Running, running, running. More running. Endless running.

Where am I going? Does it matter?

It's the dead of night, fireflies are lighting up the tight spaces between the thick trees, Through the canopy, I can see stars blinking down on me, like thousands of eyes. Yet I don't fear their gaze. Nothing in the darkness could ever frighten me.

The smell of rain is in the air, and my bare feet splash through puddles left by the earlier downpour. Is that thunder I hear in the distance, as the wind brushes my hair?

This night is beautiful, perfect in every way.

I laugh as I run, brushing my hands against the leaves that seem to lovingly caress my palms. Eventually I slow down before coming to a full stop. I find myself gazing at the sky, the three full moons shining down upon me. I reach my hand up, wanting to touch them, longing for that contact.

The moons seem to mock me from way up in the night sky. So large, so powerful, while I'm down here. Small, powerless, meaningless, and helpless.

Forgotten.

Why did the humans forget us, I wonder? What a depressing species. Sowing seeds of sorrow and dissonance. But, when I think about it, is it really so bad that we've been forgotten and tucked away into legend? At least we've been left alone.

As if thinking about them called the beings towards me, I hear human voices in the distance, gruff and angry. I start running faster through the forest that seems to get less familiar with every step, seems to fight against me. The trees - are they grabbing at my hair? It hurts! Let go of me!

I struggle to keep running as the low bushes reach out tendrils to wrap around my ankles, voices gaining on me. Please, just let me escape them! The forest changes as I run, becoming less and less organic. Turning into human constructions. Metallic fingers grope at me, glass is scattered everywhere, causing me to leave black, bloody footprints in my hopeless wake.

It hurts! I want it to stop! Even the moons seem to resemble searchlights, coming for me. Wanting to capture me. The stars don't seem harmless any longer. No, I can't let that happen! It doesn't matter how much pain I must endure, I have to get away from them!

I keep running and running, bleeding and screaming out. The voices are close, so close.

Was that a hand I felt brush my hair? So different from the caress of the wind that I've come to desire.

The trees - the metal, deadly trees - begin thinning. Am I out of the woods? I don't remember them ending here. What the hell is happening?

I keep pounding my feet into the grass turned glass, trying to break away from these strange metal snakes that come from what were once bushes but are now iron thorns. Each step is a new burst of agony, shooting up my leg and into my very being. Suddenly, the trees are simply - gone. I skid to a hasty stop as a massive cliff appears before me. I stare down into it, but it's... empty?

How is this possible? It's full of light, just light, endless light. Disgusting when it isn't being created by him. This is not his light. It's something human and inorganic, tainting my night. I look up, seeing that the sky has also become bright with artificial daylight. That infernal man-made contraption brightening the world! I cower as light blasts me from all sides. Shining on me, blinding me.

I hear the voices somewhere behind me. I thought they were closer, when had I gotten so far ahead of them? I decide not to contemplate that, not wanting to jinx it.

I face the light-filled voice once again, staring into it. I have to squint from the intensity. Light. I'll fade if I jump in. I know it.

Do I even have a choice? Perhaps fading is better than being captured by humans. What would they do to me? Torture? Punishment? Experiments? Why not all of that and more?

Things I could not even dare to imagine.

What a twisted species. And yet I'm the one labelled evil, for the simple act of existing.

The voices are close; too close! If I turn, I know I'll see them, so I keep facing forwards as much as I can. I'm shaking.

"There she is!" the voice booms, the pit of terror in my gut expanding into a valley. I don't think, I just jump.

Falling, falling, fading.

I'm fading! It burns, it burns so much! This agony is unbearable! A scream rips out of my throat, echoing back to me. The only sound that exists in this hellish place. Someone, please, help! Help me!

"Cyn, are you alright?"

I leap off the ground, panic seizing me. There's a dagger in my hand before my sleep-addled mind can truly process what's happening around me.

The blade presses into the throat of the one who spoke to me. My hand is in his hair, yanking his head back further to make slashing that pretty white skin of his that much easier.

Wait. Pretty white skin...? The one who woke me chuckles, completely unbothered by the blade about to slash him. "Good morning to you, too," is all he says.

