Dark grey mist clung to the forest like hungry ghosts trying to devour everything. The canopy swallowed the skys, only letting fractures of moonlight wisp through. Curly black roots loitered the earth's surface as if to lay claim of it's inevitable conquest, thick tall trees stood like giants with strong presence, lush foialage covering every crevices adding to it's ever present eeri yet mysterious atmosphere.
Amidst this eeri forest existed a lake not too big, only a few hundred metres across. By the lake's edge stood a single purple cherry blossom, it's petals luminous under the watchful moon. The lake reflected each branch on it's dark silvery water surface as if the tree reached both the sky and beneath the surface. Creating a picturesque scene, a stark contrast to it's eeri surrounding forest.
At a glance one might mistake it for a fever-dream, if only there wasn't a person leaning against the purple blossom beside the lake.
He was suddenly jolted awake from his peaceful slumber, with rugged breathing as if he had a nightmare.
"Urgh.. my head's killings me" groaned the man, no looking closely he was more like a boy in his late teens, dark black hair shining under the moon light, eye like black gems containing the stars, his skin on the darker side adding to his charm.
The only flaw one could find would be his not so great body shape, which seemed like he wouldn't be able to run more than a kilometer.
After the pain subsided. The boy opened his eyes searching for something famalier in this dense dark woods.
"What's this..? Where am I ? Wasn't I just going to.. wait where was I even going?"
"Well whatever, I might have fallen asleep. Better head home before mom starts worrying."
"Let's see..." The boy started looking curiously to find out more about his surroundings only to be disappointed.
"Wow, this place's creepy... Looks something straight out of a horror movie" , as soon as he thought of that, another crushing pain made his vision go dark in pain.
"Sh*t the headache is getting worse..." Said the boy again clutching his head.
"Better head home quickly"
The boy started walking towards a random direction not thinking much, hoping to find a road or marker to help him get home safely. Though the forest was as dark as the shadows his vision wasn't affected that must as if eyes were settled to low light intensity making it much more easier for navigation.
Few minutes of wondering through the eeri forest the boy started real sence of danger, much of being the reason he couldn't find anything that helped him find about his location.
Another few minutes passed by, him still walking through the lush still clueless about his location. Having enough of it he started running, though it wasn't fast it was still faster than walking?
Another few minutes running...
Huffing, the boy came to a conclusion that it wasn't an ordinary forest, every tree he passed seem the same, even the branches crooked the same way and on top, the mist did not help at all as if he were running in circles.
"Is this a dream or something? What's going on?" His back drenched with sweat from all the running, his face paled as fear started to creep in making things even worse.
He frantically tried to remember how he got here, forcing every ounce of his brain to try to remember but what greeted him was sharp head splitting pain instead of answers. His head riddles with questions but no answer came, he couldn't even remember his own name let alone how he got there in the first place.
He crouched down holding his head, trying to remember, remember who he was, how he got there amidst the unbearable pain but no answers came, no one there to ask, slowly loosing his sanity in this dark eeri forest all alone, slowly loosing his hope, awaiting anyone or anything to rescue him from this dark hellish place.
Then as if God had heard his plea he heard a distinct sound, sound of someone screaming, not too close not too far. He tried following the sound but the dense foialage didn't make it easy as if to contain him within.
Another distinct sound of screaming, no it was more than one this time, there were people nearby, which sounded like they were close, the scream sounded like it came from every direction, he couldn't pinpoint the specific direction which further added to his frustration.
The boy stood still waiting for another hint or sound listening carefully, but nothing caught his ears even after another few minutes. Getting restless he made a decision.
Trusting his ever so correct gut feeling which saved him from time to time he picked a direction and started running as fast as his leg could run.
Another few minutes...
The boy just about to give up and accept his fate, when something caught his ears, murmurs of people speaking.
"Oh I'm saved!" Though the boy making his way through a large dense bush, paying attention to the dialogue of the people possibly upfront, suddenly their voice cleared as if he walked out of a noise cancelling room, making ever sound distinct crystal clear. The murmurs which sounded alot further now seemed just opposite to the dense bush he was currently passing through.
Having experienced this sudden shift he paused for while not understanding what just happened. But the conversation on the other side continued.
"Y-you! how could you?! We trusting you!" A man said in a rugged breath holding his belly tightly, a clear wound visible, specifically a slash coused by something sharp like a knife or dagger.
"Oh? Why can't I ? Care to explain?
After all these years of torment, day and night, living like a slave, always licking his feet!"
"His disgusting face alone makes me wanna puke" said the man standing opposite to the wonded man making a disgusted face contempt clearly visible in his eyes.
The boy now clearly hearing the conversation didn't come out of the bush right away, he carefully moved across a thinner section to first see and access the situation. As desperate as he was about getting out of this creepy place his mind became rational at the last second which made him endure this impulsive reaction.
He carefully treaded through the bush with extra caution not to make a wisp of sound. As much as he would like to get of there, he didn't want to be a part of any precarious situation, he had enough on his palate now to be a part of something worse.
Soon he reached suitable sport to observe the situation as a whole but what he saw made his jaw drop with shock and bewilderment.