Mauris swallowed.
"What… are you?"
The hooded figure tilted its head slowly.
Then it began to move.
Not walking.
Floating.
The long cloak drifted across the ground like dark water as it glided toward him.
It stopped directly in front of Mauris.
The red eyes burned through the shadow beneath the hood.
But it gave no answer.
For a long moment it simply stared at him.
Then a thin, rasping voice slipped out from beneath the cloak.
"I feel… no fear in you."
A pause.
Then a quiet, mocking chuckle.
"Courage."
The word stretched like something rotten.
"Such a fragile mask."
The creature drifted sideways until it floated parallel to Mauris's bound body.
Its sleeve shifted.
A long arm slowly emerged from the darkness of the cloak.
The sleeve was far too long, trailing like torn silk.
From within it, a hand slid out.
If it could be called a hand.
The skin was pale gray, stretched thin across bones that were far too long. The fingers bent at unnatural angles, each tipped with cracked black nails like splintered thorns.
The joints twitched slightly as the hand moved.
Like a spider testing the air.
Then the palm touched Mauris's face.
Mauris flinched violently.
The creature's fingers slowly curled against his cheek and jaw, pressing lightly as if feeling the shape of his skull beneath the skin.
Its touch was cold.
Dead.
The creature leaned closer.
From within the hood came a low whisper.
A chant.
Soft at first.
Then growing stronger.
"Umbra cordis…
Aperi timorem…
Revela abyssum…
Anima tua mihi."
The red eyes flared.
A deep crimson glow burst from within the creature's hood.
Mauris's eyes widened.
For a moment he was completely still.
Frozen.
Sweat began to form along his brow.
His breathing quickened.
Leah's voice shattered the silence.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
The creature didn't move.
Instead;
It laughed.
A high, broken, manic sound that echoed through the forest of roots.
Henry turned his head away violently.
"No....no....NO!"
He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed.
Mauris suddenly jerked his head violently from side to side.
"Get off me!"
His voice cracked.
"I'll kill you!"
Mauris suddenly jerked his head violently from side to side.
"Get off me!"
His voice cracked through the dead air.
"I'll kill you!"
The creature's fingers tightened slowly against his face.
Cold.
Unmoving.
But Mauris's eyes were no longer looking at the creature.
They stared somewhere else.
Far away.
Something unseen.
His pupils trembled wildly, darting from side to side as if watching figures moving around him that no one else could see.
His breathing became erratic.
Fast.
Panicked.
"No… stay back…!"
His voice trembled now.
The roots creaked as his body strained against them.
The creature remained perfectly still, its long sleeve hanging like a curtain of darkness while its fingers remained pressed against Mauris's skin.
"No… no… that's not real…"
The creature's voice whispered softly beneath the hood, barely audible.
"Show me…"
Mauris gasped.
His head snapped violently to the side as if something had rushed toward him.
"Don't come closer!"
His voice deepened suddenly.
Distorted.
Like two voices were trying to speak from the same throat.
"I'LL KILL..."
His body jerked violently.
His teeth clenched.
His eyes filled with something darker than fear.
Rage.
Desperate.
Blind.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
But the words sounded wrong.
Slower.
Heavier.
As if something inside him was being dragged out with each syllable.
His gaze shifted wildly again, tracking something only he could see.
"Stay away from them…!"
His voice cracked into a growl.
His entire body trembled as though fighting against invisible hands clawing inside his mind.
Then suddenly;
His eyes froze.
Wide.
Horrified.
Something unbearable.
His mouth opened slowly.
A strangled sound escaped him.
"No…"
His voice dropped into a hollow whisper.
"No… please…"
And the creature's fingers remained pressed against his face.
Mauris's voice deepened suddenly.
The words began to break apart.
Something inside his throat seemed to choke them.
Then it began.
A faint glow.
Soft.
Blue-white.
It seeped through Mauris's skin beneath the creature's palm.
The light pulsed weakly at first.
Then the glow began to travel.
Flowing upward.
Through the creature's thin fingers.
Into the darkness beneath the cloak.
Mauris screamed.
The glow brightened.
" Leave theem aloneeeee !"
His voice grew weaker.
Each word slower than the last.
The light continued to drain from him.
The creature trembled slightly as it absorbed the energy.
The glow inside its hood intensified.
Brighter.
Stronger.
Mauris's voice began to fade.
His screams weakened into broken gasps.
Then whispers.
The light flowing into the creature grew stronger with every second.
Until suddenly;
Mauris's voice stopped.
Silence.
His head fell forward.
The glow vanished.
Leah stared in horror.
"Mauris…?"
His chest barely moved.
Then even that slowed.
Slower.
Slower.
His heartbeat faded into nothing.
His body went completely still.
The roots holding him loosened slightly.
As if releasing something already gone.
The creature slowly withdrew its hand.
It straightened.
Its spine cracked loudly beneath the cloak as its body stretched taller.
For a moment it flickered.
Blinking in place like a broken shadow.
Then the red eyes burned brighter.
It looked down at Mauris's lifeless form.
And chuckled softly.
"Ah…"
Its voice curled with dark amusement.
"So you hide more fear within yourself."
The creature turned its glowing gaze toward Leah.
The creature threw its head back.
And laughed.
At first it was a low sound.
A dry, cracking chuckle that scraped through the air like bones grinding together.
"Heh… heh… heh…"
Then it grew.
Louder.
Sharper.
The laugh stretched unnaturally, echoing between the towering roots and the hanging corpses.
"Hehehehe…!"
Its shoulders shook beneath the long cloak.
The sound twisted higher, turning into something broken and manic.
"HAHA… HAH… HAHAHAHA…!"
The red eyes burned brighter inside the hood as the laughter erupted from it.
"HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The sound wasn't just loud.
It was wrong.
The laughter echoed in layers, like several voices laughing at once inside the same throat.
High.
Low.
Whispering.
Screaming.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The storm above seemed to react.
Lightning tore violently across the sky.
Thunder crashed down through the black clouds.
But still the laughter continued.
Rising.
Spreading through the endless forest of roots.
"HA… HA… HAHAHAHAHA…!"
The sound bounced from tree to tree.
From corpse to corpse.
From the tangled roots beneath the ground.
Until it felt like the entire nightmare realm was laughing with it.