The dagger in my hand fades away, once again becoming the darkness that surrounds us. I let go of his hair, freeing him from where he was pinned against the cave wall.

"Ezi, what the hell do you think you're doing? You know I could've taken your damn head clean off!" I scowl at him, squinting slightly as his form lights up the pitch blackness of my cave. It's dim, but still annoying. I return to my bed, made of leaves, moss, grass, flowers, and other soft items I've collected.

"Yeah, yeah, you remind me every time I wake you up." I don't need to face him to know he's grinning. Ezi always seems to be. He tries to take a step closer to me and ends up tripping over my leg. I watch as his face collides with the stone floor, softly snickering to myself.

He groans and picks himself up, opening his hand. In his palm a small light shines, illuminating the darkness more than his always present glow already did. I give him a dirty look.

"That's better. I can finally see your face, Cyn. Well, mostly." He keeps smiling at me.

"Oh, leave me alone," I say, rolling to my other side. But Ezi circles around to keep looking at me. He stumbles on my leg. Again. I scowl some more.

Another chuckle, deepening my dirty look. I sacrifice some of my bedding to toss it in his face. "Stop grinning at me like that, you damn creep!"

"Yeah, yeah. Can we get out of the cave now? I feel faint." I notice now that he's wobbling on his feet, glow flickering somewhat. Sighing, I stand up, walking to the entrance and pushing away the vines that act as a door to my cave. Daylight floods in, blinding me momentarily. Ezi swiftly walks out, extending his arms and groaning.

His white hair and skin glow even brighter outside, his job easier when not blocked from the sky. Ezi's yellow eyes brighten as well, though it's hard to notice through his thick bangs. But even outside, where he's strongest, he always has this look to him that suggests he just rolled out of bed moments ago. His hair floats around his head, defying gravity and looking about as messy as hair can get.

I wonder if all Light Spirits were like this. I stare at my arm, feeling some resentment at the burning sensation all over my skin. I hate this. I hate daytime.

Only being able to see Ezi makes it even remotely worth being awake.

"So, is there a reason you woke me up?" I murmur, sounding grumpy even to myself.

"Jake feels like showing off today."

"Jake feels like showing off every day!"

"Today more so than usual."

I roll my eye. "Ezi, I'm so not in the mood. I'll watch Jake dance some other time, alright?"

Ezi's usual smile vanishes, face turning blank as he tilts his head. "Bad dreams?" They bother you a lot, don't they?"

"That obvious, huh?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"You were twitching in your sleep. Muttering, too. Muttering about 'light.'" As Ezi speaks, he looks away, staring off at nothing. His intonation doesn't change, and I don't sense a shift in his emotions, but...

"It wasn't about you, Ezi. It was... something else."

"But I'm Light. If you're having bad dreams about-"

"Man-made. Not your light. Never yours, Ezi. You know that."

He doesn't seem convinced, his glow dimming slightly, hardly enough to be perceived. But I know him well enough that I notice, even if no one else would. "Okay," he sighs.

"Ezi." I rest my hand on his shoulder, though making physical contact with him always feel strange. Like a tingling in my fingers. "I need sleep. We can talk more in the evening before you go to bed. And Jake can dance for me then if he's so hellbent on me seeing the damn routine."

"Okay. Sleep well, Cyn."

I gently push him away by his shoulder, which makes that smile of his return. "Maybe if some Light Spirit would actually let me sleep! Get lost, Glow Boy!"

With that, Ezi turns around and leaves me, wandering through the forest. The same forest that had been in my dream. Except the real thing doesn't have any fireflies. It doesn't have squirrels or deer or any other animal you may expect to find between the trees. Nothing in this forest is alive, not even the trees themselves. They're hollow and false. Everything in this realm is.

As I lay back down in the hopes of getting some more sleep, my mind wanders. What did that dream mean? The forest in the dream had been this one, and yet not. It had life. It had humans, pursuing me. Humans had tainted our realm with their strange devices.

I don't believe myself a prophet, but I'd be a fool to ignore this grave feeling the dream has given me.