Howard wanted to think but he did not have such luxury, so without skipping another beat he began to sprint, his feet pounded against the wet, uneven ground as the trees blurred past him. His breath came in ragged gasps, the cold air stabbing his lungs with each inhale. Behind him, the thing gave chase, its guttural growl echoing through the forest, sending waves of dread crashing down on him. Whatever it was, it wasn't human it couldn't even be considered a beast. The creature's movements were fast and erratic, its heavy breathing growing louder with every stride.
He knew he couldn't outrun it, the howls becoming much more louder. after a few breaths, he saw some massive bolder in the distance in the corner of which there was half a meter tall and a meter wide gap
Howard slipped through the narrow passage between two large boulders, hoping to buy some time, even for a second. The creature had emerged from the thick fog without warning, its form twisted, with multiple tens of long limbs and hollow eye sockets that could blend into the night, like two heaps of coals. Its skin was sickly pale, stretched tight over muscle and bone, and it had no body with several of those tens of meters long appendages attached to a human-shaped skull at the front.
"if I just keep running I will be caught by whatever that thing was and even if I don't, I might erode", Howard questioned himself trying not to hinder his thoughts.
Ahead, the forest thinned slightly, revealing a shallow ravine filled with dense undergrowth. Without slowing down, Howard veered towards it, plunging into the thick brush. The foliage slapped against his face and arms, but he couldn't care less.
Howard plunged through the ravine, branches snapping underfoot, his heart pounding like a war drum. The creature's howls reverberated behind him, echoing its terror. Every instance it screamed at him and every time it became more unbearable, his heart pounded even louder the last bit of sensibility being replaced with fear and hopelessness at that moment the hideous amalgamation grew by several more meters, and one of its his hands extended and slammed him from the back causing him to feel a sudden burst of pain and after to be sent flying towards one of the several trees.
Blood began to spill out from all seven orifices on his face, his vision constantly going in and out of reality, Howard almost lost his mind not viewing pain as pain but more like information being sent to his brain at that moment of dread a recollection of a conversation begun replaying in his mind.
"W.. wh. what was it that he said again feeding off fear or something like that", Howard couldn't think properly then when the abomination began running closer and closer towards him, time seemed to freeze and Howard had a sense of clarity his mind went into overdrive and he began solving the puzzle.
"Fear... it feeds off fear," Howard's mind raced, the words from earlier now clear. The realization hit him like a cold wave "Tha.. THAT RIGHT!?!! he said that this place feeds off fear and the moment I lost my sanity that thing grew stronger", at the moment of despair he had a breakthrough but it did not bring any joy "But what does it even matter no matter the circumstances I have been absolutely paralyzed, even if I somehow get off this situation I won't have the strength to move a single finger let alone climb a tree before getting eroded", Howard mumbling to himself...
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
As Howard's train of thought ended the time around him also resumed, he closed his eyelids trying to find a little bit of comfort in his last moments on this earth or wherever he was...
But Howard could not accept that! His PRIDE could NEVER accept that! His journey ending in such an anti-climatic way!? Was it that he was never the main character, even in his own story? just another side character? As this thought had entered Howard's mind he began to laugh tears following down from his blood-red eyes that no longer held any bit of sanity, but it was no longer out of terror. The realization that he had lost control of his own fate sent him spiraling into madness. his laughter not only contained madness but also sorrow and pity towards himself and rage and anger towards the world for his situation... but What did it matter anymore? He'd be consumed by one beast or another.
but at that moment of utter chaos and madness, another mysterious figure came crashing into the figure, the figure seemed to be on top of a bat-like creature but something was different its body was unnaturally large and gaunt, nearly 15 to 20 meters. The bat creature's leathery wings, torn and riddled with holes, scraped the ground as it crawled. Its twisted, bat-human face, with hollow, glowing red eyes and needle-like teeth, oozed malice as it stalked forward, driven by hunger.
Howard's laughter echoed through the trees, wild and uncontrollable, but slowly his vision blurred, and the pounding in his chest dulled to a murmur. He wasn't sure if it was real or a final hallucination but when the new creature appeared from the fog the next instant, the creature that had tormented him for what felt like an eternity froze. It hesitated, then stepped back, its eyes flicking nervously toward the newcomer. Howard blinked in disbelief as the monster the thing that had nearly killed him began to retreat, a low growl rumbling from deep in its chest."
Seeing this Howard's eyes fell and the mysterious figure started calmly walking toward him, the figure was covered in an unknown black garment with many holes and patches on them, and even though the face was covered, it was pretty apparent that the mysterious fellow was a woman since the carves that were bulging out could not be hidden.
As Howard finally began unconscious from the trauma, he thought inwardly "Could this be salvation? Or just another layer of the nightmare?"
After he had fully lost consciousness, the figure picked up Howard and threw him onto the bat but before anything else, the women stopped for an instant and gave a cold glare of indifference for a split second to the two other individuals who Howard had not seen before flying away...