The ground was rumbling, it was constantly occurring now, Sarah was used to it and ignored this tremor.
Sarah stared at the night, shivers ran up her spine as visibility dipped, the moon and stars faded and her straining eyes could see no further than two yards, even that proved a challenge.
Sarah held herself to protect against the claustrophobic feel of the night, she felt she'd be crushed by the darkness.
Jessica had gone into an upgrade quiet some time ago, Sarah didn't care, she tried to look at Alex, guilt racked her, Jessica was right it was her plan that got Alex killed.
In retrospect, they should have thinned the numbers of the horde with traps and then they could have all attacked the leader together, it had never engaged them directly before and with Eian there to defend them the fight would have gone much better.
How, she didn't know, but the possibilty knawed at her, she got Alex killed, he trusted her judgement, they trusted her judgement and she overestimated herself, the feeling stung.
She was the one whom should have died for her mistake, the thought poured burning tar into midsection, she rubbed her eyes.
She sat down next to Alex, his sword was right there.
An arrow lodged itself into her breast, Sarah dropped mouth open breathing heavily, words failed her.
Desperate Sarah grabbed Alex sword, trying to make out the dark blurry shapes about, she could hear arrows fly about.
A desperate swing at shadows rewarded her a hiss, stabbing crazily at the middle she felt the metal sink it's thick resistant flesh, something fell taking the weapon out of her hands.
She was blind, desperate and hurt, Sarah pulled out her long-forgotten short sword, she didn't have anything else.
Jaws clamped down on her leg, pulling upwards the monster threw her to the floor, her head struck the floor, dazed her body was dragged forward.
Agony flared up on her leg, stabbing at the general direction of the teeth, the jaws let go and her shredded foot brought her to tears.
Stabbing again she felt it dig deep, something stabbed her shoulder, she choked on a scream, flopping she pulled out her sword and swung at the spear wielder, a hiss followed shortly by the spear retracting.
Sarah closed her eyes and ignited what little power she had remaining, bright light flared, opening her eyes she caught sight of the last reptile people recoiling backwards, Jessica was also there attacking an archer.
Taking initiative and hopping forward on an agonizing step Sarah stabbed one in the general direction of it's neck neck, she was out of practice but it worked, it crumbled into a gurgling heap.
Blinded, the rest of their attackers were easily dealt with.
Sarah heard something in the distance and froze.
"Jessica, please help me walk. We can't stay here." Sarah's palms got sweaty.
"...alex." Jessica held a shiver in her voice, as if in pain.
"We'll come back. As soon as we find Eian, we're not ready for a fight." Sarah trembled as her leg flared up in pain.
Something was running towards them, Jessica stabbed at darkness, a shriek was heard followed by a dull thud.
Now Sarah made out a raptor attack her, she stabbed it's face, it retreated and Jessica speared it's back.
Shrieking it went down and they stabbed it.
"Let's go!" Sarah let her fear leak into her voice.
Reluctantly Jessica grabbed her and helped her hobble away.
It took a while for Sarah to recognize where they were going, it was the wrong direction, Eian was down the other way, guided by the stream.
Stopping and turning they both saw something, a shadow shaped as a man, it flowed over the ground forward.
"...I'm sorry." Jessica mumbled lowly.
"What!?" Sarah spooked, fear spiked.
Jessica turned and bolted randomly, Sarah's eyes widened, she went cold.
Turning she saw the figure stride forward, it was so dark she thought it might even be her imagination, she almost prayed it was as her heart thundered.
Sarah didn't bother running she shakily held her sword out in-front, these shadow people were immune to physical attacks.
Once it was within two yard Sarah realized it was wearing a cloak.
"Hello young lady, it's dangerous out here." The cloaked man said confidently.
A second later he pointed at her injury.
"That must hurt too. Do you need some help?" The cloaked figure asked.
The earth begun shaking again.
******
A shitload of things were just wrong, steadying himself by half-kneeling and bracing against a tree, Eian tried to ride out the tremors of the earth.
The earth groaned, a crack materialized a few paces away, slow at first it quickly rent the ground forming a fissure, jolting he scrambled away from the small opening.
Heart racing Eian clearly felt when this particular tremor eased, yet Eian felt it more would follow shortly, those things were getting more and more common.
'What's happening? Why is it so dark?' Eian walked over to the crack, it was no more than a foot in width yet it branched off.
