Once again, there was nothing but pure black. The only sounds were the normal rustling of leaves and chirping coming from every direction. As more time passed, the black began to slowly brighten. A faded orange was now visible. Eventually the orange was flickering in and out. It was disturbing the calm that the color was giving. Annoyed by this, Spero rolled onto his side. As he settled his cheek into the ground, he felt a sharp poke.

"Ah!" Spero immediately was awoken. With his hand on his cheek, Spero looked down at what had poked him. There, crawling across the dirt, he saw a little brown creature. It was about the size of a finger, and it was very shiny in the morning glow. It had many legs and small needles sticking out from its back. Spero watched as it quickly crawled away into the forest. With his eyes following the small creature, it brought them to see level with the ground. Pushing himself onto his knees, still with his cheek covered, he looked around. His brain was foggy, as if he was in a deep sleep for many hours. Why was he laying on the dirt in the middle of the forest? Wasn't he still on the border of the vast yellow field when he fell asleep?

He looked around to find the field, but he could see nothing but trees spanning in every direction. With his still tired mind, Spero became very confused. How did I get here? Did someone move me while I was asleep? Spero thought maybe the same person who dragged him out into the field did the same thing when he was asleep propped against the tree. Looking around, though, he saw no tracks in the dirt surrounding him, nor any crushed grass.

What the hell is going on?

Spero forced himself to stand on his feet. His cheek still hurt. His hand slowly came off of his face, and he looked at his palm. He was covered in something previously, but now there was a fresh red liquid running down his palm. He could also feel it running down his cheek. Seeing this liquid, Spero's breathe began to quicken and he felt chills throughout his body. Taking a few steps back, Spero sporadically wiped the blood off of his cheek with his sleeve and ran his palm along his pants. Looking around one more time, Spero let out a quiet whine and locked his fingers on top of his head-- letting his palms rest on his scalp.

He didn't know where he was or how he got there. What direction was the best to start walking in? Spero once again looked around to see if there were any landmarks to follow. There were no tracks, and he saw nothing but endless trees. The novelty of this new world he was in had worn off leaving a sting of regret deep in Spero's mind. So far, he was finding nothing but more stress in this new location. Now annoyed more than confused, Spero started walking in a random direction. He checked his cheek to see if the bleeding had stopped. It still hurt, but it seemed like the bleeding was over.

As Spero walked, he kept his eyes scanning the forest for any movement. The sunlight pierced through the leaves of the many trees, lighting the ground. It seemed like the sun was low to the horizon. Was it setting or rising, Spero wondered. If it was rising, that would mean he slept an entire day. While it made more sense that it was setting based on when he fell asleep, it scared him thinking that the forest could be dark soon. What were you thinking? He should have gotten up and kept moving instead of taking a break under that tree. Spero shook his head.

...

After minutes of walking, Spero felt like he hadn't even moved. Everything looked the same. The only differences were the occasional fallen trunk or a large pile of rocks. Trees still stood in every direction with no end in sight. He had also seen no potential food, and his stomach was clearly completely empty. He hadn't eaten since his lunch break while teaching on the last day. He could've gotten dinner, but forgot after the stressful situation with the "heroes" as they walked by.

A few more minutes had already passed and there was still nothing. Spero looked at his feet as he walked and confirmed that the grass and dirt under him was moving as he took his steps. While he was looking down, he heard a snap to his right. Quickly raising his head, he looked for the source of the noise. It sounded like something had stepped on a stick, as he had many times during his walk. He saw nothing but trees. Keeping still, he listened for any more noise, but there was nothing beyond the leaves above. Spero began walking in the direction of the noise.

It could have been an animal. Spero quickly tried thinking about how he would go about killing an animal if he came across one. He would first need to catch it, which could be easy or difficult depending on the speed of the animal. Once he caught up to it, he would need something to kill it. While he could try using his bare hands, a weapon would be much easier. He could try finding something sharp, but he didn't know where he would get something like a knife, and he wasn't ready to be holding something like that again.

Spero looked around on the ground as he walked, and he found a large, heavy stick. Picking it up, he felt the wood against his skin. It was rough, but had enough friction to stay stuck to his weak hands. Spero began swinging the stick around. Surely if he hit something with the stick, it would stun them. So with that in mind, Spero quietly started walking again with a stick in his hands. He was ready for a fight with a forest creature, or at least he hoped he was.

