10 Vision

He scanned his surroundings.

Other than the colorful stones, there were dark bushes with white berries growing on them.

'I definitely can't eat those...'

Thankfully, he was well-read.

These were swertu berries.

Their scent was deadly.

Aiden realized there was another resource around: withered twigs lying under the trees.

He quickly decided to gather them up and walked back to the clearing, making marks under every tree he passed using the twigs.

This took some time, but water was the most important thing. He could survive a few weeks without food, but not without water.

The forest was really strange. Where Aiden lived, there were lots of animals and sounds. Birds singing, the wind whistling.

Here, it was absolutely silent, which made him feel alone, abandoned and even depressed.

No birds, no wind, just his footsteps and the quiet rustle of grass.

As he moved in a straight line in search of a way out of the Old Forest, the situation started to change.

It was getting darker and he couldn't see the trees well any more.

'I can't push on. I'd be totally lost.'

'But sleeping here is suicidal.'

'The Drifters will get me.'

He gulped his saliva down when he thought about the things that were supposedly roaming around during the night.

He considered his option for a while, but it was getting really dark; moving forward was not an option and even if he sprinted back, he wouldn't make it in time before nightfall.

He glanced up at the sturdy tree beside him and checked out its branches.

'I think I can climb up there.'

He approached the trunk, wrapping his arms around it tightly. Slowly, he began to pull himself upward, using his legs to push against the rough bark.

He climbed up to a sizable branch above, firmly held on to it and leaned his back against it to make himself more comfortable.

It wasn't an ideal resting place, but it was safer than staying on the forest floor.

For another hour or so, he tried to fall asleep, but the pain and fatigue made him so tired that he was really struggling to flake out.

It was really dark now.

He couldn't see anything.

Absolute pitch black.

Whoom!

He heard a sound!

Over to his right.

He turned his head and heard what seemed like a whisper, a soft calling.

He remained motionless.

He looked into the darkness, where he could hear both soft whispers and the rustling of grass.

"Creee! Creeee!"

The whispers escalated into loud screeching noises.

In one moment, there was nothing—an empty space.

Whoosh!

A figure showed up beneath him. It was glowing in a soft white light.

Its eye sockets were hollow, its skin abyssal black, its body unnaturally elongated, almost lifeless. Twisted branches jutted from its flesh, like gnarled fingers reaching out.

Aiden's breath caught in his throat as the air immediately felt colder, chilling him to the bone.

'Fuck, Fuck, Fuck.'

The entity seemed to be stuck in place, and as it breathed, its glow pulsated in a strange, blob-like manner, consuming the surroundings.

The trunk under Aiden's body started to move, getting softer and pulling him down, consuming him into itself.

Aiden held his breath and shut his eyes as this nightmare unfolded.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of normalcy returning.

The wood beneath went back to its solid form.

He turned his head, his heart pounding, only to find that the being had vanished into thin air.

'Was it a dream?'

Aiden couldn't sleep for the remaining hours, the fatigue only building up as sunlight started breaking through the crowns again.

He slowly got down from the tree and continued making his way quietly through the forest.

...

A few hours later, he found himself in an odd place. It wasn't what he was looking for, but it was certainly something—a small clearing.

A tall building that looked ominous—a church of sorts.

At the top of the church protruded an inverted white cross.

Hoping that there was nothing strange lurking inside, Aiden stepped through the oval wooden door.

Inside, there was a strong scent of old wood.

Despite its age, the church looked like it had been well taken care of. The dim red light coming through the colored glass windows made the wooden benches shine.

At the front of the church, there was a simple table with white material on top of it. Aiden quickly came up with the idea that he could tear the material into pieces and make himself some simple clothes out of it.

He looked around the church as he walked up to the table.

"Aaaaah!" He suddenly recoiled in terror.

On top of the benches to the side, which the backrest had previously covered, lay skeletons of fallen warriors.

Some leftover rugs covered them. Silver helmets and rusted swords lay on the ground, along with some other equipment.

He couldn't recognize their gender, but there were four of them.

'Looks like they have been lying here for a long, long... long time.'

He ignored the sceletons for the moment and came up close to the table, touching the white material on top of it that seemed to have survived the passage of time.

All of a sudden he started to see pulsating blue circles in front of his eyes, and as he looked at the table, he felt his awareness slowly slip away.

After a moment, he woke up and found himself in a dark place.

He looked around and discovered that a thick mist was surrounding him as he stood in a withered forest.

Floating elements of different colors tainted the quiet darkness.

Aiden's eyes landed on the bright, inverted white cross up above. He realised that was standing next to the same church he had just been inside of.

And it was at that moment that he felt the air that surrounded him stop.

Immediately after, a low whisper could be heard beside his ear, almost like a cry.

It seemed alluring; it seemed beckoning.

He couldn't help but want to listen to it.

He turned his head in the direction the voice came from, and what he saw was bewildering.

As he looked at it, his body became tighter and tighter, as though on the verge of being broken apart.