Wiping sweat from his brow Eian felt distinctly uncomfortable as his perspiration dried leaving him greasy, swatting a bothersome insect her tried to ignore the fissure and his discomfort by looking upwards, things were getting really weird now.
The night sky had slowly turnt pitch black, the sinister red-undertone had be usurped by endless void, the stars and moon faded into the darkness and light made itself scarce.
Luckily Eian knew all his senses were abnormal now, he couldn't see farther than ten yards in any direction, but it was better than being blind, his ears heard every sway of the wind and his feet were ready for another round of shaking.
'Where are they? Did something go wrong?' A sense of foreboding sprung up on him, as far as Eian knew, the group should have marshaled at this spot over an hour ago.
Every passing second stretched on, an eternal tormentous trial of patience clawed at him.
Not knowing what to do Eian chewed his dirty nails, they'd grown and were uncomfortable, spitting those out helped ease the passage of time.
The waiting, pacing and growing anxiety within every second by second tested him, finally he stopped.
'Shit! I hate this fucking place. It's too quiet... Are they okay?' Eian growled as he breathed out irritably, this wait was killing him.
Breathing out he saw a brief glimpse of fog on his breath, shivering, goose-bumps manifested upon his back as the chill of the night left his chestplate frozen, his torn pants and mistreated shoes were the only clothes he had left.
He kept glancing everywhere despite getting no warnings of imminent attack, yeah he was paranoid alright but with all the things that felt off he didn't trust what could come out and bite, being alone in darkness for prolonged periods of time wasn't anything new, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.
Growling at the dark he made a choice, feeling only slightly guilty he ignored Ul's teachings and selected body again.
He couldn't afford to go take be out of it for even a second, not when something could pop out and kill him.
He needed every possible advantage, with the tremors blocking off the ability to bury himself and no one to watch his back, he felt he was backed into a corner, plus he could always just re-correct this by selecting spirit twice later.
A familiar surge of adrenaline surged, strangely it didn't come from his heart, it originated around his center of gravity, Eian shook his head and ignored the strangeness he had things to do.
Sweat began to pour and his blood warmed him as he begun to jog his way back, gladdened for the exercise he fell into rhythm as time flew and the surrounding foliage blurred.
Several thumps alerted Eian to the upcoming danger, a mass of scales accompanied by a piercing-shriek barreled out of the darkness.
Tossing himself sideways he evaded a spear aimed at his face, rolling he caught himself as he heard arrows breeze past, one bounced off his chest-plate while he winced as another sunk less-than-half-an-inch into his calf before dislodging itself by his run.
Coming up he spotted a mass of several reptile people approach notching, without thought he sprint behind the closest tree, thumps were on his trail, once behind cover he spun, dodged then chopped at the mount's leg, rider and mount went tumbling, ending them with precision chops was as simple as taking candy from a two month baby.
Normally he'd kill all these geko-freaks but worry for the others drove him to sprint away, tactical retreat, he had priorities after-all, a few arrows breezed about randomly.
Following the sound of running water he quickly found the running stream and used it orient himself and return to the origin of his bon-fire, from that hill he planned to start looking for the others.
Deftly navigating the terrain by landmarks and barely visible tree markings, he begun to take notice of the collapsed remains of the previous horde, he'd seen this before already when the horde collapsed as one as if given an order.
He passed a trap pit he'd dug earlier during the day, he remembered it held several bones and a disgusting slosh of rotting meat, a brief whiff of it's stench almost made him gag.
Several other traps were similarly littered the area, stray skulls, bones, furry hides, intestines among other fluid filled organs littered his path, he tried his best to not step on the rotting piles of shit, he didn't meet success.
'Ugh...I think I puked in my mouth a little.' Eian wrinkled his nose, his eyes watered at the smell but he kept trying his hardest not to open his mouth.
Faster than he'd thought possible he made it to the edge of the hill, he shrugged remembering he'd been letting the horde keep him in their sight thus moved as a slower pace.
Once atop, he came upon the ashy remains of his bon-fire, small patches of ember remained, yet much of the log endings remained untouched by flame.
From a top he oriented himself and made his way to Jessica's lookout spot, there he stumbled unto a patch of properly dead undead corpses, he frowned this was a bad sign.
He didn't see anyone from the group so he made his way to Alex's recon spot, nothing of interest was present so he kept going.
Worry knawed at him as he got to Sarah's spot, he froze several paces away.
