Forest

(Disclaimer: Vague and cliffhanger ending ahead).

It wasn’t long until they discovered what happened. An intruder in their homeland. That would not be forgiven. The intruder had to die. Thus him was sent.

Sebastian, a little older than ten; he had entered a new terrain while playing with his friends from the Academy. Jonah, Felicia and Marcus were the ones with him.

“Guys, we have to go back,” said Jonah. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

“Oh don’t be coward, Jonah. There’s nothing harmful around here,” returned Sebastian. He was full of confidence, thinking his friends would follow him anywhere.

“Uhh I think we can still go deeper into these woods,” began Felicia, “We are still not far from the Academy’s borders,” she finished, but there was a glaring in her eyes; she knew what Jonah was talking about.

“Perfect, then let’s go,” finished Sebastian, already walking into the woods.

They walked together for but about two minutes before Marcus and Felicia began slowly trembling. As the sound of chords they were shaken, but by what? Sebastian noticed this, he didn’t mention anything because he wanted to find the source first. Whatever happened didn’t seem to affect much Jonah and him.

“We are going back,” said Marcus.

“Uh? Wait you guys-” began Sebastian, but short lived was his voice for Felicia shut him up, “Don’t complain, just let’s go back.”

“I agree with them, Sebastian,” said Jonah; his hands held each other tight in front of his belly, and he looked down to the ground, various times; he could not keep his sight on Sebastian for longer than a second. He then turned around and began walking, along Felicia and Marcus.

“I’ll be there in a second,” said Sebastian, knowing this was a lie.

They returned, but Sebastian’s wild spirit did not let him do so. No, he had to explore. When there was some distance between him and his friends Sebastian ran deeper into the woods; there was something leading him. He didn’t know what, just that whatever it was, it was strong. “Perhaps that’s what provoked their reactions,” he thought to himself. As he went deeper and deeper, the forest began taking life, and the sun shone higher than ever, but Sebastian could not see it, for the trees were too tall and broad and dark.

He could listen to the slow singing of birds; there was something off about them, and he knew it. He saw squirrels, rats, boars, and some more peculiar silhouettes casted by the dim light that survived the crossing of the deep and heavy leaves that inhabited atop the trees and among the branches. The crust, which only became darker, seemed almost to move. This scared little Sebastian, but his gut had always been stronger than any fear, and this was not the exception. He continued on his race; his senses now perceived better what was that that called him.

*doom*

*doom*

*doom*

At first he thought it was some sort of drum, but then the sound became clearer, and fuzzier at the same time, for now it was a sound he could not attach to any sort of instrument he knew, rather, a combination of sounds following the same pace. It grew stronger, louder, longer in duration every time Sebastian stepped. He looked up to the sky, and yellow and black leaves he saw fall; he tried to count, but the amount was too great. They blocked his sight, but he did make up something, a shadow, a form, watching, waiting for him he thought.

The sound grew stronger.

*doom*

*doom*

*DOOM*

*DOOM*

*DOOM*

Sebastian didn’t stop to verify; he kept running, and as he ran he noticed how more leaves fell and listen to the crack of branches as if something made them break from the inside out. It was following him.

The sound fastened.

*DOOM DOOM*

*DOOM DOOM*

*DOOM DOOM*

He tried running faster, but it was above him; he couldn’t lose it or outrun it. Sebastian kept going, he saw how the trees got darker, and how less and less light crossed the threshold. He stumbled with rocks and branches that emerged from the ground in places there were none, until IT reached him. Sebastian felt his legs fail and his body lose balance as something much bigger and heavier than him fell from great heights onto his back. Now the sound gained a new rhythm, still with growing speed; he couldn’t count it anymore; the amount of dooms per second he heard. It was too fast. He felt a blunt object pounce on his head; he did not black out though. The force pounced again, but he still didn’t black out. Sebastian tried placing his hand on his chest, but it proved difficult, for he was laying face down; after brief seconds that to him seemed like hours, he realised. That’s where the sound came from.

Then, he blacked out. But then woke up, with an insurgence of energy coming from within him. The shadow leaned in closer. Sebastian couldn’t make up any details of it, just a humanoid covered in darkness. Slowly, it closed the distance with Sebastian’s ear. Its face touched Sebastian’s, when young Sebastian could already feel the creature’s breathing warning his ear, the creature opened its mouth and whispered, “My task is complete.”

And thus just as it appeared the creature left, in a blink. But there was something wrong with Sebastian. He felt his heart pounding against his ribcage, crying to be left out. His eyes hurt in ways he could not describe, as if fire had became a solid object and then was slowly pressed against his iris. He felt as if the bones in his arms slowly became larger, and the skin was not large enough to cover, and wrists exploded into moulds of bone and gore, then reshaped as masses of coal sand forced into a container.

He screamed; he let it all out from the bottom of his lungs and his cry pierced all barriers that separate him from sunlight.

Sebastian was him still, but he was not himself anymore.