The cold air scraped at his skin, whipping through the tattered edges of his cloak as he sprinted. His breath came in short, sharp gasps, burning his throat.
But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
The forest wouldn't let him go so easily, the eerie voices creeping into his mind.
"Stay."
"Why run?"
"You'll never make it."
"Just rest."
He tried his hardest to ignore the voice, shutting his eyes and quickening his pace.
The forest persisted, almost as if it found amusement in Ren's suffering.
It was then, when Ren opened his eyes, that the trees became blurred, now indistinct shapes that stretched unnaturally. The path once ahead of him twisted, caving into itself.
As if the world, the forest, the sky, everything was changing around him. He wasn't running forward anymore—he was running nowhere. His direction was slipping, and no matter how hard he tried to focus, his surroundings bled into a shapeless void.
He skidded to a stop, his chest heaving. The forest seemed to reset, changing back into its original state.
And that's when he saw it: a figure lurched in the distance.
It moved—staggering, slow but deliberate, dragging its feet along the damp ground.
Its skin hung loose over rotting muscle, torn and peeling away in places to reveal worn-down tendons and brittle, yellowed bone. Its mouth sagged open, its jaw barely attached, blackened teeth visible beneath split lips. Empty sockets where eyes should have been stared blindly ahead.
Yet, somehow, it saw him.
Its head snapped unnaturally in his direction, a rasping sound wheezing from its throat.
And then—it moved.
Not in a slow, mindless shuffle. It speed-walked, its deteriorated limbs jerking with unnatural speed. Ren's breath caught in his throat, his body locking up a second too long.
Then—
The corpse kunged forward, skeletal fingers stretching out of Ren.
Too fast
Ren's mind screamed to move, to push beyond the burning in his legs, but the corpse was already there.
Too fast.
Ren lashed out blindly, his fist connecting with the side of the corpse's jaw.
Crack
The brittle bone shattered on impact, the entire lower half of its jaw snapping clean off, dangling for a moment before hitting the ground. Blackened drool dripped through the hole, soiling the ground where it stood.
But it didn't stop, lunging in again, its hands clamping down onto Ren's shoulders.
Cold
Its grip was ice-cold, like dead flesh left to rot in the depths of winter. The fingers dug deep, pressing hard against his bones, pinning Ren in place with inhuman force.
Ren gasped, his heartbeat slamming against his ribs.
The corpse's head twitched unnaturally, snapping forward as if trying to bite, but with its jaw missing, all it could do was let out a grotesque hiss. Its blackened tongue dangled uselessly, swinging from the gaping hole where its mouth used to be.
Ren struggled, and that's exactly what it wanted. The voices, soft and delicate, whispered to him.
"Just let it take you."
"Stop fighting."
"You'll end up just like it anyway."
Ren snarled, shaking off the haze of fear. Summoning every ounce of strength, he threw himself backward. The corpse lurched forward, its grip slipping—
And that was enough.
He ripped free of its hold, stumbling back from the momentum. But it recovered instantly, its head twitching in his direction.
It lunged forward again.
Desperation took over. He had to do something—fast.
Ren snatched up a rock from the ground and threw it.
A stupid, desperate move—but there was no time to dwell. He didn't hesitate, running away the second it released his hand.
"Don't run, little soul."
"It's only a matter of time."
"You'll slow down eventually."
He pushed forward, lungs burning, legs screaming, refusing to listen.
But then—
A new sound. Not the whispers of the forest.
Footsteps—fast, heavy, gaining.
He didn't have time to react.
Something slammed into him, driving him to the ground with bone-shattering force. He tumbled across the ground, disoriented, and before he could recover—
It was on him, its bony fingers piercing through his wrists like talons. Ren thrashed around violently, trying to break free of the corpse's grip.
Stuck in a position where he had no control, not able to get away no matter what. The panic. That hopeless feeling forced tears from Ren's eyes.
But then—
The fingers moved to his sides, scraping against his ribs, digging in like they were nothing more than soft flesh.
"No! No! It hurts! Let me go! Stop it! Let me go!"
Ren screamed in pain, his consciousness slowly fading away from the shock.
But the voices kept him stable. Not by his choice, but by its.
"Poor, little soul."
"Give in."
"Join the others."
Ren wouldn't fall for it.
He may not have been the bravest.
The fastest
The strongest
Or even the smartest.
But he knew there were choices in life. Choices you could and couldn't control.
And this—
"No!"
A sudden burst of rage burst from Ren's throat.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! I've given up my life once. I won't give it up again!"
Was one he could control.
With everything he had left, he slammed his elbow back into the corpse's skull.
Crack
The sound was deafening.
The corpse's head snapped sideways, its skull caving in with the force of the blow. Its grip faltered for a moment—a moment Ren didn't waste.
He yanked its shoulders back, pulling the corpse towards him, and drove his knee into its sternum, shattering it under the force.
The corpse fell back, twitching violently on the ground.
In that instant, Ren jolted to his feet, running away the moment he stood up.
He ran
He ran until his lungs felt like they might collapse under the weight of his own breath. The corpse's rattling wheezes had long since faded into the distance.e
But he didn't stop. He couldn't.
The forest was endless, shifting, suffocating. But then—
A break in the trees.
Ren stumbled forward, nearly falling as the dense forest suddenly gave way to an open clearing. His worn-down boots struck uneven stone, and the ground beneath felt different.
His body ached, his muscles trembling from exertion. He staggered forward slowly, his mind barely processing the sight before him—a structure, old and crumbling, half-swallowed by the land itself. Broken pillars protruded from the ground, twisted by time and decay, while fragments of walls stood defiant against the creeping grasp of the forest.
A ruin.