The ground quaked. Tremors dug through the dirt. He could hear rumbles coming out the field. The entire forest shook with rage as the packed soil below him snapped apart in rigid cracks. All around him trees swayed back and forth violently, their lower stems were uprooted in an instant. He paused for a second, wearily turning around and around, searching for what would make such cacophony. The cracks grew in size, from narrow ridges to deep crevasses, everything around him shifted and moved from the quake's influence.
No...what is this?
He couldn't think. Fear had overwhelmed him to the point where all things around him was turned into something to fear. From insects on moldy wood to the subtle drifting of the clouds, all things had something to be fearful of. He kept running, avoiding his interests and ran with his eyes nearly shut. He didn't need to see them. If he just ran, everything would be over. From the slightest catch of his ear, a muffled moan echoed from the ground.
-urrruuughhh…-
The moans from underneath got louder, the tremors quaked the ground more and more. Something was below the soil and crawling up to the surface. Whole trees faltered and toppled to the rot under them. The man couldn't breathe, he couldn't take one look behind.
-urrruuaaaghh..-
The thing kept digging up, the scraping of its claws grew clearer and louder. Soil mounded up in piles like anthills. A disfigured arm raised from the loose clusters of dirt and seized the terrain. The man suddenly stopped, every aspect of his fear conjured up and was taken by the presence. He quivered in dread of what this monstrosity was. Instinct had possessed him as he mindlessly turned around.
No. It couldn't be. All the haunts told by others to scare children, is this really what they told? No. They were mere senseless drones, walking the night with no awareness. But now, he staring directly at the face of in. Completely real. In the flesh. Even the children were not scared of their stories.
But if they saw one now, they would be absolutely mortified.
Another arm raised from the chasm it made. The two moved and repositioned. The limbs were extremely injured, parts of decaying skin were torn down, opening wounds of rotting muscle and tendon. The skin was pale, covered with grey dirt and decay. The arms lifted up the creature's body. A severely injured man crawled up from the ground.
-auuuurrrghh-
His brown coat was tattered with rips and blood, the man could barely see what he looked like from the dim moonlight. The injured person stood still and didn't move an inch, his head bent down. Even from a distance, he could smell the putrid odor the injured man emitted.
There wasn't a sound in the area, still the injured person stood dead still. The man couldn't move at all, it felt like a force was pulling him back every time he tried to run away. The injured man twitched, the sound of his breathing grew louder. Suddenly, the person immediately staggered up, blood spewed out his unhinged jaw.
-URAAAGHHHH-
The man bolted out of his way, blood rushing through him faster than ever. The injured man stormed after him, screaming. His eyes had no pupils, every part throughout his body was torn up and bleeding, and the way it stumbled behind him looked like every bone was broken. Another person bursted out of the ground, this one with some sort of blue ooze over it's flesh-cleaned skull.
The two lurched behind him, with no hesitation at all. More and more hordes of undead clawed out of the soil, all of them chasing onto the man. An arm dug out the dirt under him and seized his ankle, slamming him straight onto the ground. He tried to pull the hand off, but it was locked onto him like a chain. The hordes were catching up. In his final efforts, the man grabbed the hand and pried it open with all force, snapping off its fingers. The hand wailed in agony as the man quickly stumbled up and bolted away.
The man could see the stopping point in the forest now. The hand made a gaping wound on his ankle, blood gashed out like crazy. The hordes of corpses collided and bumped into each other, barely any of them could catch up to the man. He could see the forest exit from now on, a plain field awaited him once he can come out. The man stormed away in the different direction he headed, the corpses puzzled of where he ran. He crashed out of the forest and collapsed onto a broken log, exhausted from what he just encountered. The man finally caught breath, blood and gore dripping on his body. The corpses lost track of where he went.
The man took a glance around the field, and an indistinguishable figure stumbled into view, coated with armor.
Years ago, it fell. Its blood dripped down the void. The last remnants of Chthulu have manifested into crystalline formations. This raw source of energy is permeating the great void and changing its lifeforms with it. The ophidians have stayed quite docile these times, no one has disturbed their reign for decades. But once the energy reeks through the entire sea. It will desolate our world as we know it.