The forest swallowed their footsteps.
Branches cracked under Edward's boots as he carried Alan's limp body in his arms, his breath sharp and steady despite the weight. Kaelira ran beside him, face pale, eyes red, every step fueled by panic rather than strength. Meera followed close behind, tears streaking down her cheeks.
"Just hold on," Kaelira muttered, her tone unnaturally tight. "We're almost out of the flames."
Edward's voice trembled.
"Alan… please… wake up…"
But Alan didn't respond.
His head hung lifelessly, strands of his hair brushing Kaelira's arm. His fingers were cold. His breathing is shallow.
They ran deeper into the forest.
Leaves rustled. Night wrapped around them.
The world finally quieted.
And then-
Something changed.
The wind stopped. The trees stilled.
Every sound in the forest was smothered at once, as if a giant hand had pressed down on the world.
Darkness was rising. Not like fog. As if the world itself was being drained of colour eaten from the edges inward.
Coiled around Alan's body.
And then-
Everything collapsed. The forest vanished in a blink. The ground fell away. The air disappeared.
Light shattered like glass. Alan dropped out of existence.
Darkness breathed around him.
Alan didn't wake up gently. There was no restful transition from sleep to consciousness.
He simply appeared, as though he had been thrown from the sky straight into a pit of cold, pulsing nothingness.
His lungs seized. His mind reeled.
There was no ground beneath him. No wind on his skin. No sound, no shape, no direction.
Only a suffocating absence - heavy, cold, almost alive.
Alan's eyes slowly opened.
And he saw-
Nothing.
Only a void that felt alive, whispering against his skin like something crawling underneath his thoughts.
"Wh…where… am I…?"
His own voice sounded distant, like it came from someone else's throat.
His breath fogged in the darkness, even though there was no cold here. No temperature at all. No direction. No reality.
Then-
A sound, a crack, a whisper, a scream.
It came like thunder inside a metal cage - a scream so sharp it sliced through his skull.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH-!!"
Alan clutched his head.
He staggered forward though there was no ground to step on, falling and floating at the same time.
"What - what the hell-?! Agh-!!"
The scream didn't stop. It multiplied. Echoed. Layered.
Became dozens of voices - no, hundreds, shrieking inside a narrow tunnel that didn't exist.
His ears rang.
His mind pulsed painfully, as if his brain wanted to break open and spill out.
Alan grit his teeth, trying to stand, trying to breathe.
Then-
BOOM.
The darkness ruptured.
A burst of fire exploded outward, blooming like a murderous flower. Alan flinched, shielding his eyes, and the world suddenly snapped into shape.
The burning village.
The flames. The collapsing roofs. The corpses on the ground. The smell of blood and smoke.
And-
The girl.
The small girl whose head had been severed.
The child he failed to reach.
The one he watched die.
She stood in the firelight in front of him. Her body. She cut her throat.
His heart shattered all over again.
"No… no… please…"
Alan stumbled toward her, legs shaking. But the world behaved like water. Every step rippled, reality bending like a reflection on a disturbed pond.
His hand reached toward her- And passed right through her.
"No-no-no-!!"
She flickered.
The flames vanished. The bodies vanished. The screams vanished. The world collapsed back into pure blackness. Alan gasped for air, heart pounding like it wanted to tear out of his chest.
Then-
A light appeared. A tiny light. Small as a firefly.
Floating, Growing, Spreading. Footsteps emerged from the darkness.
Alan's breath stopped.
A figure walked forward - a silhouette carved from shadows. And in its hands-
It carried…Her head.
The girl's body.
She stepped forward, holding her own severed head in her arms like a broken doll. The blood dripped endlessly, but made no sound.
Her dress was stained. Her tiny fingers were trembling as they held her own lifeless face.
Alan's knees gave out. He froze. His throat tightened until he couldn't even swallow.
The girl lifted her head slowly.
The cut neck drips darkness like ink.
Her dead eyes opened. "Why…?" The voice was a whisper, Low, Empty.
Alan's lungs tightened.
"Wh… what…?" His voice cracked
"Why… didn't you save me…?" she shouted.
Her voice trembled.
Then twisted.
"Why didn't you save the village…?"
Alan shook his head violently.
"I-I tried, I swear, I tried, I wanted to-"
"Liar!" She shouted again.
Her voice deepened, warped, echoing like a beast. Her head's eyes glowed a sickly yellow.
"WHY-WHY-WHY-WHY-WHY- DIDN'T YOU SAVE US-?!"
Her scream tore through him. Not through his ears- Through his mind. As if claws raked through the inside of his skull.
"GAAAAHHH-!!"
