast that happened to be living in the forest.

Knowing it to be against his better judgment, he hoped the girl would be okay on her own. As for now, he had to look out for himself. First thing to do would be to find the path he took and follow it back to Brinegarde.

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After about a half hour of trying and failing to find the path, Eric reluctantly resigned himself to his fate. Night had fully arrived and, at around the fifteen-ish minute mark, rain began to pour down. Wondering if today could get any worse, the thunder booming above him confirmed what he thought.

As an irritated sigh escaped from his mouth, he thought about what to do next. Finding shelter was a good option but who knows how long it'd be when or if he found any. There was also the matter of finding food and water as well. A ball of regret began to settle in his stomach for wanting to help the girl, going so far as to curse his desire to help others in need.

"I am going to die out here," he said aloud, trying his best to not let his anxiety overwhelm him.

Suddenly, as quick as the raindrops fell on him, they stopped. Looking up, he saw solid black matter hovering just above his head, preventing any rain from touching him. Taken aback by this, he dropped to the muddy ground in fear, believing it to be the Vlixeox's shadow. Unsure of whether or not it noticed him, he chose to scurry away from it instead of letting out a terrified scream.

Despite his hurried pace, however, it kept following him. His back eventually hit a tree, trapping him between it and the monster. Anticipating an attack, he put his arms up in the hopes of blocking it and potentially protecting himself from some of the damage. With the passage of time came nothing. Slowly opening his eyes, he let his arms down to see his pursuer.

At the end of the trail of darkness was a girl. The same girl he saw entering the forest from earlier, in fact. The origin of the darkness was unknown but he knew it had to be from her somehow.

Because of how dark it was, it was hard to discern anything from her, aside from her height and the cloak she wore. She appeared to be considerably shorter than him, almost to that of a child. The cloak was colored a faded gray and full of sloppily stitched holes and tears. Save for two locks of white hair that rested just above her chest, her face was completely concealed by her hood.