Spero, hunched down to make himself look smaller, kept a consistent pace with his feet as he walked. He held the large stick in front of his face with both of his hands and could smell the refreshing bark from it. The stomach of Spero rumbled loud enough to hear from outside of his body. He was getting impatient. He hadn't seen one creature bigger than a pebble since getting wherever he was. In some ways it was a blessing, but not at the current moment.

Spero searched the ground below his feet, a few meters away from him, and the tree line in front of him. There was no movement. Spero took a long, frustrated sigh and brought the stick down to his side while continuing to walk. Whether or not he heard a stick break nearby, it seemed like whatever did it didn't stay long. Now that he was thinking about it, he hadn't even seen one of the smaller creatures. Spero stopped in his tracks and walked to the nearest tree. Getting his face very close to the bark, he searched for any little crawly creatures. He looked up and down but didn't see a single thing.

Was it rare to find so many little creatures on trees? It didn't seem that way when he first got to the forest. They didn't seem scared of him before either, making no attempt to run away when he got close. So if they didn't run, than they weren't on these trees to begin with. Why? Spero's mind was overflowing with questions but no answers. It was beginning to be to much for him to process.

He thought maybe they hid at sunset. But when Spero checked the sun's position, he noticed it hadn't moved down any further since he woke up in the forest. In fact, it looked like it was raising upwards. That meant that he really had slept a full day and a half. He had never slept that long naturally.

I guess after what happened in the city, my body needed the rest.

Still, that long of a rest seemed a little too unnatural. Like everything else going on, he didn't understand it. Spero took another sigh and rubbed his eyes with his palms. As he snapped out of his thinking, he realized that he had been leaned over looking at the tree the whole time. Spero felt some anger at himself for zoning out, and he stood back up straight. As he turned back to the direction that he was walking, he saw something.

A blur of black disappeared behind a tree. As quickly as he saw the large silhouette-- it was gone. A chill ran through Spero's body and he lifted the stick back up to a fighting position. He gulped and looked around for the movement of a large creature, but saw nothing, nor did he hear anything. His feet slowly started towards the tree that the silhouette hid behind. As he walked, he noticed that his whole body was beginning to shake. The stick was jittering back and forth in his vision. His breaths became heavy. Not liking how long he was taking to get to the tree, he decided to go all in. Spero broke into a sprint towards the side of the tree. As he got to it, he stopped his feet and slid a bit across the grass and dead leaves. Behind the tree, there was nothing.

Spero looked up towards the top of the tree to see if it climbed up, but there was nothing. Spero's face showed an increase in worry as he spun around to check behind him. Was he seeing things? Maybe it was just--

Spero heard a rustle of leaves directly above his head. In a panic, he ducked and fell backwards, letting go of the stick. With his eyes locked on the higher reaches of the tree, he looked for the source of the noise, but there was nothing. Again, Spero heard a crack of a branch behind him, maybe fifteen meters away.

Fuck this!

Feeling extremely exposed and under=protected, Spero jolted up, grabbed his stick, and broke into a sprint in a random direction. It was the only direction that he didn't hear a noise, so it felt the safest. One step after another, he was once again running. It was much easier with the clear air, but the stick in his hands was heavy and cumbersome. Trees whizzed past his vision, making everything a green and brown blur. His head began to hurt. Spero looked behind but saw nothing following.

Even though he couldn't see anything chasing after him, he still ran. He would run until he felt safe. As the trees flew by the corners of his eyes, he saw something approaching behind the forest trees in the distance directly ahead. It was stationary and a brown/tan in color. It was noticeably lighter than the tree bark surrounding him. As he got closer, more details became visible. They almost looked like walls of a building, but very old and decrepit. More walls became visible, revealing a field of cracked debris scattering the forest floor.

As Spero arrived at the first wall in front of him, he slowed down to a stop. He looked behind him for any signs of life before inspecting the walls in front of him. Like he had noticed, they seemed to have once been buildings of some kind. Some broken walls stood taller than him, white others were toppled on the ground. He walked between two jagged walls, sliding his right hand across. As Spero expected, it felt rough. Little bumps and cavities made the walls uneven. Spero could see plant life growing up from the ground and up the walls.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Spero continued onward with stride. He was cautiously optimistic that weaving through these ruins, whatever they were, would disorient whatever seemed to be on his trail. As he continued, Spero felt a smooth bump in the wall as his fingers passed by. His eyes quickly scanned the wall. The bumps seemed to be drawings of some kind plastered throughout. Was it a mural? Most of the drawings were shapes and symbols unknown to Spero, but one drawing caught his attention. All of the drawings were a tame grey in color, but there was one that held many colors. The drawing depicted a person kneeling. One arm clutched their stomach, while the other held up colorful lights in an open palm. Most of the colors had faded to nothing, but the original vision could still be made out. Spero didn't have the time to appreciate the art on the ruined wall, sp he continued. Taking one last look, he saw the depiction of tears falling down the person's face.