Alan collapsed, writhing, clutching his head.
He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. His vision blurred. Every scream felt like a hammer smashing into his brain.
Then- The girl stopped. Silence.
She began to cry.
Her lifeless body trembled as she hugged her severed head against her chest like a toy.
"You said… you would save me…"
She sobbed quietly.
"Didn't you…?"
Alan's breath quivered.
"I… I really… wanted to save-"
"LIAR!!!!!"
Her body convulsed. Then collapsed.
Head rolling onto the dark ground like a stone.
The small corpse lay still.
Alan crawled toward her slowly.
His fingers trembled as he reached out. Then stopped. Her body twitched. Something moved inside her.
A bulge. Then another. Her spine snapped backwards. Alan's breath froze. A thin crack ripped through her small torso-Then something tore out.
A black serpent.
Thick, Dripping shadow. It's scales like charred iron. Its body coiling out of the girl's corpse, stretching longer… bigger… monstrous.
Its head rose slowly- as if savouring the moment.
The serpent's neck uncoiled like a shadow being pulled upright by invisible strings.
Then its eyes opened.
Two vertical yellow slits- Burning, Hungry, Fixing directly onto Alan. Alan's breath snapped out of him. His whole body locked. A chill shot through his spine, so cold it felt like his bones were cracking.
"No… no… no-no-no-"
The serpent's jaw stretched open, too wide, impossibly wide.
Then-
RRRROOOOAAARRR!!-
A sound like a thousand demons screaming underwater. The air itself shook. Alan felt the vibration in his ribs.
The serpent lunged.
Alan started raining. He didn't think. Didn't turn. Didn't look back. It felt like something primal inside him- something - grabbed control of his legs and forced them to move.
"Run-RUN- RUN!"
His feet hammered the ground so hard he barely felt them. The world blurred. His heartbeat boomed against his ribs. Behind him-
BOOM- BOOM- BOOM.
The serpent's massive body slammed into the ground in huge waves of force, each impact making the nightmare landscape ripple, as if the world were made of trembling flesh instead of stone.
Cracks split the ground beneath Alan's feet, glowing faintly like veins of hellfire. The air was thick, sticky, like running through smoke that wanted to grab him.
"I can't die… I can't… somebody... please."
But nobody was there to help.
Another crash behind him sent Alan stumbling forward. He caught himself, barely. A cold wind scraped the back of his neck-the serpent's breath.
It was that close.
"Faster-faster-FASTER!"
The words burst in Alan's head like panicked lightning. His legs screamed in agony, a burning pain shooting up from his ankles to his hips.
His lungs felt like they were tearing apart.
But he didn't stop. He couldn't. Because in that moment, the fear wasn't just fear. It was certain.
If he slowed even a heartbeat, if he tripped, if he looked back- He would be swallowed.
Alive- Whole.
The serpent shrieked again.
Alan's vision blurred with tears he didn't remember shedding. His feet slipped on a stone, no, was it a stone?
It felt like wet skin beneath him-
He almost fell.
"Move move move MOVE-"
He flung himself forward, breath ripping out of him in jagged gasps, legs trembling so violently he felt like they might snap.
But still, he ran.
Because behind him, death wasn't just chasing him. It was reaching
Ahead lay a jagged cliffside. A dead end. A cruel wall of stone stabbing toward a starless sky. No escape.
Unless-
Alan didn't hesitate. He sprang forward and slammed both hands onto the rock.
"- Hgh!"
The stone was cold. Sharp. Unforgiving. His fingers scraped across it, tearing it open instantly. Warm blood streaked the wall as he dragged himself upward.
"Come on, come on-"
Below,
BOOOOM!
The serpent crashed into the cliff, the entire wall shaking as it would collapse.
Alan froze.
The serpent wasn't stopping. It was climbing.
Its long black body slithered up the cliffside as though gravity meant nothing. Yellow eyes glared upward, locking onto him with a hunger that made his heart collapse into itself.
His arms burned. His legs trembled. His breath shook with every gasp.
"GAH- AHHHHH"
But he climbed,
Another stone- A higher ledge- A desperate pull-
Unexpectedly.
Something grabbed his ankle. Cold, Rotting.
Wrong. Alan's eyes widened. Slowly, he looked down.
"Wh-what…?"
Hands. Dozens of them.
Grey, skeletal hands clawing out of the cliff face like the mountain itself was vomiting corpses.
Faces emerged next. Pale.Twisted.
Mouths torn open in silent screams.
"Why didn't you save us…?"
A whisper.
Another.
"Save… save us…"
"Why did you leave us…?"
"Why did you live…?"
