Desperate and despairing thoughts began to plague my mind, while I failed to think of a solution to my perilous situation. I had always thought that I’d have time to improve my life and make things better for my future. Never did I think that I might end up dying young. That it would be too late. But now, trapped in this place, it was as if the reaper’s skeletal hand was holding a nearly emptied hourglass before me. Each grain of sand falling to never return while I helplessly watched.

I thought of Pema and my mother, and how much they’d miss me. More tears streamed down my cheeks as my thoughts drifted to Speedy, my beloved pet turtle, and the fact that I might never see him happily munch on his favorite crispy green lettuce again.

Right then and there, I vowed to myself that if I did make it out of this dreadful place alive, then I would change my life around. No longer would I settle for working as a mere cashier at the Cedarville Country Store. I would go out and get a better job, one that I actually found meaning in. Something that would help improve the lives of others, as well as my own.

I’d also break off my toxic relationship with Justin the jerk, image be damned. Then, I’d go out and meet someone who would actually love and cherish me. Someone who would honestly enjoy my company, who would fulfill the void in my heart. Someone I’d actually want to marry.

I’ll rip out the weeds in my life and plant a garden in their place!

My attention was abruptly ripped away from my inspirational thoughts, and to the horrifying fact that a thick black root had sneakily twisted around my wrist, ensnaring me in its slimy steel-like grasp. Oh shit! Nonononono! I panickily tried to pull my arm away, but the root only tightened its powerful grip. “Come on, come on, come on!” As my fingers began to claw at it, another root swiftly slithered around my other wrist, rendering me completely helpless as it held me hostage against the grimy wall of rocky soil. “No.” I whimpered in panic.

While ineffectively fighting to break loose, the sound of a slight thump came from right in front of me. Dread filled my stomach, as I warily pried my gaze away from the bastard roots and slowly looked over to see what it was.

The monstrous elf man had suddenly dropped down, landing in a crouching position with one clawed hand on the ground and his long tattered coat sprawled out behind him. The sight made me jump in fright with a soft gasp. His otherworldly eyes looked like two hypnotizing garnets floating within pools of midnight, as he pierced my very soul with his intense inhuman stare.

FuckFuckFuckFuckFuck!

With a slight frown, he curiously tilted his head from side to side, while the unsettling bones on his forehead inquisitively twitched. I nervously stared back at him with teary eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t notice how I was trapped and completely vulnerable. Maybe he was like a tyrannosaurus rex, and would lose interest in me if I didn’t move? Although, it was too late to test out that theory, considering I was shaking like a leaf and whimpering in fear.

He continued to study me for a quick moment as if I were the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen in his life. His ruby gaze lingered on my eyes, hair, and flower crown, then moved to the roots tightening around my wrists. A look of worry and concern fell across his face, and I swear his long snarled black hair became almost like a wispy mist for a quick second. It was very bizarre.

“Shhh.” He gently shushed while taking a crouched step forward, startling me to the point where he might as well have suddenly yelled it in my face. “Okay, okay.” His heavily accented voice was deep but very soft and compassionate sounding, as he carefully reached a clawed hand out towards my wrist. “Good, yes.” He kindly smiled.

I fucking screamed like a lunatic. “Get the hell away from me!” Using the roots to hold my weight up, I furiously kicked at him in uneven circles, as though I were making a pathetic attempt to ride a paddleboat. I didn’t know what this freaky sharp-toothed man-creature’s interest in me was, and I didn’t want to find out either. Who knows what he could do to me!?

He began to frantically shush while panickily waving his hands in a ‘stop’ sort of way. “No, no, Shhh!” He took another step closer, allowing my bloodied feet to make impact with his hard muscly body. To my dismay, my kicking seemed to have absolutely no effect on him at all. “Shhh, okay.”

His hand firmly clamped down over my mouth, pinning my head against the embankment wall. I stilled in fear and startlement, as he moved his face uncomfortably close to mine while holding a finger over his mouth. He sternly shushed, then moved the hand that wasn’t muffling my screams up to the roots strangling my wrists. He maintained eye contact while snapping their iron-like grip as if they were no more than mere flimsy twigs.

“Good.” He gently said, then took his hand off of my mouth.

“Hee-yah!” I screeched, while immediately trying to fight him off like a hysterical madwoman.

He tried to grab ahold of me, but seemed oddly hesitant, while I writhed and wiggled like a little worm trying to escape from the beak of a big hungry bird. I ungracefully flopped to the ground, then began kicking up at his face. I was terrified, but dammit, I was going to fight for my life!

“Get back! Get back I say!” I manically screamed.

A look of annoyance flashed across his face, and he muttered something to himself in an unearthly language. It was then that it dawned on me that he probably only knew very limited English. And although I was consumed by my fear of him, I did realize just how weird it was that he even knew any English at all.

How could a creature from another world possibly know a language from earth?

The sound of another harrowing howl pierced the air like a knife through silk, pulling me out of my hysterics and confusion. He looked at me with a determined expression. “Come.” He sternly said, while leaning over my trembling frame.

