In the still, bright darkness of the midnight forest, two lights flitted through the dappled moonlight. They skipped across the ground, circled the tree trunks, darted up along the tree branches, dashing to and fro, together and apart, chittering between themselves as they went. As they circled the trunk of a giant oak, they stumbled across a curious scene, that of a man, hunched over, nestled in the roots of the tree, clutching a long, broken branch.

The lights stopped. Slowly, they floated closer to the sleeping form, before darting back, chittering, as he stirred in his sleep. The lights floated closer together. Hidden within the lights, two skinny, winged bodies gesticulated as the sounds escalated in volume and intensity. Twin faces, full of sharp angles, tapering to swept-back ears contorted as rows of shark-like teeth flashed in too-wide mouths.

With a scowl, one of the lights narrowed its black, asclerotic eyes, threw up its arms, and flew off into the distance. The remaining light lazily sauntered its way back to the sleeping form, a smirk spreading across its pointed face. Landing lightly on the slumbering human, the figure began rummaging through his pockets. Finding nothing of substance in the exposed waist and leg pockets, it flitted around to his back pants pocket. It reached out to grab what appeared to be a loop of knotted yarn, before suddenly screeching and drawing back its spindly hands the second it made contact. Shaking its reddening hands, the figure grimaces and darts off after its compatriot.

--

Jack cracked his eyes open as an unusual sound cut through the depths of his dreamless slumber. Seeing an odd flash of light, he kept his eyes only barely cracked, surreptitiously watching the odd dance of lights in the midnight dark. Hearing the strange noises passing between the two, he began to watch more closely, before tensing to suppress a startle when one flew up to his face. A brief intake of breath and quiver of his eyelids were all he showed as the glowing, elfin figure came into view, before dashing back to its partner on dragonfly wings. He held his breath as the second light inspected him, raising an eyebrow when he heard the creature squeak. After both visitors had flown off, he uncurled himself and stood, groaning and leaning on his branch as he did so.

“Great. First I’m lost, starving, cold, and sleeping in the woods. Now I’m hallucinating fairies!”

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Grumbling, he finished dusting himself off, checking his pockets, and absentmindedly stuffing his komboskini back into his rear pocket.

“No sense in staying in the same spot. Might as well see if I can find water of some kind.”

With heavy steps, he began trudging through the forest leaves, dappled moonlight illuminating the forest floor. Not long into his moonlit trek, he began to hear a soft crunching behind him, out of beat with his footsteps. Goosebumps rose on his arms as a small spasm ran up his back. Without stopping, he slowly turned his head, looking behind himself out of the corner of his eye.

Red eyes pierced through the forest shade. An inky shadow slunk from tree to tree. Jack’s night-dilated eyes widened as his heart rate spiked. He carefully increased his pace, fighting the urge to break into a sprint. Peering back, he glimpsed jet-black fur encasing protruding ribs, the burning eyes drawing ever closer. A canine growl cut through the petrified stillness of the forest. With a sudden start, Jack abruptly accelerated through the undergrowth, batting aside bushes and low-hanging branches. A ghostly howl echoed through the woods as the beast launched itself in pursuit.

Jack grimaced as he heard howls in the distance, yipping and growling emerging from the horizons, bearing towards him. He brushed sweat out of his face as the breath burned in his lungs. He leaned his body forward, pumping his arms, as his legs began to slow down, began to wobble, began to stumble.

Jack saw the ground rise to meet him. He felt his face envelop itself in the fallen leaves. Gasping for breath, he flailed his arms, clawing at the ground as he weakly kicked at the dirt. He pulled himself to the nearest tree and put his back towards it, catching his breath as the sounds of the encroaching horde grew closer. Steeling himself, he pushed up, walking himself up the tree to a stand, and set back off, legs wobbling as he trudged forward.

Cutting under the baying and howling of the oncoming beasts, a faint burble could be heard. Tiredly, Jack turned his head toward the sound. Hearing a snarl closing on him, he sprint-stumbled towards the trickling sound. Breaking through the understory, Jack came to a halt to keep from tripping into a small brook. Jack looked back. One of the black dog-beasts leapt at him, maw open. Jack turned to run and tripped over his feet, falling into the flowing water. Jack felt the beast’s hot breath as its teeth passed a hair’s breadth from his leg. The beast paced along the water’s edge, eyes smoldering as it growled. Jack looked down at the two feet of water separating him from the creature. He backed away, arms up to guard him, eyebrows furrowed as more of the beasts gathered along the stream bank, not a single one setting foot in the running water. Jack’s shoulders dropped as he took a deep breath and quickly limped away from the brook.