Hymn of the Demon

*DUM*!!!!

And we witnessed it—a large footprint five times the size of ours, imprinted on the ground, its five fingers showing ominous finality. The thing that terrified us more than that was that there's no one to inspect. The presence of that creature can't be seen. Complete invisibility. A chill gripped us tighter as we had nothing to look at except footsteps in front of us.

That thing has paused; a few seconds have passed. I and Marie didn't move an inch, as we were both terrified, with every nerve on high alert to see what would be its next move. We can hear heavy groans coming from those footsteps. Something is standing there, and if the ground weren't wet, which made it dig three centimetres into the ground with every step it took, we would've never learned its exact position either.

As that thing kept standing there and wasn't coming after us, Marie was getting restless.

"I think we should ru-" said Marie.

*DUM* *DUM* *DUM*

As soon as Marie let go of those words, that thing started charging towards her.

"Oii Oii, Elea! Why is it coming here?" Marie said, walking backward.

I must do something. Those groans—it isn't giving any friendly animal vibes, and why is it coming after her and not me? It heard her speaking; that's why. But if I ask her to not make any sound, then it'll come after me. What should I do? What should I do?

"Elea! Elea! Do something." said Marie, scared.

The shadow of that thing grew on Marie.

"ELEA!!! Aaa!!!" Marie said, covering herself.

*SMASH*

The loud thud of its impact vibrated through the air, splashing water and mud debris that flew in the air.

*Huff* *Huff*

Marie opens her eyes and finds herself lying ten metres away from me. She held her stomach in pain and realised that the smash from that thing would've instantly killed her, but all she could feel was a little bit of pain at the side of her stomach. She turns her face towards me.

.....Grrrrr*

A guttural growl echoed menacingly from beside me. I was kneeling with my back on the trees. I dared not move, my hands pressed firmly against my mouth, desperate not to make the faintest sound of breathing. Sweat pooled on my skin. My heart rate decreased completely, and my breathing got restricted in response to extreme fear. My outer presence has surrendered to the consuming dread next to me.

Marie must've realised by now that I made the distance between her and this creature by kicking her away at the last second. It missed attacking her by a fraction of a second, as I couldn't tell when it lifted its arms to attack as there's no physical presence to look at. It was pure luck.

It's standing beside me, waiting to hear the next source of sound that could tell it our position.

Shaking, I glanced at Marie and nodded to not make any sound.

She was in pain and was heavy breathing before my gesture. Marie slowly tries to go a step back but accidentally moves a branch, making a slight noise.

*DUM*

In an instant, it turned towards her, but it seems like it didn't grab her exact position as the sound was next to minute. Marie also stopped her moments and covered her mouth to not make any sound.

—In the face of the current situation, the two girls, Eleanor and Marie, were going through different states of fear, respectively.

Paralysing Anxiety: Unlike anxiety, which is an automatic response that prepares the body to react to a threat, paralysing anxiety is a severe form of the body's automatic response, also known as the "freeze." The danger feels so sudden and extreme that it goes beyond our capacity to tolerate stress, so it's like our nervous system goes offline or shuts off. One is able to survive but not fully function. It's equivalent to playing dead* in the animal world; being immobilised helps avoid detection, unlike flight and fight responses, which can prove fatal in the present scenario.

Going numb, physical stiffness, decreased heart rate, holding of the breath, a sense of dread.

This helped Eleanor remain still and control her breathing for a longer period of time. As she was already physically much stronger than anyone in her kingdom at that age and trained for such a situation, she can hold her breath for three minutes, and with a do-or-die survival scenario, it can extend to five minutes. But.....

This wasn't true for Marie, who was having panic attacks. On the face of fear, she reacted first, which almost got her killed by that invisible creature. Scared enough, now her mind-body system was in flight response.

Trembling, racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating, and nausea.

This was making it hard for Marie to hold her breath for longer. Given her condition, she shouldn't be able to hold it for even 45 seconds, but still, she went past....100 seconds. 

