After a few long minutes of waiting for his death in agony, he finally mustered up the courage to glance back. Tilting his head to the side just a little bit. That's when he saw it and cursed his rotten luck yet again:
"Well {HUFF} I'll be damned!"
And that's when the two orbs began to glow. He felt blood rushing all over his body. He almost went deaf from his racing heart. Shaking the entirety of his minuscule frame with each beat.
His mind became light. Attempting to abandon him at any given moment. His vision lost focus and became blurred. His head ached with a throbbing pain at every beat. It was like his temples were being hammered at both sides with every pulse.
He didn't know why but he had this odd craving. An out of place desire to walk forwards. With shaky steps he went on ahead. Walking towards it.
Towards his death.
PLOP!
Either by the grace of the havens, or due to his weakness, his trembling legs gave out. He fell butt-first with a light thud. Right before he reached his goal. Into the monster's mouth.
Being just a few inches away, he was able to discern his foe. He saw a pair of dark orange eyes, that lost their shine when he fell. A muzzle of the same color. Tall thin whiskers. And silver clean fangs the size of daggers, with stains of red here and there.
Before him lay a hyena-like monster. A few patches of its body were missing both fur and skin. Some had slash marks; others had bite marks.
Its left ear was almost bitten off. The other half of its face was melting. Its gum, teeth and tongue were visible for anyone who'd look from the side. That is, anyone who has the madness within them to get up close and observe the thing.
After a few moments of absolute terror and denial, he was able to use his brain again. He looked around the thing and found that it was unable to move. Berried under a pile of rubble of some sorts. With a closer inspection he found out that it was missing a limb or two.
SIGH~
Just as he sighed in relief, a shadowy figure came racing right from the back of the monster. With a dreadful hiss, a snake came from nowhere and bit him on the left shoulder.
"AAARRRGH!"
Kevin screamed with terror as the thing spread its venom inside his body just before retreating where it came from. He could feel something rushing through his system. And then he saw some veins popping and turning black.
He stood up shakily and made some distance between him and the thing. Walking backwards while his eyes stayed on it. He sprinted with all his might once it was out of sight.
His weak body raced as fast as it could. His mind rushed faster. Thinking about what he saw. What he heard. And what he felt.
What it felt like to walk towards the two golden eyes. As if he was enveloped in euphoria. An ecstatic feeling he has never felt.
And what he felt when he saw where he was walking to. The fear he felt when he saw its fangs. The weakness he felt when he couldn't stand up.
The horror.
And then the exhaustion. To anyone seeing him, his fleeing might not even look like running. More like a fast walk. After a few minutes he was basically just dragging his feet. He "ran" for about half an hour before collapsing.
His dry throat made it hard for him to breathe. Let alone flee from a giant monster with some weird mind manipulation tricks.
Whatever the case, a hallucination or not, a dream or not, he had to keep moving. Crawl if he must. And crawl he did. He went in whatever direction he could, coughing from his dry throat. And making some weird whistling sounds as he breathed.
'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!!'
He cursed his luck. What type of madness is this? Where is he? Why is this happening? What's wrong with his hands? What's wrong with his body? Why is he coughing?
Now sprawled on the ground, and unable to move, he listened intently. Whatever this forest was, there's bound to be a water body somewhere. A creek, a well or even a pond.
WHEEZE-WHEEZE-WHEEZE!!
Nothing.
With luck as terrible as his, there was nothing to be heard. Not even trickles. With hearing out of question he raised his head and looked around one last time. He looked for anything that might moisten his throat. To stop it from sticking in on itself and stop his breathing.
He searched his surroundings with teary, bulging, eyes and after a handful of painful wheezes something caught his attention. The moon's silver rays reflected on something far away near the bushes.
"Wa@#&!"
He tried to speak but ended up coughing blood instead. He sent a terribly shaking hand out first. Then the other one. One knee moved forwards. Then the next. Crawling on all four, he neared slowly and shakily.
Reaching the small puddles he dived in face first, not caring for swallowing some dirt along with it. With each gulp, he felt the warm liquid flow down his throat while burning everything it touched. But he didn't care. Appeasing his thirst came first.
RUMBLE-SHAKE-RUMBLE!!
The ground shook and the trees swayed. Birds he didn't know were there, flew off in a scare. It was then that he looked up. The sound came from the same direction he came from.
He couldn't be there for long. Nor did he have any intention of doing so. Not out in the cold he didn't. He then looked down on his "puddle".
A face stared back at him. One that's not his. A scared boy with unruly hair looked right back at him. He looked at his brown hands. He inspected them. They were so small he knew they were a child's hands. A pattern of callus was visible on his palms. The skin on his knuckles was tougher now.
The moon above illuminated his features over the crimson canvas. Probably because what he was drinking this whole time was not water, but blood instead.
'Figured this much. There was a bit of iron in this thing. And what's with the look?'
GROWL-GROWL-GROWL!!
Another sound was heard yet again. The sound seemed like that of the injured beast he just ran away from.
However tired he might have felt, looking back, he could see there was no real distance between them.
And wherever he might be heading to, it was better than where he was. He sighed cursing his luck. First he gets stabbed, then he finds himself running away from a monster in the body of a child.
"Those sleepless nights might be catching up to me in worse ways than I thought."
Whatever was happening was absolute madness. Had he had no self awareness, he'd be hiding behind the convenient lie of the whole thing being a nightmare.
But he knew better. For one, he was sure he didn't have the imagination to picture half of the monsters he saw in the detailed form he witnessed. For two, it was all too realistic.
In dreams, what you are sure of are the things you see. But what people say or things sound like, you just understand them. Like a highly accurate estimation of what might be the case. You just know what you might be sensing. You don't actually sense them.
But all this, he could feel it. He could see everything crystal clear. Even better than he used to, he had poor sight.
He could hear the wind blowing. He could feel the cold, running down his spine. As if cold water was splashed onto his naked body. Making goosebumps all over his skin.
He could taste the blood, from whatever source it was. He could feel the thick viscous liquid warming his mouth, throat and insides.
He could smell the rot. The pungent stink of the bodies. And sense the sting that came with it.
He could sense everything. Feel everything.
"There is no place for doubt anymore."
Whatever might be happening, it was real as far as senses were concerned. The same logic he always used to judge reality applied to where he was at that moment. So, now, this was his new reality, in a new body. And with monsters.
SIGH!!~
"Survive first, then ask later." He said to his new face on the reflection.
Not knowing when he'll get another chance, he gulped down all the blood he could get and made his way again.