Where the hell was I? All I felt was an ominous chill coursed through the smoky mist with shrouded vision, a single lit fire was the only glimpse of light to show. The last I remembered, I was on a hunting trip through the woods of Wales, then the walking.. It felt infinite, as if nothing could be achieved by the endless march. Ever since that warm night the moon was fully lit, an eerie presence loomed around me, as if the hunter became the prey.
Frantic eyes darted from side to side, a pivoting of the heel every so often to assure that I was alone, yet it never assured my worries. Weakness overcame my form, muscles ached and my eyes stung as if thrown through a wind tunnel. I could swear thousands of palms were weighing my shoulders down as nails ripped into my flesh, tearing away at every moment I stood upright.
No matter how often I peered, each cracking twig or crumbling leaf had no source, even if I could've swore I saw it stalking me. He was lanky, deathly, ragged, and distant. It felt as if hope itself evaporates from its soulless eyes as colorless as a blank page. Hope… What was hope? Conscious minds were all I knew, and devising a plan of escape or perhaps a diversion was all I wished to ponder, yet I couldn't skin the branded image of the beast that plagued my thoughts.
Then? Darkness. The black eclipsed my sight, and I awoke here upon this decayed piece of wood. My clothes were noticeably tattered, and upon even the slightest shift, pain rattled through my bones; I had blood-caked wraps along my knees and a frail splint fastened to my left wrist with a piece of my jacket. I had realized it now- I wasn't alone anymore.
Around me were three others, each of varying heights, gender, races, and appearance. Not a soul looked related in the slightest; one was a girl, roughly five and a half feet upward with raven black hair and eyes grey and murky. She, too, wore ragged clothing, a torn pair of faded jeans and a black blouse in pieces, revealing the grey brassiere below. Awaking to her sent a chill down my spine, an awkward shift to plant both feet on the floor and cradled crippled joint in my lap was my answer, eyeing her eerie presence. She never smiled, not a single glimpse of her even showing remote comfort.
Beside her was another woman, merely an inch shorter, but with a much more vibrant appearance. Lavenderish white hair, periwinkle eyes, a short purple skirt and jacket to cover her arms with a white button down and a violet tie to match. This one appeared to be a character from a piece of fiction, or rather a gem of the world he once lived in. A common trend between the pair was their lack of pigment. This one was much more acquainting in light of the horrendous situation, speaking in a rather hushed tone. "Welcome to hell," rung out her voice; even its friendliness drove madly through my cerebrum, echoing wickedly through the desolate land.
Upon turning to catch glimpse of the last of the party, his presence was already fading into the fog, through the hellish woods was his destination. On the little I saw, the boy appeared familiar: a blue school uniform with hair just barely darker than it, perhaps a royal shade. No name could match the back of the damned, leaving the chance of seeing him unlikely.
I tried to stand on my own, but my eyes halted on the girl with the blackened hair once more; the blankness in her eyes- it was as if she was already passed hadn't she been breathing. Something slipped from my mind, entering and departing in a mere second, though it was like I caught the door on the way out and yanked it back into my grasp and slammed the frame shut: Kyuko and Violet were their names.
Mustering up my lost courage, a breath of stale air flowed through my lungs to dry the frigid wasteland within, scraping along as it passed back out. "Pryce." In an instant, I felt frail again, much like the weaknesses were exposed to whatever lurked within; I could swear a cackle clicked through the woodlands, yet neither of them reacted, not an inch of movement nor a flinch or recoil.
Confusion struck, leaving my head to pivot as he was about to speak, only to fall short. A minute point caressed my lumbar, tapping on each vertebrae as it ran up my body, shivering each as it passed. Upon looking back to catch the source, I was left wide eyed and my hands trembling, each piece of my form quivering all at once: nothing was there.