Creak....
The ground moaned as Saphira staggered back first.
Her hand slipped from the etches of her coat, fingers trembling as a breath tore out her chest.
THUMP!
'...Why?' '...Why?'
A desperate echo flowed through her mind, those crimson eyes shaking.
Her hands clutched the sides of her head, as if trying to block out any noise.
THUMP!
But it was deathly quiet...
THUMP!
Riven didn't move. He couldn't.
His body was stone, locked against a terror that rooted deeper than bone.
A silence pressed.
THUMP!
The world had reduced to heartbeats.
There wasn't a moan.
There wasn't a shuffle.
THUMP!
Even the corpses, lifeless as they were, seemed to wait.
...But why?
Every instinct screamed for Riven to run.
To escape just as he had before...and once more.
THUMP!
He wanted to.
He had to.
THUMP! THUMP!
He thought back to his own words.
The words he had expressed in frustration...
'To be hunted so long, you start to believe running is all you were born for.'
THUMP!
And in that moment, it felt true.
It felt more real than anything he'd experienced...
This hellish dream.
THUMP!
He just stood there.....legs trembling, muscles spasming.
His jaw may have clenched, but nothing else answered.
THUMP!
Pitiful.
A truly pitiful picture....
Almost laughably so...
The laughter of wind was the only missing instance.
THUMP!
He just stood there....frozen while death itself waited; knocking at the walls of his sanity.
...The same walls that were shattering progressively.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
That's why, when Saphira rushed over, tugging his sleeve with frantic strength, it felt unreal...
"Hkk--"
It was like a jolt out a nightmare, that he hadn't realised he was living.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
Her fingers clawed at his clothing, trembling, knuckles white.
She wasn't pulling with less strength, but more terror; the kind that made her body lean away.
Her mind raced, the worst situation flashing through her eyes.
Her breath ran shallow...
TAP! TAP!
Her steps dragged him into motion; the sounds bouncing off the church's decrepit frame. They bled into the Veil, shattering its previous stillness.
He heard it.
The sounds of fear, running through prey as their hearts pounded...
"...ha---"
The sounds of their shallow breath...
TAP TA--
The sounds of unsteady steps, as they ran aimlessly...
It was the crescendo of a song he loved.
A hum floated, lower than breath.
"Hruumm..."
"You can't run forever."
TAP! TAP! TAP!
Their feet struck the thin floorboards, slipping on pools of ice.
"haa....." "...hkk---"
They weren't running with a plan.
They ran simply, without direction.
No thought.
There existed only, the animal urge to flee.
A feeling they'd experienced plentiful...
TAP! TAP! TAP!
It begged the question, if they were even human anymore...
Or cattle, waiting for slaughter.
CREAK!
The rows of seats rested behind, as they darted through...
THUMP! THUMP!
The back of the church loomed, the rafters holding banners passed in a flash...
TAP! TAP!
"Haa!"
CREAK!
They lept over the elevated platform, the speaking platform shaking under the weight.
Behind them, the world too was alive with noise.
Not screams...
Not prayers...
Not the frantic escape of prey...
The sounds of death.
Krrrsshhhh!
The sounds clawed at their ears as their heads thumped with pain.
Wet tearing.
Bones grinding.
The churn of flesh turned inside out.
THUD!
Filth.
Every sound dragged bile to their throats...
An array of noise, one that pushed them an extra step further...
"Haa...." "....ha...."
The back wall loomed; unyielding stone.
There was no back door.
"Haa...."
Trapped.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Riven's heart pumped louder, as he felt Saphira's through the grip they held.
"...urhhh"
The last groans of the corpses gurgled and moaned, wet and fading.
They were swallowed whole, as the sounds of bodies dropping, invaded the floors of snow resounded behind them.
Crunch.
The dead had returned to their graves...
They would join them, if they didn't act.
THUMP!
'Think! Come on....'
The sounds of his own heartbeat, as well as the chaos all around plagued Riven.
He couldn't think.
His mind throbbed, just like his heart, the sounds of blood coursing through his veins powering...
Was there anything.
Any way out? Frantic looks ran.
THUMP!
THUMP!
"...There!"
Riven's breath hitched as spotted it, pointing shakily.
A crack in the stone above.....high above.
Narrow.
Fragile.
...Hope.
There wasn't enough time.
Riven bent low, interlacing his hands.
"...Hurry!"
A frantic call.
Saphira's foot slammed down, no hesitation in sight.
Woooh!
The light course of wind struck her face as her body hoisted up with desperate strength.
"haa....urhh"
She clawed for the crack, pulling herself higher, scrambling with everything she had.
Chk! Chk!
Stone scraped her skin as she climbed, breath ragged, she dragged herself through....disappearing from sight.
She was gone.
No time.
WOOOH!
He placed his palms against the stone, muscles straining as he leapt, kicking of its surface.
THAK! THAK!
His boots clattered against the stone face, as he climbed with bated breath.
'...Come on!'
His muscles shook, pain ridding him all over as he ground his teeth, trying to summon anything left.
CREAKKKK!!
The door of the church screamed open.
Riven froze mid-climb, fingers pressed into stone.
He didn't want to turn around...
THUMP! THUMP!
The image wouldn't leave him if he did.
"Feeble."
The voice crawled across his spine.
"...Go. Flee. I'll carve your fear deeper when I take her back."
For a second, Riven's body locked.
He couldn't move.
His heart thundered, as his body threatened to fall back...
THAK!
Suddenly, he hurled himself upward, stone biting into his palms, shoulders scraped as he forced through the crack.
"Ahh...."
His ribs struck the edge, sending a shock wave of pain through his chest.
He shoved nonetheless.
CRUNCH! PAHH!
He met white.
Snow crunching against his fall, his lungs burned as he sat against it.
"Haa--haa---"
His pupils dilated...
The touch of death, still raw against his skin.
WOOOOOOOOH!
No time.
Saphira's hand yanked at his sleeve as she pulled him up.
She had waited desperately for him...and when he came she immediately took haste.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
An endless run.
They staggered through piles of white; the scene in front of them empty, just like they'd always seen before.
The church groaned behind them, stone grating like a corpse refusing to collapse.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
"....haa!!" "hkk---"
Their bodies refused to shut down as they stumbled across patches, limbs going numb and washed over with fatigue.
There was no stopping.
Saphira's fingers digged into her palm, pain shooting instantly....
A reminder this was real.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Mael's Fang hummed at Riven's hip...
It hummed a cry.
Was it a desperate call for strength?
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
"....haa!!" "hkk---"
The village was gone.
There was no more houses.
No path.
It stretched forever, blank and merciless.
Nothing but white.
...That was until the horizon seemed to blur and bleed.
CRUNCH! CRUNC--
The white broke....
A smear of dark.
Black pillars rose in the distance, jagged like like the pale sky.
It wasn't the shadows of roofs.
It was undying nature...
Trees.
Riven's breath hitched, before he pointed out his frost-bitten finger:
"...There! To the trees."
WOOOOOOOOH!
As they darted through snow...
Each step closer, felt less like escape, and more like burial.