He feels like the lasers are chasing him. He doesn't know where they stop and where he begins. His breath is ragged, he's been running for too long. He stops to take a breath and hears faint barking from a ways behind him.
He has to keep going.
He's tumbling through the woods, feeds gliding across brush and roots like he's done this before. He doesn't recognize any of the trees shooting by him or the dangling low branches that scratch at his face. He can only feel...a pulse.
Something is calling him, something pulls his erratic movements. Something guides him from tripping over the giant rock before it suddenly appears in his path. As soon as he sees it, his feet are lifting into the air and he's springboarding off the top of it and, for a brief moment, he's falling through the air. His eyes are wide as his hair fans out around his head.
Before he can second-guess this wild run, he's landed and he's sprinting again.
He knows before he even gets there. He knows what he's about to see, knows who he's about to meet, knows that it's all about to change.
He comes rumbling into the clearing, a light shining through the canopy to reveal the scene before him. Something he'd seen in a dream? Or maybe a nightmare?
There's a figure hunched to the side, thin fingers paging through a book that's filled with some ancient, mystical language that Leo can't get a good look at. His eyes turn to the only other thing moving in the scene.
A chill runs down his spine as the wind stops funneling at his back and all goes quiet as he watches the small pile of blood pooling under the figure strung from the lowhanging branch. For a moment, he thinks he can see strips of clothing hanging from the figure, a blue tattered shirt...he blinks harder and realizes that is only a deer, a young one, cut from belly to chest and blood seeping down it's neck to land in small pan on the ground.
Leo's frozen. He's so stunned by the sight in from of him that he can't move his feet. Instinct tells him to run, to hide, and yet he can't get his damn legs to move an inch.
"You lost them."
The creaking voice startles him into movement and he hops a step back.
"Not on purpose. I guess they just...didn't follow me well enough."
"Good. You were supposed to come alone."
Leo looks around incredulously. This person...knew he was coming? Leo hadn't even known what he was running from, let alone toward.
"It'll all make sense later. Come." The figure unfolded itself to stand, not much taller than the branch holding the offering. Their hair was long, dark, and hanging in messy strands covering their face.
Leo took a hesitant step forward. "How am I supposed to trust you?"
"Why wouldn't you?" The voice is laughing and Leo doesn't have a proper chance to react. A cold hand is gripping his and squeezing his fingers in a hard grasp and, for a brief moment, he feels like he can see everything. The whole world, the matrix, the energy that makes up the whole place.
Everything goes black.
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