His body feels like lead as he pushes his way through the dense fog. Every fallen branch snapped like a whip beneath his bleeding feet.
Still, his legs couldn't push him fast enough.
A thunderous roar of steps followed behind him, crushing every upturned root he tripped over blindly. It was gaining speed. He knew he couldn't run forever.
There had to a way to hide. Running deeper into the trees seemed like a foolish idea; he was unsettlingly unfamiliar with the forest before him, and the fear of running into yet another one chilled his blood to the core.
The trees he darted between were far too narrow to duck behind however. His chest ached with every burning breath he sucked. Even in the dark, his vision was beginning to spot and blur.
Damn it all.
His legs made the decision for him, and he veered sharply to the right.
Wet dirt and pine needles kicked up in a flurry, but his feet were beyond the point of noticing the sting. He could only hope the change of directions threw it off.
Hope seemed to be the only thing he wasn't feeling in that moment.
It was unclear if the pounding in his ears was blood flooding through them, or the earth-shaking trot stampeding behind him. May the fates forgive him, when he failed to have the courage to check.
One look behind would have been his fatal mistake, if he hadn't been thrown violently to the ground with sickening crunch beneath him.
His offender was the surfaced root of an oak that coiled around his ankle with a ferocity that he couldn't have imagined.
His entire body throbbed with a pain he wishes he had gone his whole life without knowing. The physical stun was enough to leave him deathly still; a sob racked through his ribs, but no tears threatened to spill onto his feverish cheeks.
He clenched his eyes shut, the idea of ending the wild chase welcomed him for a brief instant.
A whinnying more akin to a roar startled him out of that mindset as his palms thrust him from the ground.
Sinking his weight into his right leg rallied a pain so severe, that he wished he had just stayed on the ground. His silvery blonde head snapped around, finally taking the chance to look at his pursuer.
Nothing. The dense fog failed to carry any sound.
The silence rang so true, he almost laughed.
Almost.
A grunt sounded from the direction in which he had run, and even in the dark he knew he was the one who had been fooled.
The beast, bigger than any of its kind, with its maddening blind eyed stare, circled before him, stamping its iron clad hoof against the soil.
He stumbled back against the tree that had crippled him, gripping at the bark in a silent prayer.
The beast threw its head back repeatedly, tossing its matted mane around its horn. It glinted, effervescent in the sparse moonlight, far from any sort of fabled beauty…
It charged without hesitation.
Heed my words, child.
Trepidation spread through him, cold and unforgiving.
The moon will wax thrice; then my kin will seek you.
Distance between crumbled away.
I breathe unto you this unholy burden.
Either it shall consume you
Or set you free.
Her horn speared him through the heart, piercing his body to the oak.