Pre-arrival

Underneath an endless field of beautiful stars, a bright yellow moon shone, drenching the whole world in a diffused pale moonlight and giving the glad tidings of the night.

Such was its embrace that usually by the end of the day, it would tuck away all sirens and stories, pulling everything into a deep and peaceful slumber, but something felt unusual tonight—something felt out of place and wrong.

Isra lay awake, staring at the dangling vines that glowed with dim purple light. Tiny luminescent butterflies flapped around them, playing with each other and finding the moon-nector. #212 had gone into details about the butterflies before they slept, and apparently, these little critters played a huge part in the nocturnal vitality of the grove.

She sighed and sat up. It had been some time since a feeling of dread had settled into her heart, making her feel miserable and restless. She had tried finding the source by looking around, but to no avail.

Not knowing what to do, she nudged Khadija, who was sleeping beside her like a baby, and woke her up. Khadija immediately felt it too, and without saying anything, they understood that they had to get away from the place.

By now, the ominous feeling was thumping against their hearts, making them shiver and pale. Something was approaching at an unimaginable pace, but what was it?

The girls started moving around the grove, tiptoeing between the trees as if not to alert any underlying danger. Isra was leading, purely following her instincts at this point, and Khadija followed.

After looking around for some minutes, they reached an especially tall tree, and on top of the first branch, Qatan was sitting with his gaze locked towards something far away. He was mumbling to himself.

Isra called him.

"Climb up," he said, without looking down at them.

And they both did.

"Do you feel it too?" Qatan asked Isra, still fixated on something far away.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked.

Qatan turned around and looked at both of them, who were innocently waiting for an explanation. Then he said,

"Ok, look! In a minute, an executioner will land in the grove, probably looking for me. He's going to want to kill me, dismember my corpse, and probably suck my energy out, but don't worry. He is going to be greeted by someone else first."

"Wow.." Isra said. "Executioner?" Khadija asked.

"Yep, highly powerful creatures, single-minded, carnage lovers; they are extremely twisted; I once saw one playing darts with bones..." he replied.

"Greeted by whom, #212?" asked Khadija. "No, the poor executioner has no idea what he's about to encounter," replied Qatan as he took a pause and then continued.

"But don't worry. If things turn out well, which I'm sure they will, we won't even have to move a muscle; we'll just have to sit by and watch."

"But.." Khadija said.

"Not now, Khadija; I'll explain everything; for now, both of you will stay as quiet as a cloud."

Suddenly, the sense of wrongness increased manifold, turning the girls even paler. It was so dense that they could feel it on their tongue. Every bone in their bodies told them to disappear from here, turn away, and run, but rebelling at the inner turmoil, they stayed put. It seemed like the executioner had arrived.