Alex.
Running up to the darkened figure, Eian pressed two fingers against his neck, his veins appeared to be black and barely visible with the minuscule amount of light now present.
Eian began to hyperventilate, he didn't feel a pulse, eyes wide he scanned the surrounding, he silently prayed this was some kind of joke.
Roughly grabbing Alex's shoulders Eian shook him, Alex's head bobbled, limply moving from side to side, Eian stopped.
He pressed his hands against Alex's chest and crudely applied Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation(CPR), he pressed his fingers on Alex's neck again.
A tremor begun again and Eian almost fell unto Alex, he rode out the shaking, it was a quick one.
"Hey GUYS!...Stop fucking around guys. Alex wake up." Eian stopped and lightly clapped Alex's cheek several times.
Eian placed his ear against Alex's unmoving chest, he tried to listen for a heart-beat.
Desperate he applied CPR again, slowly he came to a halt, Eian's heart sank as reality settled on him, he let himself fall on his ass and stared wide eyed at his newest friend.
Numbness bled into his veins as the night chill froze his blood, things weren't making any sense.
What happened? Where were Sarah and Jessica? Were they dead too?
Getting up his eyes scanned the darkness, a detailed scan showed him a dead skeletal corpse with wings and armor, it looked remarkably like the horde's boss.
Scanning some more Eian noticed other corpses, a tiny squad of reptile people, along with a duo of raptor mounts.
Blinking Eian dumbly followed the direction the corpses were facing, that must be where the others went, he had to focus on that...not on Alex.
The girls might be in danger so he had to help, Alex would agree, the thought focused him that was what was most important for now.
He sprinted forward at full speed, caring nothing for stamina, he had plenty.
Eian noticed the surge of energy from the upgrade was easing, frowning he realized a lot of time must have past.
Noise.
He stopped, he heard something, closing his eyes he slowed his heart and focused on the surrounding noise.
Heart beats...the wind...a cricket...There!
Following the sound he found the source, it was the sound of a girl crying, Eian narrowed his eyes and drew an axe.
Was it them? Or someone else?
"Sarah?....Jessica?" Eian felt his voice weak, he held his breathe, heart raced as he approached slowly.
The crying came to brief halt, he could still hear sniffing.
"...eian?" A soft voice whispered from afar, too low for him to tell whom...or what it was.
He approached slowly, he scanned left and right to make sure he wasn't walking into an ambush, this world was filled with things that wanted him dead.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
With Alex ....well with the current situation he wasn't about to let his guard down.
"It's me. Who's there?" Eian tried to keep his voice firm.
"...It's me." the voice sniffed barely recognizable.
Eian let a slow breathe ease out of him, he scanned about just to be sure, spotting nothing he quickened his pace forward.
As he spotted her Eian relaxed a bit, at least Jessica was safe, as he neared close enough a dam broke out and she begun crying again.
"What happened? Where's Sarah?" Eian didn't bother asking for Alex.
She kept crying and Eian's fears reared their many grotesque faces.
"Jessica. Answer me. Where. Is. Sarah?" Eian grit out the words.
"...*hic*...I...*hic*...don't know." Jessica managed to get that out between sobs.
"What do you mean? Jessica! What do you mean?" Eian demanded, he was growing slightly hysteric.
He hadn't had time to process any of this, things weren't supposed to be like this, Sarah was their ticket home, Alex was supposed to make it back with them.
"JESSICA! ANSWER ME!" Eian needed to know if they could still save her.
"I'm sorry. Sorry." Jessica mumbled out between sobs.
Jessica begun crying inconsolably again.
"FUCK!" Eian stomped the ground, at this rate he wouldn't get anywhere.
He started moving nearby to see any signs of Sarah, another tremor begun, frightened at a viscous crack Eian spun surprised.
Wincing at the noise Eian made out the sound of a distant tree splintering and crashing as the earth shook.
Jessica had gone silent and was bracing herself on the floor wide-eyed, the tremor quaked on.
The shaking sent Eian to his knees and he hugged the ground, he hear splintering as other trees fell.
'Fuck! I hope nothing falls on me. I'm totally going to kill the asshole whom brought me here.' Eian grit his teeth to not bite his tongue.
A spike of shock traveled up his spine as a thunderous roar exploded in the distance, the vibrations joined together with the tremor as he felt the aftermath.
Each time the roar left him wondering if it was a gigantic monster moving underground, that would fit all too well in this place.