As he passed through the two walls, he saw what he could only assume was a town. Walls and abandoned furniture laid across the dirt, showing what once was. Cracked walls tall and short spanned about a hundred meters ahead and to his left and right. This town had been completely overtaken by nature. As he walked by more ruins, he wondered what happened for a town to end up like this? Some of the destruction seemed intentional, but there were no signs of life. Perhaps this had happened hundreds of years ago. Spero wondered what it looked like at its prime. Was it beautiful and cozy, or desolate and dreary as it currently was?

Spero was careful not to touch any wood furniture that he stepped over. Still scanning behind him for any movement, Spero continued towards the other side of the town. Walls of vegetation spanned in every direction now. Spero seemed to have reached the middle of the town, as there were no structures. All that sat in the middle was dirt and some stones long collapsed. Although he had just thought this place was dreary, it had a certain charm to it. Anything was better than the monochrome, metal city he came from.

*SNAP*

Spero's body jolted around to face the new noise behind him. It was the same sound that he had heard earlier, but a bit quieter. He rapidly twisted his neck around and squinted. He saw nothing. Behind him, in the direction he was just walking, he heard another noise. This noise sounded like a crumbling of stone. Spero turned once again, but saw nothing. Having heard something move in front and behind, he started quietly walking sideways but made sure to still face the most recent noise.

Spero heard a rustle of grass in the direction he was now inching towards. With walls in every direction, this was the perfect place to sneak up on someone. He then heard more noises in the other direction. Then came more noises. More rustling. More crumbling. More snapping of fallen twigs. Spero's breathing became unorganized and his mind began to blur. He was cornered. Whatever was out there, it was more than one. The sightless sounds became increasingly louder and closer. But still-- he saw nothing. Was he being lead here? These walls had perfect cover for an ambush.

Spero stood frozen in fear. He was stuck. More noises reached his ears. His grip on the large stick felt forceful enough to snap it in half. His hands were shaking as they held it. His eyes started tearing up. More noises echoed out. Behind him, in front, and to the side. Spero's body wouldn't move, despite his efforts.

... Then there was a chilling silence.

...

...

...

Spero heard a loud rustle to his left and saw something large and black in his peripherals, and it was getting closer. By the time he turned his head, it had reached him. His reflexes kicked in as his arms held up the stick to guard his body. The flying black mass hit the stick with staggering force, knocking Spero on his back. The stick jolted out of his hands and behind him, hitting the dirt with a hefty clunk. Spero released a desperate noise from his mouth and stood back up to his feet. He turned to the stick and saw what the black mass was. A thick, sharp spike about the size of his arm was stuck to the top of the stick.

Spero heard more noises. He picked up the stick and guarded his body once again. He had to get out of this. How would he get out of this?

Think, think, think, think, think!

No thoughts were coming. His head was full of raging static. The black spike was still stuck to the top of the stick. Spero turned his head around and around to find what shot the spike at him. He could still hear noises all around him, like they were now teasing him.

... Then there was silence.

Spero, quickly recognizing a pattern, assumed that another spike would be shot his way. He held the stick over his face and peered around at the walls surrounding him. He heard a noise behind him. Spero quickly turned and dived to the side slamming his elbows into the hard ground. The noises started again. Spero looked to see if a spike was shot, but couldn't see one. If this were to keep happening, he would be hit eventually. He had to get out, but how--

Spero heard grass moving in quick succession behind him. The sound of the grass became louder extremely quickly. He turned to block the next potential spike, but he saw nothing. They were toying with him. Without any warning, The hair on the back of Spero's neck stood up. He could tell something was behind him. Once again turning around, Spero was knocked to the ground. This wasn't a spike. It was large and heavy, and it sat on Spero's body with all its weight. Spero looked at what was on him. and immediately screamed.

