#this takes place hundreds of years prior to the world's current day btw

[fili-oeuvre]

{ in the wilderness, close to the beginning of night }

Noah fidgeted with a stick. It was a fairly long one, but he figured that it would make a better torch than the tinier ones he had found. He broke off a piece of it to make it a more preferable length for a torch.

Noah: [ of course I get lost right before the sun goes down, typical, I didn’t even want to be o it, but someone used up all of the peppermint leaves and OF COURSE they send me out to get more instead of waiting until morning ] *he quickly ignited the wraps at the end of the stick and it lit into a small fire that draw to consume the end of the stick*

He shuffled to his feet, glancing around with the new light of his makeshift torch. The sun had started to set, casting the world in fleeting light as it slowly disappeared over the horizon.

Noah looked back at the way he had gone and walked. He shouldn't be too far. He had only gone about 4 miles in until he had found what he needed. It would likely be an hour and a half walk, but he was always a fast walker.

Noah: [ why did these plants have to grow this far out? I swear I have the worst luck ]

He continued walking, passing a gnarled tree. It had a strange knot in its trunk as if someone had purposely twisted that section and left it to there like some kind of lump at the tree's core.

He gave it a passing glance before turning back towards the trail he was on.

——————

{ 20 minutes later }

Noah: [ at least its not raining, that would make this walk feel even longer ]

The sounds of the night were a slight comfort, made him less alone. Crickets played their songs and frogs croaked from the streams. Owls hooted from the branches, adding their voices to the chorus of the night. There were even a few fireflies that occasionally glowed in the darkness. It was a lot better than still, empty silence. It was almost relaxing, how peaceful everything seemed.

He came to a point where he walked by a tree, stopping he looked up at the tree. It was... the same one he had passed at the beginning. The same twisted knot at the midsection of the tree's trunk. The same bent stature like the tree was struggling to stand upright.

Noah: [ didn't I... pass this tree already? ] *he thought for a moment, surely he hadn't gone in a circle* *maybe it was a different tree, there were a lot of trees in the forest and there were bound to be some with knots and bends to them* [ it's fine, I'll just make sure to walk straight this time ]

He shook off the uneasy feeling that was being to rest on him like an unwanted layer of snow. He walked passed the tree, trying to think of something to keep him calm.

——————

{ 40 minutes later }

He must be making progress by now. He had passed by a small river that he hadn't the first time, so he felt confident that he hadn't looped around like he did the first time.

Noah: [ I'll see the lights of home in the distance soon, I hope that some dinner is still left over, hopefully Arnold didn't eat my portion agian ]

It was darker by this point. The sun setting completely about 10 minutes ago, leaving the world in total darkness.

He wasn't too scared, though he couldn't help glancing over his shoulder every time he heard a sound. This feeling of being watched hadn't stopped since the sun went down, but he couldn't see anything in the darkness.

Luckily, he had a torch to light his way and he felt assured that the light would keep the wild animals away.

Noah: *he took a shaky breathe to try and calm his nerves* [ don't worry, you've been walking for a while and you've covered good ground by now, everything is fi— ]

There at least ten feet away, faintly illuminated by the light of the torch, was the same tree.

The center of the knot looked at him as if it was an eye. Almost like it was taunting him.

Noah: [ that's not possible! I was sure that I walked straight that time! I couldn't have gone in a circle again, I was making progress! ]

A sudden snap of branches pulled his attention from his thoughts as he whirled around towards the direction of the sound.

Nervous sweat rolling down his neck as his eyes scanned the darkness, almost like he was waiting for something to jump out at him.

It was then that he noticed how the other sounds of the night seemed to have stopped. He was about to excuse it as just being his fear playing a trick on him. His mind playing tricks on him.

A louder snap, this time closer, made him jump.

Fear creeped up his body like a thousand tiny spiders. Goosebumps spread across his arms and legs. Even the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end.

More snaps came from in front of him, but also around him on the sides. It sounded like multiple people were moving around at once, but they didn't sound human.

A part of him wondered if it was those strange shape-changing people that he had heard about. That didn't ease his fear at all though, as his mind went through the several stories he had heard of those strange non-humans carrying people off and leaving their bodies to rot, either dangling them from trees or mauling them beyond recognition.

Then, a sound right at the edge of the torch's light snapped his terrified gaze towards the direction of it.

In what felt like an instant, hundreds of glowing eyes appeared from the darkness in front of him as if they had just spawned out of nowhere.

Somewhere in his mind, a primal instinct yelled one simple word: RUN.

He turned and ran.

He heard what sounded like thousands of footsteps following behind him, but he just kept running. He nearly tripped on several tree roots and rocks as he went, but he didn't slow down.

Even as his lungs burned and his legs begged him to stop, his mind screamed at him to keep running and somehow, he did.

After what felt like forever, he tripped on a tree root as he looked to the side after seeing something illuminated by the fire from the corner of his eye.

He unceremoniously fell to the ground, somehow not dropping the torch and narrowly missing setting his hair on fire.

Noah: *groans from the pain* *sitting up and wiping the dirt from his face* *he had scraped his knees when he tripped, but the adrenaline caused him to not feel it yet*

He glanced up and was surprised to hear that the sounds had seemingly... stopped.

He slowly looked around him, moving the torch to try and see around him.

Noah: [ maybe whatever it was left? ] *he held off on feeling any sort of relief*

Just then, a voice, sounding as if it was being spoken from numerous people at once, came from all around him from within the darkness.

“You don’t belong here. Do you?”

He looked around frantically, scrambling back up to his feet in case he needed to run again. Trying to see who or what was speaking, but all he saw was pitch black.

Then a sound of footsteps came from right in front of him. A figure slowly came into view as it stepped into the proximity of the torch's light.

It was a... deer?

By the torch’s light, he could see that it was a young buck. A set of long, curled antlers atop its head. It stared at him with empty eyes that were illuminated by the light of the fire.

It made its eyes look as if they were glowing bright red.

“A little creature so far from home.”

The same voice that he had heard prefer emitted from the deer. It didn’t look like it was moving its mouth to speak the words, more just lazily opening and closing its mouth as the words spilled from it.

Then, hundreds of footsteps sounded from all around them. Hoofed feet crunching the leaves and dirt of the forest floor as they circled around, just outside of the fire’s small light.

The buck remained unfazed by the sounds, creeping closer to him. It was unafraid of the fire, as if it had seen it many times and was simply not put off by its presence.

“So small and frail. In such a big forest.”

The buck made a face as if it was trying to smile, its head tilted to the side in an unnatural way.

“Even you know that you shouldn’t be out here.”

Noah couldn’t take his eyes off of the buck. Its eyes were so… hauntingly beautiful.

The other deer crept closer to him, but he didn't acknowledge them or even move an inch. He just kept looking at the buck in front of him, staring into its shining eyes.

The eyes of the other deer began to glow from the fire as they walked closer. They walked in unison, as if they were a synchronized unit who had practiced these steps before.

"You don't need to worry though."

The buck smiled at him again, that same unnatural smile.

"We'll keep you safe."

Then an unnatural wind blew from behind Noah, snuffing the flame of the torch within a single gust.

Leaving Noah and the deer to be engulfed by the darkness of the night.