Everything was dark, shades of grey and black. Basil didn't realize that black could range in color until that very moment. In some places the darkness was a deep all-consuming black, in others it was light, almost pleasant. The kind of darkness that you would expect the night after fresh snowfall. A kind of grayish black caused by the moonlight reflecting off the snow. When Basil looked up above him, he saw a glistening moon closer to liquid silver than white. The light it produced had a metallic glow that cut through the darkness. It illuminated a forest of trees. Trees that looked like they had been painted with silver glitter. In some ways, the forest that Basil found himself standing in was beautiful. In other ways, it was macabre. Basil felt that the there was something off about this place that he couldn't quite place his finger on. It was also cold. The type of cold that seeps into your bones and leaves a chill behind. It was especially cold to Basil, who only wore the black sweatpants that he had put on earlier. He could see his breath creating little clouds in front of him every time he breathed out. If he had a mirror he was certain he would see his nose and ears tinted red. He crossed his arms across his chest to preserve warmth.

There was something about the forest that made Basil feel so incredibly alone. He felt that if he walked for miles he wouldn't come across another human being. Not being able to hear made him feel even more isolated. Anything could come up behind him in this densely populated forest. Anyone else would hear twigs snap or leaves crackle if something or someone approached. Basil felt like he was at a severe disadvantage, but being at a disadvantage had never stopped him from anything. He found a nearby tree and leaned against it so that he could think. If he stayed on the ground, he could be easily attacked, and his vision would be limited. Basil decided his best option was to climb the tree that he leaned against. Being higher up offered a wider field of vision and limited potential attacks. He climbed until he found a branch high enough and sturdy enough to hold his weight. He sat with his back to the tree, silently thanking his mom for the wilderness survival class his mom had forced him to take about eight years ago.

His view of the dimly lit forest was vastly improved in his lofty position. Every once in a while, a leaf or two would drop from the trees, looking like floating silver dollars in the moonlight. While Basil watched leaf after leaf fall, a large black bear plodded along underneath the tree where Basil sat. He was infinitely grateful that he had climbed the tree not ten minutes before when he noticed the bear. It had to be at least eight hundred pounds with claws that dug into the ground with every step it took. Basil sat stock-still. He didn't want the bear to hear him. His heart beat in his chest as he watched it meander along the forest floor, stopping to sniff a plant or overturn a rock occasionally. He relaxed only when the bear was so far away that he could barely see it in the dark. All the sudden he noticed the moonlight reflect off of something flying swiftly through the darkness. He watched as the bear dropped to the ground. Even from his position he felt the aftershock of eight hundred pounds crashing to the ground. There was something bleach-white sticking out of the bear's side just below its right shoulder blade.

Out of the darkness stepped a tall, lithe figure dressed in dark clothing. They were holding a bow the same color as the arrow sticking from the bear's side. The bow took on a silvery hue in the moonlight. What startled Basil the most was the mask the person wore. It was a six-pointed deer skull polished to a sheen. It too appeared to have a silver glow. Their hair was also white, or at least appeared white in the distance. Everything else about this person was a mystery. Basil stayed as still as he could, even covering his mouth to conceal his breath. Anything able to take down a bear with such ease could, undoubtedly, do the same thing to him. He watched the figure stand over the bear and poke it with the bottom end of their bow. They must have been satisfied because they hunched over the bear and proceeded to do something, he couldn't tell what. The process took no more than five minutes.

The masked person stood and removed the arrow from the bear's side, wiping it clean on the bear's fur as they did. Before Basil could fully process what he had just seen, the figure whipped around, notched the arrow which had been in the bear only moments before, and shot directly at him. The arrow came so fast that Basil couldn't move in time. He could only watch as the arrow approached him and implanted itself in his shoulder, pinning him to the tree. He didn't even feel the arrow go through his shoulder. He wasn't sure if that was a result of its speed or shock. He yelled out only when the pain came seconds later. He tried to pull himself and the arrow from the trunk, but it was no use. He was stuck and moving only made his shoulder hurt worse. Basil looked back to where the bear lay expecting to find the person that had just shot him, but they were nowhere to be found. Basil searched to woods frantically. It wasn't until he looked directly down to the base of the tree he was currently pinned to that he saw the figure. His heart beat faster, causing more blood to seep from his now throbbing shoulder wound. He watched expectantly, thinking that they would scale the tree, but the didn't. They jumped the distance that had taken Basil so long to climb. The jump was so effortless that it seemed like they were flying. The person landed lightly on the branch directly in front of Basil. Even this close Basil couldn't tell what they looked like. They took him by his uninjured arm and pulled him forward, wrenching both him and the arrow from the truck. The pain made him double over, but the figure maintained a death grip on his arm. Then they jumped back down to the forest floor with Basil in hand.

When they both landed Basil fell to the ground. He wanted to fight or run, but the arrow in his shoulder was too painful. It was all he could do to sit there and appear as harmless as possible. He wasn't really a fighter like Birdie. If she was there she'd have put up a fight, arrow be damned. His arm was beginning to go numb. He hoped it wasn't from loss of blood. The masked figure was leaning over him when he looked up. Basil could tell that they were saying something, but they had black cloth over the bottom half of their face, so he could not read their lips. They must have been annoyed with his lack of response because the got closer and placed a heavy black boot on the middle of his chest. The weight of it forced the breath from his lungs. They leaned in closer, repeating their words again. Basil didn't know what to do, so he pointed to his ear with his good arm and shook his head side to side to indicate no. Hopefully that would translate to "I can't hear" or something similar. The figure paused for a moment. Basil hoped it was a good sign. They slowly pulled the black cloth down from the bottom half of their face, revealing rich brown skin and a plush mouth with razor-sharp teeth. Next off was the deer skull which, from this close up, was undoubtedly real, revealing the face of a girl. No, woman. A young woman with unearthly beauty. A young woman that Basil couldn't help but be attracted to despite his situation.