Reincarnated. Long Live the Conqueror!

Night crept over the still forest.

Shadows like silk draped themselves casually on every available crack and crevice. Intrusively the shadows held every inch of the thick forest hostage until even the tops of the leaves on trees were the color of bottomless, colorless ink blotches.

The dark's clutches invaded every scratch and fissure in the cool, pale rock of the nearby looming mountains. With everything it touched, the woods turned more and more sinister.

Insects called to each other under the cover of evening, shrieking low warning hums of the coming rain that approached from just beyond the ridges of the mountains. The night was hot and muggy, the air itself felt potent with the slow approach of the brooding storm just over the sharply pointed peeks. Thunder growled deeply in the distance. Rumbling life into the Earth as the ground faintly vibrated with each far-off boom.

The storm seemed far off but the rivets of water slipping down the steep mountains and jagged peaks in rivers told differently. As the silent night, but for the sound of nature, was replaced by the sounds of a brewing baritone orchestra in the guise of a fast approaching storm. Not far off from all of this, shallow pants, gasping for breath with every pull of fresh air could be heard.

The moist air that stuck so readily to her skin made no attempt to linger long in her lungs. As she inhaled once more she felt no relief. Nor was she given reprieve from the kindling fire set ablaze inside her own throat and chest. As she briefly exhaled and gasped once more it almost felt like she was drowning. But from whether that was due to the tautness of her chest as she breathed- or the moisture in the dense hot air, she could not tell. She stumbled on alone in the wood.

Indeed, she realized, the moisture pervaded so intensely above the treetops and below the canopy that even the parched bark of all the trees had begun to sweat in this dense and blackened forest.

This evil forest with more brambles than bushes, vines as thick as rope and trees as thin as finger bones but as tall as office buildings. Limping, she fell. Her left arm wrapped around her front as she held her right side applying pressure to the gusher steaming from the side of her ribs. Blood trickled out through the cracks of her fingers. It was warm and the scent of fauna in the moist forest made it smell intoxicating in it's sweetness, coyly so, as drip... drip... drop by scarlet drop it fell to the damp earth and splashed the onto the mossy ground like rain.

Her breathing was deep and heavy but it was strangely quite as if, between each inhalation she held her breath to calm her frantic lungs. Her steady heart beat was strong and calm for what it should actually have been had she been any other person in this moment. The only sign it gave that she was rapidly losing blood or perhaps even fear was a painful throb at then end of every other heartbeat. It stung her chest like she had never felt before and she had to resist clutching her chest instead of her ribs.

Shallow cuts and scrapes edged her face. There were shards of glass sticking chaotically out of her forearms and her bare feet bleed from the scattered shards she had run through at some point she couldn't recall. Here and there along her legs and shoulders and even by the sides of her face, thin lines of deep angry red that had welted and risen as they too bled profusely but shallow. Bullet grazes from a gun. She tried not to think of its wicked evil glint even in the dim light of this wretched night as she sprinted further into the wood her legs faltering for as much as she pushed herself and felt the acute pain building with each step.

Wherever she passed insects would quite themselves while the rustle of nocturnal creatures scampered away into their dens or burrows.

Suddenly a BANG! In the night broke the forced tranquility back into cacophony as more creature fled from her surroundings. Birds alighted their branches and bats zipped away pointing towards the distant horizon.

She felt her shoulder wrench agonizingly before, with a pop, it dislocated in a wink before her nerves caught up and began screaming. She stumbled forward from the impact of the gunshot wound the feeling of bones grinding together as the shattered remains ground upon each other as they scattered to different areas of her gaping shoulder. Tendons grasped at her arm but swung limply from shoulder as they pulled taunt from the weight the useless limb.

More blood cascaded down her front and back soaking through her once pristine clothing. As the ground came up to meet her she felt scattered sharp rocks cut into her skin and bury themselves in her flesh as she landed roughly in the moss and mud. Her only good arm had come up to catch her and she lay hunched over pitifully while she stilled for a second to catch her breath. Breathing deeply one, two, and with the third deep breath pushed herself up again.

As her knees scrape against the wet dirt she heard movement behind her fast approaching her location.

"LYRA!!!!! YOU CAN RUN!!!! BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE!!! WHEREVER YOU RUN TO I'LL SEEK YOU AND FIND YOU!! YOU'RE MINE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

A voice that screamed of madness taunted her manically. Laughing like they had already won over her. Lyra grit her teeth. Her fist clenching with ire before she continued her mad dash to evade her pursuers.

Unfortunately for her though, as fate would have it, she faltered in her steps before stumbling to a halt as she laid her eyes on a dead end before her eyes. And with that, her last hope.