The wind vanished along with sound, the forest lay quiet, too quiet, nature's sound vanished as he regained his footing.
Gazing about he took note even the cracking of the trees had ceased, not a rustle nor broken branch, this was too bizarre, otherworldly.
Tense seconds passed as the world fully came to halt.
Eian slowly got up, not fully trusting his balance fully yet.
'At least Jessica shut up.' Eian sighed.
Orienting himself Eian tried to form some sort of plan, Sarah had to be around somewhere, she was the one most likely to have a way to leave this world so he couldn't give up on her.
A figure emerged from the darkness, elated Eian smiled, it vanished when he realized what it was.
A tall black-cloaked figure emerged, Eian could make out no features as the cloak covered him from head to toe in a single layer of cloth.
"Well, I found you. Both at the same time. How fortunate." The figure sounded cultured, giving hints at hidden secrets.
"Who are you." Eian held his axe with two hands.
"...They call my line of work collecting, so we're collectors. We look and find people like you." The so-called collector spoke merrily, a smile in his voice.
"That's not what I want to know. What do you want?" Eian growled.
"Why, to reunite you and your injured friend. Sarah was it? I already took her to safety for treatment, your other friend here ran away. I've been looking for her." The collector smoothly answered.
Eian froze.
'Sarah's alive?' Briefly a surge of happiness coalesced, then the pragmatic side of his mind made his grip tighten.
"Fuck you. I don't trust shady nameless people." Eian narrowed his eye's trying to look under the hood.
"No True Names here, you may refer to me as Collector. As that is what I do, so people take it as what I am. I'm sure you want to see Sarah right? Your friend was hurt quite badly, I'm sure she'll appreciate seeing both of you alive and well." The collector remained calm and...too collected.
"Bring her here." Eian demanded.
"What?" The collector sounded surprised.
"Bring Sarah here, I'll go if she tells me herself." Eian glared at him.
"Your friend's bleeding from her foot and an arrow lodged in her chest." the collector sighed.
"Then you can go fuck off." Eian growled.
"....." The collector stood there watching Eian silently.
Eian kept his axe pointed at the 'collector', the collector sighed dramatically after a short wait.
"I guess we'll do this the hard way, you don't have much time left anyways." The collector shrugged nonchalantly.
Anger pulsed in his veins, Sarah's probably dead now, Eian didn't like how this ass-shat was dismissing him out of hand either, he'd struggled to make it so far dammit.
Still, for this guy to show confidence implied strength, activating empower and preparing rock-armor Eian was ready.
"Impressive, you've adapted well. Most haven't, many stay screaming or crying, like that one over there." The collector pointed at a sniveling Jessica.
His face twisted, was this guy implying...
"You brought us here!?" Eian forgot completely about caution, he was going to split this fuckers head.
"...Not me personally no, my organization did however, you're awfully calm for someone in your position you know? It's a breathe of refresh air." The collector spoke pleasantly, as though he had all the time in the world.
Anger surged, this fucker was the reason Alex died, he'd probably held Sarah captive or had already killed her, the thought pushed away his calm.
"AH!" Screaming incoherently Eian charged, he swung his axe at the collectors head.
Eian caught a brief look under the hood, a completely average man's face was hidden beneath.
Jolting slightly in surprise the collector jumped backwards, he caught himself quickly but his hood flew down from the retreat.
"Okay, I take it back ha-ha. Let's get started then." The collector smiled, all teeth.
Swinging Eian tried to take off the collector's head, but the figure kept retreating until it was a good distance.
Eian focused and activated his second Empower, he'd summon rock armor at the first sign of a powerful attack.
The Collector exploded in flames, his whole body wreathed in fire, Eian shut his eyes and covered them with his arm as he took a step back at the sudden brightness.
When his vision cleared Eian gulped, an eight-foot tall figure stood before him, twin bull horns and face, what appeared to be blood red skin accompanied by a long thick scaly tail, it was the classic image of a demon.
It settled into Eian he was in hell, he'd died somehow in his sleep and come here, belatedly it made a perverse sort of sense.
"You like?" He asked smiling, his demonic prolonged canines were truly imposing.
He didn't give Eian much chance to think much less to speak, before charging forward full speed.
Eian activated Rock-armor, felt the surge of another Empower as he threw that in and briefly he felt strong enough to tear through steel.
