There was neither light nor promise of her destination but the dark, and this fruitless attempt to outrun death.
Another dive from the beast dispersed dust into the cave, and she grunted, pushing forward as more and more cracks formed. On and on and on, until there was nothing left but a deep growing path in the cave.
BOOM!
It unrelentingly plunged to the mouth of the cavern in an attempt not to surrender any time soon. Tears burned at the back of her eyes, and she breathed the cave's air, pushing ahead.
Her wet brown hair stuck to her face in blood and dirt, when she whipped behind for a fleeting moment before returning her gaze forward. It was closing in faster than she imagined, and the unending path made everything harder for her.
BOOM!
It quivered against her hands and she groaned, quickly shielding her head from the lack of gravity at the piece of stone. Inhaling the cave's air, she pressed on, occasionally wincing from the burn behind her back and at the back of her leg.
At a time like this, this wasn't supposed to happen; thrown into an unknown world without her bed in the early night, finding herself on a planet being chased by a god-damned animal like a freaking dinner!
BOOM! The silence that followed was unsettling until—ROAR!
Oh fuck.
The creature already gained leverage at the mouth of the cave, breaking in gradually like a deranged beast.
Heart hammering against her chest, she inhaled a shaky breath and ventured further, ignoring the sharp pieces puncturing her elbows.
She didn't want to die here… not here, not now, not today. And definitely not in the hands of this sick creature.
BOOM!
She pressed on, leaving trails of blood and the acrid smell on the floor and in the air. But when she sniffed closer, she realized something different.
Like… air. Fresh air.
A ghost smile bloomed across her lips and she grunted, this time faster, moving deeper. Gods, this should be what I am thinking...
She went on until she finally felt the soft graze of grass against her skin and she pushed her weight, struggling to exit the cave beyond that faint glimpse of light.
Yes… she could see something.
Without thinking, she dragged herself out, however, a painful cry tore her throat at the burn from behind and at the back of her leg. It blinded her for a moment, causing her vision to be blurry and she shook her head, clearing away her unconsciousness.
BOOM!
She tried—carefully, painfully—to push herself upright. Her leg trembled beneath her, refusing to bear her full weight but she forced half a rise anyway.
The world beyond the cave should have felt like freedom but instead… It felt wrong. It was too still and too quiet, like she'd stepped out of one nightmare into the held breath of another.
For the seven gods' sake… she hissed in thought. Couldn't she just close her eyes and pretend all this was definitely a nightmare and when she wakes, she'll be back in her bed?
She hissed at the burn behind her back, instinctively reaching to touch it but drew back at the graze of her skin. It was deep and merciless, and her entire body was covered in her blood. She knew if that didn't get treated quickly, she would probably die of blood loss.
How great.
Since she couldn't lie on her back, she remained lying on her chest, letting the cool air soothe the heat spreading through her body like a poison. Sweat smudged her sick face looking pale and barely alive, but it didn't manage to hide the look of survival in them.
Just in motion, her eyes fluttered closed as the cool wind brushed against her skin, giving off those foreign vibes that even the light stung her eyes in a way that felt unnatural. She knew that feeling, and a defeated sigh escaped her lips.
Her chest rose and fell in a shallow rhythm; her body wanted to relax, but her instincts screamed at her not to. Was this how she'll die? By filling the stomach of an animal?
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
And her eyes snapped open. What in the-?!
The beast was closing in even faster than she'd imagined and she gritted her teeth in frustration.
Finally, she moved—barely—and swallowed, "Gods… where am I?" She asked more of herself than the air that never received the question as she struggled to rise on her feet.
Her vision caught the sight of grasses—yes, a green field with pretty flowers— and nothing more. The view was like heaven's perfect abode, carrying the heavenly scent of sunflowers and something spicy.
She limped, moving forward without any faintest knowledge of where she headed. For a moment, it felt like all this was over, and she was finally back home. But the worst part of it all was that she didn't remember what her home looked like. Or why was she here? Or how she got here? Or rather, why was she having this nightmare that felt real!
A sound, though thin at first, cutting through the space and the hairs at the back of her neck snapped upright before her mind caught up.
What was that?
In an instant, a high piercing, and inhuman shriek ripped across the land, sending a faint vibration beneath the soil. The sound sharpened fiercely until it split the silence and she froze.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Just that sound that felt similar to the unnaturalness she stumbled upon, and the wrongness somewhere beyond, below, or beside, until the world moved.
The earth beneath her hands shuddered, a subtle vibration at first causing a deep rumble beneath the soil and she fell, bracing herself against the impact. Pebbles danced near her fingertips and her pulse tripped, stumbling against her ribs as the tremor deepened and deepened and kept deepening.
She knew she should move, run perhaps but every bone in her body stilled in shock and sheer panic. She braced, hands digging into dirt but all quite suddenly, the ground lurched.
The force threw her sideways, her shoulder slamming into the earth with a thud that shot sparks through her vision. She gasped, clutching at fistfuls of grass, trying to keep her body from being rolled by the quake.
The shaking wasn't wild nor chaotic but it was rhythmic like footsteps.
Heavy ones, and her heart turned to ice. For the first time, her gaze drifted upward towards the sky that looked far from wrong.
It bled red as gold lightning flickered within the clouds, not striking downward, but pulsing outward like veins, and her breath stilled in her throat.
