I stared, motionless, as the figure stared back. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest as I waited for it to do something.
After a while of nothing, it's head tilted, as it watched me; as if it were curious about me as well. My muscles tensed, as it felt the figures' gaze.
The figure seemed to have found nothing of use from me, it slowly turned and walked away deeper into the fog.
"Wait!" ( Damn it this is stupid, I know I shouldn't follow it. But maybe it can give me some answers..... This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done.)
I ran across the field towards the direction the figure disappeared. Reaching the spot, I twisted and turned looking in every direction trying to find them.
In the corner of my eye I saw something moving through the trees. I turned and caught the back end of its cloak disappearing behind a tree.
I continued to follow it's path, as it continued to leave me behind in the darkness.
As I traveled alone through the forest, I could see a small clearing, allowing a small bit of light to seep through the trees. As I walked into the light, I could see the figure standing over a small stone slab sticking out of the ground.
Walking up, the figure remained motionless as I stood beside it. It occurred to me then and there that it was a grave.
I knelt down and reached out to touch it, the figure seeing this reached down and grabbed my wrist. I looked up in surprise, its grip was strong, really strong, as if my gesture angered it for some reason. Yet for some reason, I don't feel like I'm in any danger.
"Relax I'm just going to clear the stone off."
It seemed like it was studying me for a moment, before loosening its grip; and finally letting go. The figure may not be human, but at least I know now, that it can understand me.
After waiting a few moments; just to be sure, I wiped away the moss from the stone. Looking at it I was slightly disappointed:
"Unmarked, should have known."
Standing back up, I looked over at the figure. It stood there motionless, still looking down at it.
"Someone you knew.... Or maybe it's yours.?. Either way, I'm sorry."
The figures' head turned to look at me; as if it understood and accepted my words. After a moment it turned away, back towards the grave.
We stood there in silence. It was comforting being surrounded by darkness, standing under the only source of warm light. If felt like the figure and I had and understanding, that this moment was too important to be broken.
Our moments of peace was only brought to an end when the figure pointed towards the stone, or so I thought.
I was confused at first. We'd been looking at the grave for a while, so why point at it; was I not seeing something I was supposed to.
I knelt down looking at the stone expecting to see something different, but it was still unmarked; with nothing on it. So I decided to look around the grave instead, maybe they were pointing at something behind it.
That seemed to be the case, after a minute or so of looking around I noticed a small engraving on the ground. I moved around a few rocks and wiped away the dirt, there were more under it.
I wiped my hand across the symbols, the began to emit a small light. The ground shook as a new pathway opened up in the ground beside me.
I looked up at them with surprise and a bit of confusion:
"Is this.... the real entrance?"
It turned its head looking in a different direction, as if it had noticed something, not far off.
In the distance I heard the call of a Raven, in that moment there was rustling in the trees around us.
The figure instantly snapped back to me, it moved towards me faster than I could react. It engulfed me in its cloak, I was surrounded by darkness and warmth.
I felt comfortable in the darkness, it was very welcoming. I stayed there, waiting for a while, wondering what was going on outside.
After a while I noticed a small, dim light far off in the distance. I slowly rose to my feet and headed towards it, as I got closer, it got bigger and brighter.
As I got closer, I had to put my hands up to cover my eyes from the blinding light. I continued walking into it as it surrounded me, then I started to hear voices. They were quiet and low, and muffled; as if they were talking through water.
I clenched my eyes shut, as the light became far too bright. I could feel the warmth still surrounding me, and the voices started to become clearer.
Through my eyelids, I could still feel and see the light but it wasn't as bright a before. I slowly opened my eyes to an unexpected sight.
"Look, he's starting to wake up."
"I think you can put the flashlight down now, you can check him again when he's fully conscious."
"Right, sorry."
It took sometime for my eyes to readjust to the darkness but once it did, I could see two people sitting over me.
"Hey sleepy head, you alright?"
"Yeah, ugh..... I'm fine. What happened, I had this strange dream."
Sofia and Ray moved back a little, as I slowly sat up. I looked around scanning the area, it was different from what I remembered last.
"Well you touched the lever, then you passed out. My guess is the runes triggered it, kinda like with the sword and shield."
Although Ray wasn't really informed with the small details, he shook his head in agreement.
"We decided to set up camp till you awoke, we moved away from the cave, just incase that was the cause; per Miss.Brynes orders."
I looked over at Sofia whom just nodded along. Looking towards the entrance of the tent, I could see the young woman keeping watch over us.
"How long have I been out exactly?"
"It's been a few hours, it's already dark out."
My head snapped in her direction, I looked at her with surprise covering my face.
(Had it really been that long, it felt like only moments ago I was standing infront of the cave sketching the markings into my journal.)
I stared into space as I thought to myself, but the word runes played over and over in my head. Then it turned to markings, then engravings.
My eyes lit up as it finally clicked, I shuffled around looking for the journal. The other two watched in confusion as I did, then something clicked for Sofia as well.
"Oh wait, didn't you say you had a strange dream. One of the best ways to help you remember the dream is to write it down, that's what your looking for right, your journal."
She pointed at my bag behind Ray, following her lead, he got up to grab it. He sat back down beside me as, he passed it over.
Flipping through the pages, I passed by the image of the first hooded figure. I paused to look at it for a moment before continuing through.
(They're not the same, not even close.)
I kept going until I got to the images of the runes. Studying them, I found small similarities to the one in the dream but they weren't all the same, something was different but I didn't know what.
Flipping to the next page I began drawing the new runes the best I could, before they faded from my memory.
The other two silently watched as I drew them onto the paper, then continued as I turned to the next page to draw both side by side.
As I stared at the drawings, I replayed everything that had occurred in the dream. Images of the grave appeared in my head, the engravings behind it.
Then the image of the figure appeared, I repeatedly replayed its actions in my head. I noticed it was taller than I was, stronger, and somehow had this inhuman speed.
Everytime I thought I knew where it was, it was somehow somewhere different. I followed it into the woods, trying to catch up, yet I was always so far behind. I wish I could've seen what was under the cloak.
Thinking of the cloak, the images of it surrounding me as the trees ruffled. It protected me, from harm and sent me back. But why?
Then the thought of what led up to that moment entered my mind, the only time I had witnessed an animal here.
The bird call.... The raven.
In that moment I heard it once more.... the deafening cry. The raven called.
My head shot up, in the direction of the opening of the tent. My eyes widened and my heart began to race. The other two were looking around, they heard it as well.
(It wasn't a dream.)
"We need to leave."