“No!” I tried to kick at his face again, but he snatched my foot right out of the air, causing me to wince in pain from the cut.

His eyes narrowed at my injury, then quicker than I could blink, he swiftly swooped up my thrashing body. I kicked and screamed as he effortlessly threw me over his shoulder like a measly sack of spuds, then stood back up to his towering height. His hands grasped at my butt and thighs in his struggled attempt to get a better grip on me since I was still frantically trying to squirm away. “Human... No!” He literally growled in irritation, causing me to freeze in place.

“Please put me down.” I begged, but I didn’t think that he could understand me.

His grip only tightened, then he gracefully leapt up onto the fallen log and out of the dried riverbed. I screamed and fearfully grasped onto his thick unruly hair for dear life. The embankment was incredibly steep, and there’s no way that any ordinary man could have jumped up it like he did.

He began moving like a shadow, gliding with graceful silence through the sinister trees. Another howl resounded through the air, and the silhouettes of three wolves suddenly emerged from within the thick swirling mist, hot on our trail.

Upon seeing them, I quickly decided that it was far better to take my chances with the ninja elf-man and his swords, rather than those heinous gnashing jaws. Not that I had much of a choice anyway, since he currently had me draped over his shoulder like a beaten throw rug. But still, he hadn’t tried to hurt me yet, unlike those terrifying wild beasts.

“They’re behind us! They’re right fucking behind us!” I yelled to him and tightened my grip on his hair.

He didn’t respond and just kept gliding through the forest like a shadowy phantom. Thick slimy drool dripped from the sickly wolves' formidable fangs as they chased after us. They looked crazed, driven to madness by the pain of starvation and disease. The lead wolf was rapidly gaining on us, and I greatly feared that it would pounce at any moment.

The man abruptly jumped up and kicked off of a tree, slamming into its corpsen face with his boot. I screamed and held onto him with all my might, as he literally backflipped over the wolf. He expeditiously pulled one of his swords out mid-air, and sliced the wolf right in two, gliding the blade down through its head and along its spinal cord, until both halves fell to either side with a plop. He gracefully landed on his feet, then swiftly whipped around, slicing the two remaining wolves' heads clean off with one swift swoosh of the blade.

Holy smokes!

Then, calm as a cucumber, he tucked his sword back into its holster and began to put me down. “Don’t put me down! Don’t put me down!” I frantically gripped onto his neck with all of my strength. I was in shock and horrified, and although I was still afraid of him, it was now quite clear that he was my best chance at survival. He appeared confused by how quickly I changed my demeanor towards him but allowed me to remain in his arms anyways.

"Shh, okay, okay.” He quietly said while gently patting my back. His arms awkwardly wove around my quivering body to hold me up, and I wrapped my legs around his thick waist for better support. He looked slightly weirded out by my action as if he’d never held a woman before or something, yet I was too frightened to care.

The ebon mist ominously swirled across the twisted roots of the forest floor, as unseen creatures swiftly skittered and hissed in the darkness all around us. My heart fearfully thumped while pressed firmly against his chest and tears fell from my eyes. Yet despite my fear, for the first time since arriving here, only about a mere half hour ago, I felt a sense of safety within his big strong arms.

“Sagacor...” He lowly called into the darkness, as if summoning something.

He then proceeded to gently rock back and forth on his heels, while softly murmuring to me in an unfamiliar language. I sucked in a deep shaky breath, unintentionally inhaling his otherworldly scent. It was sort of like a strange but pleasant mixture of rosewood and black pepper, yet somehow unlike anything I’d ever smelled before.

After a few moments of him trying to comfort me, as I pathetically sobbed into his shoulder like a helpless little sap, a ghastly whinny echoed through the suffocating darkness. I stiffened and held onto him even tighter, watching with wide eyes, as an enormous undead stallion trotted out of the ghostly mist towards us.

Oh, fuck no...

Its coat was as black as a raven’s feather, matching its equally dark mane which mournfully draped down along its slightly rotted neck. Tattered undead flesh revealed areas of bone on its legs, sides, and half of its deathly face. Its six pale eyes seemed to be glazed over with a phantasmal fog, with three of them resting on either side of its head. The frayed bridle eerily rattled and the saddle clanked in the silence of the night. Large black hooves clip-clopped over the jagged stones until it stood right in front of us.

“Sagacor.” The man said with a warm smile. Then to my horror, he swiftly mounted the ghoulish horse quicker than I could protest.

“Oh my god! Holy shit! ...FuckFuckFuck!” I frightenedly babbled, as the man hoisted us up onto the sinister-looking saddle.

He tenderly rubbed my back while repeatedly saying the words, okay, yes, and good, confirming my suspicion that he didn’t know much English. My arms and legs stayed tightly wrapped around him like a boa constrictor constricting its prey. One of his arms remained firmly on my back to hold me in place, while he grabbed the reins with his other hand. He made a rapid clicking noise, and the frightful horse began to run.

I buried my face into the crook of his neck and closed my eyes, not wanting to see any more of this godawful world. His arm comfortingly tightened around me, as the horse galloped through the nightmarish forest, and into the deep dark depths of the unknown.