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The forest was a living, breathing beast, its gnarled limbs twisting and writhing under the sickly light of the crescent moon. Shadows stretched and blended in one another, an abyss of unknown horrors waiting…watching. The air was thick, humid and cloying, laced with the scent of damp earth, decayed leaves, and something sharper...something metallic.

Urvashi ran.

Her bare feet pounded against the rugged forest floor, the earth uneven and treacherous beneath her. Every step was agony. Jagged stones and remnants bit into her soles, roots coiled like hungry serpents, grasping and dragging her back into the abyss from which she fled, and even the moonlight did not penetrate through most of the foliage, to guide her path with ample illumination.

Her dress, once a pristine garment of soft cotton, hung in tatters; strips of fabric clinging to her trembling frame like the shreds of a ghost. Her breath came in ragged gasps: lungs burning, ribs heaving, and abdominal muscles aching, the rhythm of her heartbeat a frantic drumbeat in her ears.

Run. Run. Run.

But she wasn't fast enough.

She could feel him.

The presence behind her was suffocating. Not a sound betrayed his pursuit: no hurried footsteps, no labored breath, no shadow out of place. Just the undeniable acknowledgment of something there, lurking just beyond her periphery; a shadow that never ceased to loom. Every little detail around her was helping him track her down. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, ice slithering down her spine in warning. She dared not look back.

To look back was to confirm the nightmare, to seal her fate with her own terror-stricken eyes.

She ran harder.

The trees around her were closing in, their skeletal branches clawing at her arms, tangling in her hair. The world blurred, a dizzying swirl of darkness and pale silver light, her vision swimming with tears. A sharp crack sounded in the distance; a twig snapping beneath an unseen footstep.

He's close.

A sob broke past her lips, but she choked it back. She couldn't afford weakness. Not now. Not when the air behind her grew suspenseful with the presence of a predator who had no need to hurry, no need to chase, only to wait and strike at the perfect time. The anxiety and adrenaline in her heart was vigorously pumped throughout her limbs, acting as an important factor between life and death. The choked sobs wedged harder into her throat, into her soul.

Thwip!!!

A sharp whistle split the air, followed by the sickening sound of something piercing flesh.

White-hot pain erupted in her lower calf, her body buckling instantly. A strangled scream tore from her throat as she crashed into the earth headfirst, her hands scrambling for purchase in the dirt. Leaves crunched beneath her, the cold dampness of the forest floor and her own blood, soaking into her skin. The pain was unbearable, radiating from her leg in violent pulses, but she barely had the presence of mind to focus on it.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Urvashi's fingers curled tighter into the dirt, her breathing ragged, erratic. She wanted to move, to flee, to disappear, but her body refused to obey. Her limbs trembled violently, her heart slamming against her ribs like a caged bird desperate for release. Her lips quivered as sobs racked through her chest, each cry a desperate plea that could not escape, strangled by the pain. The grim reaper was so close.

Tears streamed down her face—hot, bitter trails of terror and anguish. Her vision blurred as she hiccupped between sobs, the taste of salt and dirt in her mouth, each breath sharp and laboured, punctuated by the relentless agony in her leg. Her entire body shook with the weight of it, every fiber of her being trembling with dread.

No, no, no...!

She needed to stop crying. She needed to be strong. She tried getting up but the pain, the fear, consumed her. The wails burst free, her mouth opening in an agonizing scream, her throat raw as her hands gripped the earth beneath her, desperately trying to hold herself together.

Then, from the darkness, he appeared.

Footsteps. Slow. Methodical. His presence enveloped her like a suffocating fog, stealing the air from her lungs. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and draped in shadow, his face a harsh map of scars and birthmarks that marked him as something far beyond human. 

His eyes, cold, menacing and dead, pierced through the space between them like shards of glass. He didn't look at her with anger or pity. He looked at her like an object to be discarded, like something unworthy of his time.

He crouched beside her, his proximity making her skin crawl, his breath cold against her cheek.

A shudder ran through her, and she tried to push herself away, but the pain in her leg and the intensity of his gaze, held her in place, as if invisible chains had wrapped around her, rendering her in a vegetative state. She covered her mouth, choking down a strangled sob as the hiccups wracked her fragile body. She was shaking violently now, not just from the physical pain, but from the crushing terror, the suffocating fear that made her chest tighten.

Her hands trembled against her mouth, but her body betrayed her. She couldn't stop the cries, the tremors that tore through her chest like jagged shards of ice. She was nothing. Timid. Weak. Helpless.

And yet, the monster only watched her wretched, bleak movements. His fingers, rough, calloused and analytic, grazed her dirty cheek, his touch unnervingly soft despite the brutality of everything else about him. He swiftly decreased the gap between them, crouching down to peer at her face that reflected under the moonlight.

"Disappointing," he murmured, his voice devoid of warmth, as though she were no more than a broken toy. "I was hoping for a deer."

The words hit her like another blow. Her heart sank further into the abyss. The tears, muffled by her trembling hands, intensified, refusing to stop. They spilled from her eyes in a continuous stream of sorrow, fear and pain, every drop a witness to the helplessness that gripped her. Rage swirled in her eyes, her last way to show defiance and faux courage.

He stood, towering over her, his eyes lingering for a moment longer—eyes that saw her, but did not care to see her. Eyes that looked at her like a predator, menacingly glowing in the dark.

Without another word, he turned away. His figure blurred as he walked off, disappearing into the shadows like a phantom.

Urvashi lay there, her body shuddering uncontrollably. She could still feel the imprint of his gaze, the block of his indifference pressing down on her chest. The pain in her leg was a distant echo, the agony becoming a steady hum beneath the throb of her fear. She tried to blink away the blur of tears, tried to steady her breathing, but it was all too much.

Her vision swam, black spots clouding her mind, the forest around her spinning into a dark blur. The last thing she remembered was the whisper of the wind, the distant cry of some night creature, and then darkness.

It enveloped her like a shroud, pulling her under...and she embraced it as her only solace.