for now they ran

Later, he would wonder what it had been. Had he somehow betrayed the trust she had had in him. Has he felt something else. Somewhere else. For someone else. He wouldn’t find out till much later, months after he began to wonder. It just wasn’t right. Her situation, and his situation, they had felt so right. So together. But such is the beauty of these creatures. There are so many broken puzzle pieces walking around, waiting for their better halves, that if they find someone who’s even remotely better than they expected, and that’s another problem, they have such low expectations, someone who’s even remotely better than their expectations, they think it’s the one. He did too. Because who else would understand him, and his world. There was attraction, there was chemistry. She was the one. She fit his broken pieces better than he could ever have imagined. Hur thought he was in love. He was also in love. Love is a matter of perspective. Up till that point, love for him had been astounding, beautiful. Love had been in Acqlimia. And then it would all go burning down. Has he made a mistake. Maybe. Wait, maybe it was letting him in his head. He had let the shadow rajah in the the shadow rajah had begun to wreak havoc.

But now, they were running. The fire was everywhere. In front of them, there was darkness. She was leading. She turned away from the darkness. That was not the direction they should be going towards. He followed. Getting increasingly more concerned not about the red that glimmered and glowed, and slowly began to rage, simmering, all around them, nor about the lack of oxygen that he could feel as the fire began to consume it in all its acrid glory. The air was beginning to become putrid. Other than the cackling of the fire, a cruel laughter, he felt he could hear screaming. It was as if the forest were writhing in pain. Shadows in front of them. They turned again. He felt they had already come this way before. She stumbled. So did his heart. He helped her get up, and then they began to run. They popped into a clearing. Shadows on all sides. He turned around. Shadows. Slowly, they began to draw closer. He held her hand and squeezed. She squeezed back. Her eyes began to well up with tears. She wrenched it away, he made to follow her, a firm hand stopped him, she moved to the center of the clearing and began to dance. It was beautiful. He felt as if he were remembering a memory from long ago. Something he had once forgotten. He had never seen beauty like this. The shadows began to writhe and retreat. He smiled. The fire still cackled but it seemed it’s power was diminished. The shadows were gone. For a second there was silence. Then a loud roar. A huge form appeared at the end opposite to him. Red, glowering eyes. Blue nails. Everything else was in shadows. The form began to laugh.