A boulder shattered against another, his lungs deflated unable to receive air and his back crashed against bark.
Heaving a deep breathe Eian got up and forced himself upright, threw himself randomly in a roll and tried to orient himself as he ran.
Quickly he spotted the demon swerving back as it had only just missed, twisting Eian batted his axe at the demon's torso.
It force stopped digging out at the soil beneath, it raked it's claws diagonally across in a counter lunge, Eian felt it's claws dig through his armor like clay but he had enough footing to push backwards and evade.
Eian swung at it's face, it blocked with it's fore-arm, his retreating swing had too little force and it dug in only an inch, Eian's eyes widened comically.
A kick to his ribs sent Eian flying, he crashed into a arm-thin tree, broke it in half and went rolling, Eian got up coughing and readied his axe, he thanked whatever force out there helped it stay lodged in his armor through all this.
Eian readied himself as he heard the demon's charge, swinging at it's general direction Eian was rewarded by brief resistance, a howl of anger and a heavy backhand which tore off a chunk of the armor protecting his face.
Stumbling Eian swung again, and again randomly trying to buy time and space, something collided into his back, sending him rolling.
Another impact nearly knocked sense out of him, groaning at the constant hits Eian activated a third Empower and felt his armor enforce itself, it responded to his thoughts.
A wide wild arcing cleave made the creature jump back, and he pressed the brief chance, right downward diagonal, left upward diagonal, right cleave, Eian tried to catch it.
Eian parried two consecutive claw rakings and the red-devil grunted, sensing weakness Eian tried to split it's skull, only to catch a horn, the chop cracked the horn but redirected to it's shoulder digging deeply.
A heavy roar followed by chunks of armor tearing told Eian to move back, tearing out his weapon.
Dark liquid was almost completely obscured by the darkness and the demon swore in the some foreign language.
Belatedly Eian wondered what caused the opening in it's defense, mentally shrugging Eian decided it was irrelevant and pressed his advantage before his timer ran out.
With proper foot work, controlled strikes and a longer reach regaining the initiative proved only mild challenging, something was distracting his enemy and he didn't bother thinking about it much.
When Eian scored a hard hit on the left hamstring almost to bone, it's tail whipped at him proving it was capable of injuring his armor as it tore a chunk out.
'Fuck! He's like me.' Eian mentally groaned as it became obvious this enemy was as tough or tougher than him, the leg injury was hampering him, but that hit should have chopped off the leg entirely with ease.
"ENOUGH!" The collector broke rhythm and tried to barrel into Eian.
Stepping back Eian fell for the feint as the enemy abruptly changed his charge, confused Eian realized too late what was happening.
The demon was rush-hopping to Jessica, Eian gathered up what little energy he had remaining and stomped, the demon's path exploded, causing it to trip and fall forward.
Racing forward he tried to kill it before he ran out of energy, he saw Jessica throw bolts of darkness at the enemy, the demon began to get up.
"RUN!" Eian yelled, if it got to her she'd die.
The monster swiveled changing direction again.
'Shit!' Eian forced a stop, unsuccessfully.
A thunderous fist to the ribs broke his armor, and sent him into the trees and his axe went spinning off to the darkness.
Time trickled by as Eian watched Jessica try to bolt away, one, just one force-filled hit caught Jessica's lower-back.
Wincing he saw her fly, crash against a tree and collapse in a pile with her spear.
Getting up he, raced forward, his armor fully broke apart as his spirit shriveled dry, he tripped on his feet.
'Fuck!' Eian grit his teeth, his hope dwindled.
"Well. It's been fun. The annoying bug's out of the way. So you're all that's left. Painless, I promise." The collector casually strolled forward, grin stretched wide.
"Fuck you!" Tightening his lungs Eian tried to remain calm as he drew his second axe, it had been lodged in his armor but when it broke the weapon was made free.
"Die already." The collector blurred forward.
Eian was already half-dodging, claws raked the left side of his chest into his shoulder before they collided and the demons momentum spun him far.
Rolling and groaning Eian knew he was going to die if he didn't do something now, the earth was shaking lightly as it grew stronger the collector stopped.
Eian made sure his grip never slackened, weaponless he'd be done.
"Hmmm....time's almost up. I commend you for lasting this long. Get up, at least you can go out on your feet." The collector shrugged as he looked back down from the dark sky.
To the demon Eian realized this was some sort of sick game, they probably brought people here to toy with them.
