Expanded Horizons: Beyond the Blue

Into the Unknown

A distraught young woman whipped her head around in a panic, trying to figure out where she was. She knew that mere moments ago, she could find her way around easily, but suddenly and without explanation, the entire mountain range became totally alien to her. She had no idea which way to go, and the sun was starting to set on the world and her.

She didn't know who it was that sent her away, either. Did they send her away? Or did she choose to leave? Everything was fuzzy. She tried her best to remember who she used to live with, but the images in her mind were as easy to get her hands on as the mist hugging the ground.

"I'm cold," she said to herself.

She couldn't say why, but she knew that talking to herself out loud as she figured out what to do would help her stay calm and kept speaking every word that came to mind. Maybe it would jog her memory. Everything from before just moments ago was a fog, seeping out from behind a door she couldn't unlock.

She stumbled down the path before her, naturally beaten into the mountainside by many sets of feet over countless years. She looked back in the hopes it would lead her to wherever she came from, but the path abruptly ended where she had been standing. With no other option, she pressed onward down the mountain, hoping to find some answers.

She continued to follow the path for a long while, well into the night. She was just able to see the dirt on the ground in the moonlight to continue forward, but had to slow her pace and advance carefully. Panic from the dark began to set in, though she had no idea what for, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Before she could realize what was happening, a black void slowly encroached on the world around her. All light vanished. The woman felt her heart start to pound as her natural instincts took over and she knew something was coming. Some kind of magic, an illusion, she knew. She couldn't risk running forward, lest she run into a tree or off a ledge.

As the inky blackness fully engulfed her, the woman crouched down on the ground hyperventilating with tears flowing from her eyes. She started to feel light-headed and had to sit, and fell back onto her rear with a loud thud. As she regained her senses, she looked around and set her eyes on the most horrifying sight she could have beheld.

About three meters away sat the most hideous creature she believed she must have ever seen. It crawled jaggedly along the ground with four-fingered, clawed hands. It had a long fox body and the face of a black barn owl, big, terrible eyes staring her down. She knew not the name, only that with its gaze set upon her, the only day she knew she ever existed was about to come to an abrupt and painful end.

"No," she said through sobs and tears as the creature slowly advanced. "No, no, no, no..."

The creature screeched loudly and lunged forward. The woman screamed out in terror as it bore down on her, but after several moments of screaming, she realized she still lived. When she ran out of breath, she sucked in breath and expelled it far more rapidly than before, completely out of control of her breathing.

When she opened her eyes, the world was no longer a black void of despair and hopelessness. The trees returned to their usual night colors, the moonlight shone brightly once again. The cold mountain air felt like it froze over in the blackness, and took on a new warmth with her freedom from inky, dark death.

She looked around for the creature to find a man standing between her and the creature's bloody corpse, cleaning up a short sword of the monster's blood. He walked over to it and checked it over once more to ensure it was dead, then turned his attention to the woman.

"It's dangerous to walk these hills at night, ma'am," he said in a strange, drawling accent.

He offered her his hand, though she was hesitant to take it. He wore a friendly expression under a brimmed hat, and his cozy-looking patterned shirt on top of light blue pants made for a disarming appearance. She took his hand and got up onto her feet, vice-gripping it like he would disappear if she let go.