The Unknown

The scream echoed in the surrounding stillness.  The boy turned, ready to run back, yet the other grabbed his wrist and kept running.  There was no way he was going to go back there now.  Though the scream had been silenced, it rang throughout the forestry still.

The taller, darker figure kept the boy running.  It was as if he was being forced to run a marathon.  He couldn’t do this.  Why did they leave her?  About to voice these thoughts, he instead froze.  The other figure jerked him onwards.  They couldn’t stop now or they’d be caught.  That was not on the agenda, either.  A sorrowful howl pierced Juli’s frightened brain and he almost veered off in that direction.  He couldn’t go that way, though he longed to do so.  He longed to return to the wild.  Yet, Dragia was not about to let go of his wrist.  He stumbled and fell, Dragia just dragged him onwards until the boy found his feet once more.

Juli stared at the shadows around them.  No.  Not shadows.  They were anything but shadows.  Though they were made of shadow.  He shivered, he knew they hadn’t much of a chance if those things decided to attack.  It wasn’t like last time.  They were alone, just the two of them.  They would be submerged in darkness for the rest of their lives.  He wouldn’t be able to stand that, he’d kill himself.

Dragia’s ruthless jerk of his arm brought Juli back to his senses.  No time to be thinking of the cursed creatures right now, they had to keep moving.  Juli saw what he thought were stars, wait...Stars?  What was going on?  One moment, he’d been running jerked by Dragia, the next, he was on the ground seeing stars?  Something wasn’t right....

Juli stumbled to his feet and tried to discern where Dragia was.  Ok, now there was definitely something wrong.  Juli didn’t sense the older man, he didn’t smell him.  He didn’t even hear him.  The boy shivered again.  He was only 16, this shouldn’t be happening.  He felt something coming at him before it connected.  He attempted to duck, to block, anything, but he failed.  He slammed into the tree behind him.

The boy got up again, stumbling, dazed.  ‘What was that?’

He looked around again, yet his eyes could not penetrate the darkness.  It was absolute, no light would ever reach him if he did not manage to get out again.  He froze and listened.  No wolves, no nothing.  He backed away, eyes wide in fear.

Juli lost his nerve and turned tail and ran, not knowing what direction he was running in.  He stumbled and fell, scraping his knees.  Yet, he picked himself up and kept going.  ‘Must keep going. C’mon, stupid...You’ve got to get out of here....I should have known this was a bad idea, never should have followed that cursed Dragia...’

Juli fell again, but just lay there.  Where could he go anyway?  No where.  He wouldn’t be able to get out, Dragia had told him this.  Yet, he hadn’t listened much at the time.  He’d waved it off as silly.  Now, he wished he’d paid more attention.  His ears caught a sound.  ‘Dragia?’

He turned slowly pulling himself to his feet once more, peering uselessly into the darkness once more.  “Dragia?  Where are you?”

An unearthly screech was his answer.  He whirled around again and ran cursing himself.  How stupid of him.  It knew where he was now.  If it caught him, he deserved it.  Something caught around his ankles and with a cry he fell....

A lone wolf howled its sorrow, Dragia sighed.  Why couldn’t that boy have listened?