Truly it's actions were fit for the devil himself, but Eian had changed, his past life was over, as this was hell he'd clearly already died once.
What was dying to a dead man? He wasn't going to lay down and be a plaything for demons.
Strangely the collector waited out the light tremor, enough time for Eian to get up and position his axe above his head.
Eian's focus snapped into place, he'd aim for the demon's injured leg, if he caught it hard enough it might go down, it was a slim hope.
Hot lightning forked through-out his arms, they felt like bands of steel, his pain receded, Eian's sweaty palms tightened on his axe, poised overhead he imagined it chimed in the air.
The tremor ceased, Eian swallowed dryly and clenched his teeth.
The demon blurred forward, fire, his muscles burned fire and blurred, PAIN, the next thing Eian knew he was flying.
Then he bounced off something or somethings several times, he came to a slow stop, coughing fit passed as he felt disorientation set in, his left arm spasmmed in unadulterated agony, his head throbbed, shaking his head like a dog Eian blinked away the concussion.
He'd lost his axe, so he was dead, he could think straight enough he knew that, torturous pain tormented him from his left he grit his teeth and measured his breaths to bare.
Waiting for the end Eian noticed it was taking long to come, looking up his eye's revealed why.
The demon was kneeling, his axe was lodged deep into it's hamstring, trying to grin Eain thought at least he's hurt the fucker.
Turning to look at what hurt he shut his eyes, his left arm was missing from the elbow down, with closed eyes he could still imagine it there, IT felt it was there.
Crippled, if he ever got home, he'd be an even greater burden on his mother, the thought almost brought him to tears more than the actual injury.
Refusing to give in he turned to anger, it pushed away crippling despair and gave him strength, the demon was jumping towards him on three limbs awkwardly, quickly standing he waited till the creature came close before running around over to Jessica.
She was broken, eye's closed, limbs twisted unnaturally and her chest unmoving Eian knew she wasn't getting back up, he had no time to check either way.
He refused to let loneliness settle, he quickened his breathing fueling his anger, one-handed he quickly removed Jessica's prized spear, it would have to do.
The demon was only a few paces away by now, it was bleeding from it's leg and shoulder as well as several nicks, Eian thought he could make out a few dark spots on it's skin.
"Good game. Just goes to show you, mercy to an enemy is cruelty to yourself." The demon barked a laugh then remained smiling as Eian awkwardly pointed the long-spear at him.
The demon pounced claws forward, Eian dodged, he stabbed at it's face awkwardly.
An almost comic fight ensued, Eian clumsily spearing it while it leapt about trying to overcome Eian's advantage in reach.
Even one legged the collector a menace, Eian kept spearing it, nick after nick, he desperately tried to maintain a distance, while his compact grip on the spear almost hurt.
Eian's breathing became labored, his remaining arm felt leaded down, he'd lost a lot of blood, however by the looks of it the demon was worse off, a shredded culmination of thin lacerations was a proper description.
Random thrusts had caught both it's eyes and now it was just clawing about randomly, something deep inside took cruel pleasure piercing it's flesh from then.
As time passed, Eian wondered if it was even going to die, he'd stabbed it at least a hundred times, many were no deeper than a centimeter true, but they should be adding up.
Throat dry, wracked with pain Eian kept stabbing, aiming at the neck, blood began to spurt out and still it refused to die, it's vitality was truly monstrous.
Long over due, it ceased to move, it died.
By now he couldn't even muster up a shred of care, the spear fell from Eian's grip, he felt weakened but the flow of blood had staunched.
He slowly walked over to Jessica, he tried to feel for a pulse anyway, there was none, he leaned back against a tree and looked up at the darkness.
Sweaty, bloody and broken Eian let exhaustion set in.
"I'm sorry... thanks." To Eian the words felt cheap despite trying to express himself, she'd stayed and helped him.
The darkness crept in, narrowing his eyes he tried to focus on the incoming shadows.
Try as he might, he noticed the darkness bleeding into his vision, creeping up slowly.
Inch by inch, the darkness loomed closer, shaking his head he tried to see farther, yet he couldn't.
Darkness engulfed him, his breathing was sure and steady.
Blinking he couldn't see anything now.
Was he blind? He was too exhausted to muster up panic.
Instead he tried to make himself comfortable, his arm had numbed enough.
Light, white light washed over the world.
Eian squinted against the brightness.
--Dream end--