The eyes that peered at me were yellow, like a large cats. They held me frozen, an intense stare that made me intensely aware of how hard my heart was beating. I couldn't blink, couldn't look away, couldn't do anything but sit and hope the eyes went away.
They blinked and the spell was broken. A relived sigh I didn't know I was holding in left me. In the moment it had taken me to blink, the yellow eyes had disappeared. I looked around wildly, trying to spot a shape, anything moving from the trees or towards me. There was no sound, no movement, absolute silence. I tried my deep breathing exercise and couldn't calm myself like I had earlier. Those eyes, frightening and animalistic, were out there somewhere.
I looked over towards the brown flatlands and saw the riders galloping away, moving at such as fast pace that their silhouettes had become tiny dots. How had they moved away so fast when it took them so long to get here?
The group seemed far enough away that I decided to climb down, albeit the pain the in my shoulder. The forest was still dark as midnight but my eyes had adjusted and I could make out individual trees and even branches as I trudged inward. There seemed to be a path to my right or at least more even ground. Weighing out my options again, I decided I'd follow this path and find those yellow eyes where they may be.
It felt like hours. No, it felt like fucking years as I walked. The constant throbbing pain in my shoulder had only gotten worse and I'd had to sit several times down several times to catch my breath. It helped with the throbbing but not much. I was moving uphill, I could feel that. In the time that had gone by, I'd slowly been trying to piece together what had happened to me.
I was stranded in a land where I had never been, lost in a forest that looked haunted and some group had somehow known I appeared out of thin air. Where had I been before I appeared? I tried to think back but all I received for that was sharp headache that took minutes to calm down.
So, I can't recall my memories. Tricky thing with that is, how do I know what a forest is or what warriors are? What even does amnesia do to people? What are people?
I lapsed into a philosophical critique of what amnesia and it's portrayals I'd seen before. While in this inner monologue, I hadn't realized I was somehow able to see better. Like there was evening light filtering through the trees. I stopped and looked around, my heart beating a little faster in panic.
The trees had thinned in front of me, placing me right in front of a clearing. Strangely, the light only extended just to where the trees thinned and no where else into the forest. I drew my breath, crouched and stepped to the nearest tree near me. It took a second for my eyes to adjust and then for another for the image to travel and process what I was seeing.
The clearing had a path that led in a steep downwards slope to a town. An actual town within the forest. The light however didn't come from any lanterns nor the town homes. Above the village, nearly as high as the tree branches was a creature floating.
It was radiating light, creating a halo around itself of purple blueness. It appeared more real than all of its surroundings, graying out the the town around it. It was also a terrifying sight. Without being told, I knew that thing floating was radiating monstrous energy. I crouched behind a tree so I wouldn't be spotted, even if it felt I was leagues away.
Within seconds of my movement, the thing turned to look in my general direction. It was terrifying and beautiful. The creature resembled humans to an extend. It's arms and legs were jet black, as if they had been covered with tar and the torso and head were a dark green. I could make out every detail on the body, see the pupils contract and search as if I was standing inches away examining this thing. I wanted to shrink away and run, to never see this beast of death again.
"Don't move." said the faintest voice. The voice came from above, hidden within the trees I guessed. "Don't run, don't try to look for me, just stay very still. If you move, it will kill you."
I stayed still. I could feel the knot in my right arm slowly getting worse. The beast kept looking my direction and for what I assumed now, any sort of movement. The knot turned into searing pain and searing pain became red-white flashes in front of my eyes. I grit my teeth (softy) and held on to the side of the tree. Praying the voice wasn't lying to me.
After an eternity and a few more days, the voice spoke again.
"Okay move your right foot back slightly, pull it under the brush." I did as asked. "Now crouch lower." I crouched. "No, lower."
I physically could not but did as instructed, feeling like I was destroying my spine in the process.
"Okay now, slither back." What? Slither? Who says slither?
I tried to slither backwards on my back. I heard a soft laugh, covered up by a laugh coming from directly above me. This bastard was playing with me but I had no choice but to stay here. Slowly, I kept moving back and tried to spy out the body of the voice.
"You should be fine for now." I sat up so quickly, I briefly saw stars. As I massaged my cramped shoulders, there came a hard thump from behind me. Seemed like the body had shown up. I turned out to find the peering yellow eyes staring at me. The same eyes I had seen earlier in the forest. A yellow green color with flecks of white in the pupils.
The speaker was indiscernible. Covered from head to toe in brown and black garbs, the only part of them I could make out were the eyes.
"So human, what are you doing in my hollow?" The speaker asked, stooping down to help me stand up.
"I got lost. I think. Have I seen you before?" I asked, keeping eye contact to see if there was any I could tell if they were lying.
"Yes and no. I saw you enter our forest and followed your brave and foolish attempts to trek through our holy ground. But you're like no human I've seen before. Your armor is made up of antique metals I've only read about. And you reek of metal and death."
Reeked? I knew I didn't reek but I let it pass.
"And you weren't killed by Indra. What's your name human?"
I automatically opened my mouth to reply, like I had done this motion a million times, but nothing came out. I sat there stupefied, with my mouth open and gaping. I swear I saw an eyebrow rise from the under the head scarf.
"No name?" The voice sounded amused now and female.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"All in due time. Follow me before you kill yourself again." She turned around and I scrambled after.