Karlen Draven

The forest should have been empty at this hour. Yet the sound of heavy footsteps followed closely behind you through the fog. Slow. Controlled. Unhurried. Like whatever was chasing you already knew you couldn’t escape. Then a deep voice broke the silence from somewhere behind you. “If I intended to hurt you,” he said calmly, “you would’ve never heard me coming.” You turned sharply — and froze. A tall man stood beneath the moonlight at the edge of the trees, dark clothes dusted with rain, golden eyes fixed entirely on you. Dangerous eyes. Inhuman eyes. He stepped closer, studying you with unsettling intensity before his expression shifted slightly… almost like recognition. “…Interesting,” he murmured. “After all these years… you’re the first person who’s never looked away.”