Her chest rose in a trembling inhale, "What… what is this place?" Before she could recover, her eyes caught shadow movement far to her right.
It wasn't something… she'd seen before. Definitely not a human shadow too tall, too broad, and too solid, and a wave of apprehension almost knocked her consciousness.
As if that wasn't enough, there was another.
And another.
And another.
Her mouth dried as the shapes sharpened with huge silhouettes marching in unison, every step sending a dull quake through the ground. What she'd thought was an earthquake, was the footsteps of—
She could not yet see details, only the outlines of spiked armor… horns—and a shiver spider-webbed her spine— and towering builds.
Her breath fogged in front of her even though the air was warm as they kept coming, or rather, charging like they owned the land they walked on.
A-And they have come… for her. Her body forgot how to breathe.
She forced a slow, shaking push to her knee but her leg buckled, pain jolting through her again. She bit down a cry, tried again, leaning heavily on her good side. She managed to stand halfway but the earth trembled again.
And this time, not only from the right but from the left.
Her head snapped toward the sound, sluggish, as if her neck had turned to stone. Another line of shapes moved in the distance, silhouettes just as massive as the ones she'd witnessed earlier, and a cold realization washed over her.
Two armies. There were two converging armies of monsters both closing in.
The realization crawled over her skin like ice water and every inch of her body tightened around it. Even worse when she realized she wasn't behind either side, or beside them. She was between them.
Blood drained her face as her pulse thrashed wildly, freezing her body to ice. Those eyes once filled with survival and determination, weakened into shock and utter defeat.
I-I'm going to die… The thought shook every nerve in her body because this time, there was no escape.
The vibrations crawled up her spine as the ground shook harder when the two forces drew nearer, rattling her teeth. She could feel the war rhythms in their footsteps, feel the fury building with every slow, terrible approach causing her throat to tighten.
She should run. Gods, she needed to run, but her injured leg trembled, and the armies moved with a certainty that told her she had nowhere to go; not back to the cave, not across the open land, and not anywhere.
She was trapped in the closing jaws of something far larger than the creature she'd escaped, and this time… she wasn't sure there was a way out.
In that single brutal moment of awareness, all she wanted was to escape, to open her eyes and find this nightmare gone and panic tore through her chest so violently she forgot how to breathe.
Every muscle locked and every instinct screamed to flee, to wake up, and claw her way out of this nightmare. She wished someone would shake her awake so she could pretend none of it had ever happened. But she had never dreamed anything like this before, and the terror clinging to her skin felt disturbingly real that no amount of desperate wishing could soften the truth that this was horrifyingly, sickeningly real.
Run, the command wasn't a thought but a primal shriek ripping through her blank mind. As if that wasn't enough, her blood iced over a familiar distant sound caught her attention, and her head jerked towards the noise, catching the sight of the beast that had managed to break the cave, now gaining leverage.
Fuck.
Her body jolted in motion, barely keeping her weight balanced as she grabbed at dirt, rock, anything dragging herself out from the center of danger. Pain roared through her limbs, but the agony was nothing compared to the terror stabbing through her chest.
She had to move. She had to. Those creatures were closing faster than her mind could comprehend. She wasn't naïve—she doubted she'd make it far—but the alternative was dying crushed beneath one monstrous foot. Her imagination didn't even have to stretch far; she could feel how easily she'd be flattened into nothing.
And with that panic, she pressed on until she couldn't even think. Her mind went terrifyingly blank with no strategies or hope but instinct and raw fear, while the earth's rumbling grew unbearable.
The world blurred causing the red sky to bleed into the trembling ground, and the marching silhouettes swallowed the horizon. Her fingers scraped uselessly at the trembling ground, trying to anchor herself, but the earth vibrated so violently she could barely keep hold.
Deep guttural voices layered in a language she couldn't understand echoed across the field. At first, it felt like a shriek until the closer it got, it sounded human. Not anything close, and the sound alone made her want to curl herself and vanish.
Her vision was slipping in and out and she blinked hard. Two unstoppable armies charged with the brutality of their approach that felt so real she swore her heart was being torn straight out of her chest as their shadows stretched over her, blotting out the red light above.
T-This is too much… Far too much… her thoughts slipped into frantic, broken loops as her face drained of color. Breathing felt like trying to drag air through a throat lined with needles. She needed to escape, needed to run, but where? There was no escape. Not with two converging armies and another obsessed beast—who now charged along —barreling forward behind her.
It started slowly as a flutter before her eyes started giving in.
I…
Her breath hitched, but her limbs refused to move…
…will…
She tried to lift her head, but the pain in her back surged in a searing and consuming manner…
…not…
Her vision flickered again as her head fell instinctively to the ground…
…die— but the darkness had better options for her and slowly, she started giving in.
At that moment, she didn't realize something massive shifted nearby, swept aside by a hulking presence. A low resonant growl rolled behind her but she was far too weak to acknowledge anything.
A hand, obviously not human, one far larger to be precise, closed around her arm, lifting her weight like she weighed nothing at all. The warmth of its armor or massive chest pressed against her side and an inaudible cry tore from her lips.
However, her eyes closed before she could force them open and the last thing she felt was the heavy drum of a heartbeat, nothing like the frantic rhythm inside her own before darkness took her.
***