On him was a large black creature. It's head was much larger than his, and it had many layers of deep black teeth jittering around in its mouth. He couldn't see the body, but he felt multiple legs grabbing his limbs. He struggled, but was unable to move. The creature opened its mouth wider, getting closer to Spero's face. He grunted and twisted around, but couldn't get free of its grasp. Spero was staring Death directly in the face. He had to fight. In the back of its mouth, a black spike emerged. It was as if it was puking it up. Spero looked in disgust. Even knowing nothing about this creature, he knew it was about to fire the spike out of its mouth. The teeth surrounding the spike jittered back and forth. Spero spun his body with all his might and pushed the creature to the side,

Spero jumped up. The creature was now fully visible. Its body was about the size of Spero's, but it was much thicker and bulbous. Small spikes jutted out from the shell of the beast. It had many legs, all with sharp mandibles for grip. Spero picked up his stick and prepared himself. Before he could swing, the creature retreated behind a wall. As he took steps towards it, he heard something behind him. Learning how this creature operated, Spero turned with a wide swing of his stick. He heard a loud, piercing screech as his stick broke in half and fell out of his hands. He hit another creature that looked the same. It squirmed on the ground in an attempt to find its footing.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Spero broke into a sprint. He ran between the rubble, trying to lose the beast or beasts. He turned his head and saw that the creature he hit was no longer visible. He ran as fast as his legs would allow. He didn't know where he was going. He just wanted away from this. Spero used the walls around him as balance as he tripped on broken furniture. Spero reached the edge of the town and kept running. Trees started becoming more abundant. He turned but saw nothing. He kept running. Spero saw a drop-off in front of him. The ground fell down into a steep hill. He used his feet and the trees around him to slow down. He would have to go down. His head turned and-- the creature slammed into him with full force, knocking him down the steep hill.

Spero began tumbling down. His body spun uncontrollably as the dead leaves and dirt scraped his skin. He bounced up and down. His arms slammed down over and over again. His eyes could see nothing but a blur of brown. He felt like he was falling forever. He felt extremely dizzy. Eventually the hill flattened out and Spero rolled onto his back before stopping.

Oh, the sky is so pretty right now...

Spero heard a rustle beside him. He jumped up and saw that the creature that knocked him over the hill had fallen as well. Spero looked around for something to hit it with but found nothing of use. As soon as the creature regained itself, it ran up the hill a ways and sat on a protruding tree. Next to the creature was another identical one. So there were two... Spero turned around and prepared to run, but saw something above him. As he looked up, his heart sank. Pitch black creatures jumped on every branch of every tree around him. There had to be a hundred. They slowly started jumping to closer branches in unison. Spero took a step back. They countered this step with more forward movement. Spero stood frozen as he saw dozens of black, spiky creatures approaching from the ground and the trees. Spero took one last look behind him. There were a few of the beasts, but not enough to stop him. He took one last look at the creatures that approached before taking a deep breath.

Run

As if it was the only thing he was capable of, Spero turned and broke into a sprint. His movements were spastic as his arms flailed around. A sound of piercing wind whizzed by his right ear as a black spike flew by his head. He dodged his entire body to the left, almost hitting a tree. To avoid it, he spun his whole body in a 360 degree motion, making himself even more dizzy. He didn't dare look behind him. More spikes started whizzing past. Spero moved unpredictably to counter the shots. He ran faster. The wind pushed back his hair and the skin on his face. One step after another. A spike flew past him, hitting the ground in front of his feet. He jumped to avoid tripping. He dodged to the left and to the right. He used trees as walls to push himself off of. More spikes flew by, and he couldn't believe he wasn't dead yet.

Spero saw a large line of thick shrubbery directly in front of him. He could get past and potentially lose some of them. He had no other option. He dodged, hitting the side of a tree to his left. He pushed off with his left arm and sped towards the bushes. He took one look behind him before hitting the shrubbery. Dozens of black creatures with anger in their faces approached with the intent to kill. Spero sped up, blocked his face with his arms, closed his eyes, and forced through the bushes.

As he opened his eyes, he saw no ground in front of him. He was going too fast to stop. With the speed of one thousand men, Spero rushed off of a cliff. Time slowed. He could see so much from this height. Kilometers of hills and trees spanned as far as the eyes could see, and the sun was directly in front of him lighting his entire body in a warm glow. The clouds were orange and pink.... It was beautiful.

...

Spero began falling. Rapidly and dangerously, Spero was falling. He couldn't do anything but scream. His limbs spun around, being controlled by the forces of the wind. He couldn't open his eyes properly. The world was spinning. Everything was coming to a close.

Take me back... TAKE ME BACK!!!!

Regret filled his mind. Nothing he did was worth it. He saw Mrs. Clarisea. He saw Suus. He saw a pool of blood on a wet, concrete floor. The ground awaited. Spero gave up and relaxed his muscles. With one last pained breath, he closed his tired eyes.