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Palpable in my own heart

Run

I tripped and landed hard on the ground

The Malevolent surrounded ainstdeep into my bones They crowded me, surrounded me, created a solid barrier around me

The earth was cold, and my warm breaths bounced off the cobblestones beneathinto the sky like sot tobecause I eak and confused, the darkness and the shadows blending together into one

It’s not real

It will pass

Just stay calm

You got this

I kept going, seeing the Malevolent right besideme in a herd like cattle

Forneus’s voice cauide us”

I started to run harder,to the tree line and into the darkness,on the rocks and branches beneath me The pain was distant, but I kneas injured There was no cobblestone pathway anymore Now there were just stars between the branches of the trees, the low It turned quiet, and it felt like I was alone, alone in the o

But I kept going

Branches scratched h the trees An owl screeched, and I tripped and fell to the ground once more The monsters in the dark pressed around me, and they orse than the Malevolent Yellow eyes stared atto see the intruder in their forest “Help me…” I pushedmyself that none of this was real, that I could conquer my mind

I rose tothe woodland ani me, the Malevolent, and then I saw Forneus in his true form

His demon form

Like the statues spread throughout the caed teeth, horns on his head, several ar tail that had thorns as sharp as a knife at the end His grin was there, grinning atat my demise

But I closed my eyes and blocked it out

“It’s not real” If I told h tirunts, of the screams, of the heavy footfalls that surroundedin my system, blocked out the sound

And then it was silent

All I could hear was

All I could hear was the wind through the trees