The serene voyage we had all this time in Murk came to an end. The rain poured hard in this vision-hazing mist. Marie and I finally got to witness wildlife in front of us. Though that's not the only life we're facing now, with the circumstances and the place in front of us, there's tonnes of questions with only one emotion, knocking on our souls.

—FEAR.

An invisible creature who cannot see us, smell us, or sense us, but...it can HEAR us, laying its enormous-sized palms on the ground.

Heavy growling, It is standing beside me, looking towards Marie without moving an inch from the place.

How many minutes have it been since we last breathed?

I turn towards Marie. I felt a shock looking at her. Her eyes have turned red due to a lack of oxygen. It's rolling above; she is on her limits, can't handle it anymore, and is about to release her palms.

Marie... No.. I tried my best to gesture at her, but she isn't even looking at me anymore. I must figure out something.

Desperately, I move my eyes around to throw something and make a noise somewhere, but I couldn't find anything—not even a fucking stone around—and with rain, it's getting even harder.

Just then, I looked towards my bag and recalled that I have a water bottle and other things I can use to throw. But this thing is too close to me; chances are that it will catch on to me if I open the zipper.

...If that's the price for saving Marie, then so be it. I took my chances and slowly removed my bag, where each second felt like eternity.

As soon as I hold the chain of the bag—

"Haaaaahhhhh...Uhhh Huhhh!!" 

In that moment, my hands stopped themselves as I realised that Marie did something she shouldn't have. She released her breath.

Marie calmly turned her face towards me, and as our eyes met, she opened her gentle lips and said,

"Sorry..."

*SMASH*!!!

That thing's massive fist collided with Marie's frail form, and her body flew away like a canon through the air in a dizzying spiral. With each rotation, the force of impact snapped trees like brittle twigs in their path, spilling blood out of her mouth and damaging organs. And with a loud thud, Marie crashed into the pond 100 metres away.

I could see her body behind the trees in the water as she laid down on her back without moving or making any sound, completely unconscious. Her fingers and mouth are dripping blood.

*Mufflemfd* *Huffllf* Marie...!! No!!! Crouching in pain with an unbearable amount of suffering and tears. Only if I were to be fast in opening the bag could I've saved her from that.

*DUM*

I shook and instantly looked at the footsteps. As I had made sure that I was not making any noise, where was it going?

The steps he was tracing are where Marie is. He's still not satisfied. My mind clicked that it must be probably following the thud noise that happened when Marie collided in the pond.

I must do something before this thing reaches her body. Again, I am going to lose someone precious. My anger was building up; wiping my tears, I desperately removed my witchcraft. Huff* Huff*

I clutched my witchcraft hard in my hand, ready to throw it in the air, but then, should I really attack or not? My instincts started swinging this question like a pendulum in my head as I watched that thing creepily walk towards Marie.

—A person who has lost themselves in desperate emotions can never make the right decision.

I remember Sir Rain once saying this in the class when everyone else was talking in the middle and being mischievous.

*DUM* *DUM*

That creature has approached the pond; its ominous presence is over Marie's lying body. Its presence is giving off the vibe as if it's about to strike her again, but then a sudden CLANK* noise echoed from the depths of the forest on its left side. Drawing its attention like a magnet. The creature abruptly shifted its path and walked away from Marie, listening to the noise that echoed from the distant woods.

I stand straight, holding my bag open in one hand and witchcraft in the other. Soaking myself wet, I looked at Marie's body from a distance, waiting for the creature to leave.

I decided not to use my witchcraft because if I were to swing, he would've catched on noise, and before I could attack, it would've destroyed me. And there's no guarantee that even if I were to land a strike, it would do any damage to a creature I can't even fathom. I haven't even infused with it. It's just an ordinary blade. So I opened my bag and did what I should've done from the very beginning. I threw the steel water bottle,luring him somewhere else.

*Sobs*

Marie, I am sorry for being so slow. Forgive me. With the rain, my tears were streaming straight down my cheeks.