It had be some time since i walked through the forest where i would come to find some semblance of balance or at the very least a moment of quiet to myself. the sun had begun to set behind the treeline a bruised sky of deep purple marks with streaks of grey ; a ghost of the moon hanging like an ornament from a celetrial live
I had started my way home when suddenly, a chill passed through me. the canopy above swayed as the trees whispered to one another on the wind
It stopped me dead, and i turned my glance back to notice the path i had walked was somehow changed as if i had forgotten my last steps entirely. the woods that for so long in so many years had been a refuge of my solace at once became foreign to me, and i felt the overwhelming dread of being truly lost
I stood frozen, hopelessly trying to recollect my direction, when a fox bounded onto the path before me. it sat there, still, calm, staring. to this day i know not why i followed but as the fox steps slowly from the path i felt so deeply compelled to believe that it would lead me home
As it led me through the underbrush the fox began to move out of my sight. i quickened my pace, twigs and branches and vines made war with my skin tearing at me like a thousand tiny knives
The fox nearly out of my sight left over a great fallen oak, but as i tried to keep up my pursuit i lost my footing and fell hard upon the forest floor
I looked up to see the fox across the river before it disappeared into the dark ; the moon had risen. i looked to the sky only to see clouds forming a dark blanket above. within moments a violent raining fell upon me. i was alone
I ran for shelter in the hollow trunk of the nearby tree and tried desperatly to ignore that i was sharing cover with a legion of spiders
As hundreds of their legs began to embrace me suddenly i could feel the eath begin to break beneath my aching feet
I was all at once filled with a feeling of despair before the earth opened its jaws to consume me
I thought of the fox, the one that had led me here... and i fell