Dark Forest

Xueyu stood on the outskirts of the forest. It turned out that she had gone in the right direction.

A heavy mist hung in the air obscuring her vision. The eerie darkness sent a chill down her spine and the hulking tree branches seemed to be reaching out to her.

She shuddered at the thought of stepping in but she had no choice.

With each pensive step she got closer but it did nothing to make her see clearer. The trees were clumped together so closely that it blocked out any sneaky filter of light that could make its way through.

The leaves all stood in a defensive position forming a shield around the branches and the land itself.

Following her father's directions she walked straight ahead. With each step it got harder to see and her sense of sight got even more useless.

She didn't know where she was going or even how she would get to the border. She just kept walking.

The only thing she could rely on was her sense of sound. She strained her ears to listen to every sound the forest made. She was alert but tense.

Her shoes crunched as she walked, crushing fallen leaves and squeaking when she stepped on a dew covered patch of grass or some mud.

The coldness bit into her and she regretted discarding the fur coat from the safe room.

She had been walking for two days straight, following the barely recognisable path from the south wall. With all of that walking and the scorching heat of the sun she had bundled up the coat and stashed it in some bushes.

She was too hot to wear it and it would only be a burden to carry it.

Feeling the coldness of the forest now she wished she had gone ahead and carried it with her.

A low growling noise sounded. It was like it was coming from all directions.

Xueyu stopped in her tracks and whipped her head around while casting her eyes about warily on the lookout for a magical beast.

She felt the forest go still. She saw all the birds that were nestled in the tree open their wings and pushed to fly away quickly. Even the leaves and the branches were bent at an angle like they wanted to pull out their roots and run away.

All of a sudden the ground started shaking and the leaves started rattling. Xueyu stood frozen to the spot. She wanted to run behind a tree but at the rate at which it was going even the trees wanted somewhere to hide.

The booming steps sounded and the earth quaked each time.

Xueyu stared off into the distance until a hulking shadow appeared.

It stretched over the trees, darkening the already misty forest. Xueyu squinted and her feet betrayed her, moving forward.

She struggled to walk in a straight line as each tie the earth shook she was almost thrown onto her side.

As she walked closer the huge shadow came so close that it covered even her.

Her eyes looked down onto razor sharp claws that were coated in blood and muck. Up to the stocky feet that seemed to be covered in skin as rough as a tree bark. The upper body of the beast seemed to be covered in dark green scales that trailed all the way up to its neck.

Her eyes slowly moved up and up until she was looking into the roof of trees.

There!

Camouflaged by the greenery was the head of the beast.

When Xueyu saw its eyes she started shaking in her boots.

They were blood red. Scarlet.

The eyes of the beast were narrower at her and the stained yellow teeth peaked out from the drool soaked lips.

The beast opened its mouth and moved its head down directly above Xueyu's.

It took in a gust of air and Xueyu stood her feet rooted to the spot, preparing to be eaten.

ROAR

Xueyu only felt the wind pushing her back and the deafening sound of the beast's roar in her ears.

Her body flew back, pushed by the mighty wind coming from the beast's mouth.

'Ouch.'

A thud was heard as her back connected with a tree trunk.

A searing pain raced from her back to every part in her body. The hit felt like it had jolted every single organ in her and disrupted the smooth running of them.

She gritted her teeth as the pain lit a path up and down her spine. It ran along back and forth like skilled fingers playing scales on a piano.

She had flown so far away that even the beast and everywhere was she was familiar with could not be seen.

This was a new path, a different set of trees and a different atmosphere.

Somehow it felt cleaner and clearer.

A quiet noise pierced through the peaceful silence of the forest and her train of thought.

Creak.

Her eyes widened in horror as she heard the sound of a groan right behind her.

She looked up to find the tree slowly, taking its own sweet time to tilt towards her.