The voices crawled into Alan's skull like worms burrowing straight into his thoughts.
His mind shook.
"No- stop -! I- I'm sorry! I'm sorry!!"
The hands tightened, dragging him down.
His grip slipped.
Below, the serpent climbed closer.
Its shadow rose the wall, swallowing light, swallowing space, swallowing hope.
Alan's heartbeat raced like it wanted to break free from his chest.
"No- No-No-!, I won't die… not like this… not here…"
He gritted his teeth. His eyes burned.
And he roared.
"LET- GO OF ME!!"
With everything he had left, he kicked, clawed upward, tearing his ankle free. Blood smeared down the cliff. His hands bled, but he didn't stop.
He couldn't. The serpent was inches away.
Alan climbed-
Driven not by strength, but pure fear.
His body screamed. His lungs tore.
His vision shook.
But he climbed.
"Hah- hah- hah-!"
His fingers found the final edge-
He pulled- And with one last desperate push,
He reached the top.
He rolled onto the cold surface, panting, shaking violently.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
He ripped his leg free of the last corpse-hand and stumbled backwards.
Then-
He froze. Someone stood behind him.
A tall figure. Half-hidden in darkness. Face swallowed by shadow. Only the eyes were visible - glowing with a cold, unearthly light.
Alan's body went rigid.
"W-who are you…?"
The figure said nothing at first. It simply stared at him- As if analysing him
…judging him
…condemning him.
Then the figure spoke. A voice deep enough to shake the void.
"That is not important."
Alan's breath caught.
The figure raised an arm. A shadow stretched- and a single hand wrapped around Alan's throat.
Effortless.
Alan's feet left the ground.
"G-ghk-!"
His breath snapped.
His legs kicked wildly, boots scraping against nothing.
He clawed at the hand, nails digging, desperate.
"L-let me go-!!"
His voice cracked into broken panic.
The figure didn't move.
Didn't flinch. Only shadows swirled behind him like a living storm.
Alan screamed, voice tearing at his throat.
"WHY-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! What did I- what did I do-?!"
The figure tilted his head.
A small, terrifyingly calm motion.
"You committed a crime."
Alan's eyes widened, breath shattering in his chest.
"C-crime…?"
"Yes." The figure replied.
The word echoed inside Alan's bones, as if the world itself spoke with him.
"Your crime was…"
The figure leaned closer.
His voice sank like a blade into Alan's mind.
"…feeling everything too deeply."
Alan thrashed violently.
"A-aghhh-!!"
The hand tightened around his throat.
"For that…"
The figure's glowing eyes flared-
strips of burning light slicing through the darkness.
"…your punishment…"
Alan's heart froze.
"…is to survive it." That voice echoed in Alan's mind.
Then- The figure let go.
Alan fell.
The world slowed into a terrible silence.
His body flipped backwards, weightless and helpless. The cliff vanished above him.
His stomach lurched into his throat.
Air rushed past his ears in a deafening roar.
Below- The serpent waited.
Its jaw opened impossibly wide.
Its yellow eyes widened.
Its fangs glinted like knives carved from fear itself.
It rose to meet him. The figure stared at him from above.
Alan reached, clawed, and grasped at the empty air for stone, for rope, for anything- but there is nothing.
But the world shattered.
The serpent. The cliff. The sky.
All of it cracked like glass-
and collapsed into pure, suffocating darkness.
Alan's eyes burst open.
He shot upright with a choking gasp.
"Hah-hah-hah-!!"
His breath tore out of him like he'd been drowning.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Sweat dripped down his face and neck, soaking his clothes. His hands shook so violently he couldn't even hold them steady.
"It… it was a dream…"
His voice cracked, barely a whisper.
But the terror clung to him.
Like a cold chain wrapped around his heart.
He looked around, chest rising and falling in uneven waves.
A forest.
Night.
Moonlight barely reaches through the leaves.
A campfire flickered quietly, its light soft and fragile compared to the nightmare he'd just escaped.
Edward slept against a tree stump, his face still damp with dried tears, even in sleep.
Meera lay curled on her side, her exhaustion heavy enough to blur her expression into something fragile and aching.
Alan swallowed hard.
His throat still felt like a hand was gripping it.
Then-
A voice.
"So you're awake."
Alan turned instantly.
Kaelira sat beside the fire, silent and steady as a shadow. Her face was calm.
Her posture relaxed.
But her eyes-
Her eyes held weight.
A quiet, piercing understanding.
Alan stared at her.
Still trembling.
Still trapped between the nightmare and reality.
Kaelira didn't look away.
And the flames crackled softly between them.