Purpose:
He stands before her, tall and proud, like one of the large evergreen trees in the forest that surrounds their unnamed village. Chilling blood red eyes lock with her terrified gray ones, causing a sharp shiver to rip up her spine.
The air turns sticky, crawling up her skin like a centipede.
The mangled body that hangs from his fingers dangles like a ragdoll, thick trails of blood slowly moving down the length of his body to drip onto the stained ground. Its head rolls back, dying pupils expanding and retracting-trying to focus in on her face. When her identity registers, the look of pure horror on his face matches hers.
"Run!" The gurgled voice rasps through the air, thick with blood and newfound anguish. "RUN!"
Her body is slow to move. It's as if someone has drained her blood and replaced it with thick, bittersweet honey. Legs bending, hands curling into tight fists, she whips around and books it. Strands of her long strange yellow hair flow out behind her, tangling in the sharply cut tree branches and leaves. She jerks to a stop at the fierce pain at the crown of her head and rips her hair free of the branches. The sounds of leaves crunching, a heartbeat thrumming nearby, the sound of pursuit whispers through her ears and she gasps brokenly. Whipping back around, she breaks into a run again, only to be knocked flat back. Her back hits the hard, cold earth with a sickening wet thud and her lips part into a silent scream as he grabs a fistful of her hair and drags her upwards.
His red eyes stare down at her, unimpressed. Is expression is impassive and difficult to read through the pain that pools beneath her eyes.
"P-Please!" She gasps. Her arms dangly limply at her sides, the feeling within the limbs slowly draining away through her fingertips. "Please, let me go!" Her voice breaks and cracks, like a shattered bottle of glass.
He lets her go.
Her head bounces against the ground painfully and her brain rattles around within her head. Her neck jerks up against the force with whiplash, bouncing against the hard ground like a ball. Mind swimming, her body manages to roll over to her side and the crisp blades of grass snap beneath the soft pressure of her cheek.
"Consider yourself…lucky." His deep voice, rich and velvety, rumbles lowly.
Elegantly, he steps over her head. The heel of his sandal comes dangerously close to her face, narrowly missing her nose by a centimeter, and she inwardly shudders at the thought of that foot coming down upon her head. It would have enough force to crack her skull open. Hollowly, she watches his back as he moves deeper into the forest-back to the disregarded body of her father. His long dark hair sways in the wind, with each step he takes.
And then disappears.
She lies there for who knows how long, raincloud colored eyes staring blankly in the direction in which he left. Her heart beats rapidly in her chest, flooding her eardrums with an endless drumming sound. It's all she can hear as she lies in wait for her death. Tears blur her vision. The bloodied image of her father's gory body flares up within her mind, plaguing it. No matter how hard she fights, she can't rid herself of it. Gasping painfully, she whimpers and lets out a small sobbing sound.
Please, she begs internally to whomever above is listening, please just let it end.
Let me die.
The dark figure watches her silently, cloaked within the depths of the shadows cast across the land. Their crimson eyes zero in on her withering body, calculating her chances of survival. There is a possibility that she could live, if her body was not paralyzed and if she was given something to live for. Upon examining the nearby ruins, they estimate that he'd passed through. He never passed up the opportunity to conquer, to prove his strength. Bodies littered the ground, decaying slowly into the wintery chilled grass. Puddles of blood pool stain the ground, the crisp, charred remains of burnt homes still flickering with dying embers. It was a terrible sight.
A fascinating sight.
Pale, bone colored lips twitch back into a wicked smile, revealing pale pink coated razor sharp fangs.