CHAPTER 2
404 Words
A branch snapped outside. Not the soft c***k of settling timber.
Weight.
I moved without thinking. The doorway was already behind me before my mind caught up.
A man staggered through the trees. One of the village hunters. His clothes were soaked. His face pale.
"Help..."
I lowered one sword.
"What happened?"
He looked up.
His eyes caught the light.
They weren't clouded.
They reflected it.
Like polished obsidian.
"I..."
His voice caught in his throat. Then changed.
Deeper. Older. Not his.
"It remembers."
Every bird in the forest fell silent.
The hunter screamed. His body convulsed violently. Black veins spread beneath his skin. He lunged.
I met him halfway. One strike knocked the hunting knife from his hand. Another swept his feet from beneath him.
He crashed hard against the earth. Still fighting. Not me. Something inside himself.
"I'm not here to kill you."
I caught his wrists before he could claw at his own face.
"Listen to me."
For one heartbreaking moment...
His eyes cleared.
He looked directly at me.
Terrified.
"Don't..."
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
"...look..."
His gaze shifted toward the shrine. I followed it. Every black mirror reflected the forest behind me.
Except one.
One reflected me. Standing exactly where I was. With someone behind my shoulder. Tall. Featureless. Watching.
I spun.
Nothing.
When I looked back...
The reflection was gone.
The hunter stopped moving.
The forest became silent once more.
By the time the sun disappeared behind the mountains, the villagers had carried the body home.
They asked whether the danger had passed.
I couldn't answer.
I'd hunted wolves. Demons. Corrupted beasts. Men far crueler than monsters.
None of them had felt like this.
This...Felt old.
Not ancient because of time. Ancient because it had been waiting...patiently.
I stood outside the ruined shrine long after everyone else had left. The evening breeze stirred the cedar branches overhead. Far above the valley, hidden among the rocks, something white watched me.
I caught only the faintest flicker of movement. Too graceful for a wolf. Too small for a person.
Amber eyes met mine for the briefest instant. Then it was gone. I frowned at the empty ridge.
"...Great." I adjusted my pack and started walking toward the fading light. "Now I'm seeing foxes."
For reasons I couldn't explain...
The silence that followed no longer felt empty.
It felt as though something had decided to follow me home.
- Writer
