Danger approaches

Arthur’s breathing had gotten shallower without him even noticing. He grabbed the crossbow leaning against his backpack and cocked it and loaded a bolt. A glance upwards revealed that the stars were gone, swallowed by a sinister darkness. The light of his fire was dimmed, as if the approaching darkness was physically pushing it back. The forest was now silent. No cracking in the underbrush, no hooting owls, nothing. Every tree and every animal seemed to be holding its breath.

Only when he blew a cloud of smoke, did Arthur realize how cold it had gotten. He would have liked to blame his shaking entirely on the freezing air, but he couldn’t deny the fear creeping into his mind. Wolves, bandits, orcs, even the occasional troll or wyvern, none of them had ever frightened him like this.

He could still not see the entity approaching him, neither could he hear or smell it, but he knew it was there with absolute certainty. “W-who goes there?”, his voice was shaking even more than his body. No response. “I am armed!”, Arthur still hoped whatever was approaching might be human-adjacent at least, “Tell me who you are, I-I even have some stew left if you want.”. No response.

Silence fell over the forest again when Arthur stopped talking. The light of the fire now barely reached ten feet, everything beyond that was pure darkness. Thirty seconds passed which felt more like an hour to Arthur. Then he suddenly had an idea. He still pressed the crossbow to his shoulder with one arm, while his other reached for a rock. He took a deep breath and focused, finally getting his shaking under control. He raised the stone, then chucked it into the fire.

Roaring in protest, the flames rose up in a shower of sparks. This sudden flash of light pushed back the darkness, just for a moment, and immediately Arthur regretted his actions. Just over ten feet away, previously fully in the cover of darkness, was a tall figure with a body shaped vaguely like a lanky gorilla. Despite the fires best efforts, Arthur couldn’t make out any features beyond the shape and incredible height. The creature was so tall, that it was physically leaning over Arthurs little campsite without ever entering the ten-feet range of the fire.

Arthur let the bolt fly. He hit the creature right in the chest, but where he expected a thud and perhaps a grunt or scream, he watched the bolt pass right through the thing. He dropped the crossbow, and his head slowly rose to stare up at the head of the creature. Two perfectly round, completely white spots appeared where he would expect its eyes. When he met the empty gaze of the creature, he felt such a deep sense of dread, that his fear turned to panic.

Arthur scrambled backwards, grabbed his sword, then turned and sprinted into the forest. All the warnings about leaving the road, about all the dangers inside the forest of whispers, none of it meant anything. All he could think of was one thing, ‘If that thing catches me, I will die!’.