Ethan, Lena and Alex sprinted into the darkness, their footsteps echoing through the deserted streets. The night air clung to them like their clothes, and it's heavy veil enveloped them, obscuring all but faint outlines.
As they ran, the landscape shifted, and reality warped. The streetlights flickered violently, casting macabre shadows on the twisted buildings. The buildings blurred, distorted, then suddenly replace d with twisted, ancient trees. The trio's ragged breaths synchronized with the racing heartbeat of the city. They kept running hoping to escape this mysterious landscape.
Unfortunately for them, this magic was on a whole nother level, they couldn't escape it.
The landscape shifted further. Ancient trees replaced skyscrapers, their gnarled branches grasping like skeletal fingers. The air thickened with foreboding.
"What's happening?" Lena gasped, terror written all over her.
"The symbol's power," Ethan panted.
"Nimrod's influence is warping reality", Ethan added stopping in his tracks, Lena and Alex still moving forward.
" Ethan, what are you doing? We need to get out of here before we get trapped ".
Ethan strolled towards them.
" Look around ", he said gesturing them to look at the surrounding the where in.
" Does it look like we can escape, huh? Huh? ", he asked
" Huh? ", he stared at them rhetorically.
" No matter how far we run, we can't outrun magic. Haven't you read novels ".
While they were deliberating on their current situation, a dark figure materialized ahead of them. Tall, imposing and covered by the darkness. Ethan's instincts screamed warning.
He then noticed it's pale blue eyes.
" Julian! ", he scoffed.
The figure didn't respond, instead It seemed to stare at them, It's gaze piercing through the darkness and heading straight into their eyes. All the could see of the figure were Its pale blue eyes continuously staring at them. Its presence seemed to draw the very light out of the air.
Alex realised. "We can't outrun him, we're doomed to death".
Lena grasped Ethan's hand. "If we die, we die together."
The figure raised its hand. Ethan felt an unseen force pull him.
"Run!" Ethan yelled.
They bolted sideways, dodging the figure's grasp. The trees seemed to close in on them.
" Don't stop running ", Ethan demanded.
Just then, a gust swept Ethan off balance. Ethan stumbled but Lena caught him.
"Keep moving!" Alex shouted.
As they fled, the darkness coalesced into tendrils, snaking around them.
"Split up!" Ethan cried. "Confuse him!!, We can't let him get us, we can't lose each other. No! Not like this ", he completed with sorrow on his face.
Lena veered left, Alex right and Ethan dashed forward.
But the figure vanished leaving an unsettling silence on them.
Ethan slowed down, scanning shadows. This place was too dark for him to see anything. " Why was he even running?", he thought
"Lena? Alex?", he shouted as loud as he could, not knowing his voice was just barely above a whisper.
He listened to the shadows, he couldn't hear anything, there was absolutely no response.
Ethan's heart sank. Had he lost his friends?