I should have run the moment I saw it in the distance.
Every story I had ever heard, every warning whispered in the village, every instinct buried deep inside me screamed that I should turn and flee without looking back. My body even tried to obey for a moment, my muscles tightening as if they were preparing to move, yet my feet remained frozen against the forest floor as if the dark soil itself had decided to keep me there not letting me escape.
The shape between the trees slowly stepped forward, and with each movement the shadows seemed to bend around it like obedient servants. It was larger than any man, animal just anything I had ever seen, its figure towering and unnatural, with long twisted horns rising from its head like black branches reaching toward the sky.
My breath caught painfully in my chest.
The stories had called it a monster, yet none of those stories had ever truly described it before. They had never spoken about the strange grace in its movements or the terrifying intelligence that burned within its glowing golden eyes.
Those eyes were fixed on me.
For a long moment neither of us moved, and the silence between us became so heavy that it felt like the forest itself was holding its breath. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, loud and frantic, as if it believed the creature might somehow hear it.
Then the monster took another step closer.
The sound of its claws pressing into the earth broke whatever strange spell had held me in place, and suddenly fear rushed through my body like cold water. My mind finally caught up with reality, and one clear thought filled my head.
Run.
I turned and stumbled forward, branches scratching against my arms as I pushed through the thick undergrowth, my breath coming out in short desperate bursts. The forest seemed endless now, the trees closing in around me like a maze that refused to let me escape.
Behind me, something moved.
It wasn't loud the way I expected a monster to be. There were no crashing footsteps or wild roars echoing through the trees. Instead there was only the quiet sound of something large following me with calm, patient steps, like a hunter who already knew his prey could never truly escape.
That frightened me more than anything else.
My foot caught on a hidden root, and before I could stop myself I fell forward onto the cold ground, the impact knocking the air from my lungs. For a moment I could only lie there, staring at the dark leaves beneath my hands while trying to force my breath back into my chest.
Then the forest grew quiet again.
A shadow fell over me.
Slowly, with trembling hands, I pushed myself up and turned.
The monster stood only a few steps away.
Up close it looked even more terrifying, its dark body wrapped in shadows that shifted like living smoke, its claws long enough to tear through bone without effort. Yet the most frightening thing about it was still its eyes, glowing faintly gold as they studied me with unsettling focus.
I waited for it to attack.
Instead, the creature tilted its head slightly, as if it were trying to understand something it had never seen before.
And when it finally spoke, its voice was low and rough, like distant thunder rolling through the forest.
"What," it said slowly, "are you doing in my forest, Claris?"