The sky is dark, the dense wall of trees that surround her on either side darker, but the path that extends before her is visible somehow, even in the dim light of the slender moon. The night is bereft of stars and it lends to the air a brisk and windy chill. She is nude and barefoot beneath the silken red cloak, cloth the bright color of fresh blood, warm and comfortable, the hood pulled over her hair, clasped at the neck with a silver brooch intricately carved into the face of a wolf. She knows not how she got here, where here is, or where she is intended to be; but in this dreamspace, that seems not at all out of the ordinary. She knows only, instinctively, that the long and winding path will take her where she needs to be, that those howls in the distance will only be cause for concern if she ventures from the white road. Whispers are carried on the wind, distant and threatening, but their meaning is, as of yet, indistinguishable to her ears.

From beneath the cowl of the cloak Izumi looks out at the world. She is nude beneath the ceremonial blood red robe as was evident by the fact that her bare feet felt the cool white road she trod on. Where she was or what she was doing had eluded her at the moment yet there was a familiarity that she could not quite place.

The moon looked so foreboding in the sky like a giant eye watching her. There were no stars there to join it, just a vast darkness that engulfed everything save for itself. What season it was had been void of her. It could have been winter for all she knew given that she had no idea of her location.

Most chilling of all were the wolves or were they just dogs baying at the moon? She was uncertain of this. Her studies weren't in biology or zoology but in physics.

In fact the robe seemed odd … it was familiar but in a sense that she did not use one often now, who could really say with any certainty. Yet it fit neither too big or small but honestly she had not heard anyone complain of a robe that failed to fit properly.

Trying to remember was impossible. The details were few though she was no longer on Shokushu. Or was she? That howling could be caused from one of the creatures that inhabited the place and that caused her to stiffen. She hastened her step though unsure of where she was going or if it would be safe once she got there.

The way ahead was visible enough so she wasn't going to stray from this path without reason to do so.

One foot before the other, the pale, luminous road the one solace in this primeval wilderness. Whatever their form, those things sound to be close, close enough to reach out and touch, if she so desired, if she simply dared to step off the road and extend a hand. But she walks, the sound of snapping twigs and crumpled brush, the guttural growls and howls flanking her on either side, the indiscernible communication of pack predators on the hunt. And still, the wind whistling in her ears like whispers she can't quite comprehend.

So she walks. In the distance she sees a figure on the trail, tall and lean and unearthly pale, sharp features that could be etched from stone. It's a flicker, only that, and then it's gone. A trick of the light? She hardly has time to consider it as the wind picks up and those whispers coalesce. "Hello?" It's a voice she knows intimately. Shy, sweet, little Mildred, a girl who practically defines the word 'prey'. Somewhere nearby, she can hear those beasts moving, noises growing faster as they lope hungrily through the woods, in pursuit of something. "I don't know where I am," her voice is practically a sob. "I'm cold and I'm scared and I don't know where I am." Neither does Izumi, though the more her roommate talks, the clearer her location sounds. Somewhere to the left. Out there in the darkness. The voice sounds genuine, but even in her dream-fugue, Izumi recognizes that the woods play tricks, that the looming treeline is a predator itself, luring in pretty young things with its cloying cunning.

This was freaking her out. Whatever they were, wolves or dogs they were close, close enough to touch. In a way she was glad that she could not see them though there were no shimmering lights of their eyes. That was somehow worse since she perceived them there but was unaware of them by sight.

“Aegir ...” she whispered having struck a deal with the creature before. This had to be a dream and yet seemed real too. She was so confused about things but continued ahead, her heart beating in her chest at the unknown but not daring to stray from the path.

She sees a figure ahead, briefly. Then it's gone. Though the whispers become clear at least for a moment as it sounds as if the hounds have run off in pursuit of something.

“Milly?!” She had played around with her girlfriend though did not allow herself to played with in that same way, not yet. “God ...”

Just shut up and be quite! She wished to scream out but did not want to draw attention back to them more than she had already and in this moment.

“I'm coming,” and though the dark woods could be a trap and probably was she could not do nothing. Was something trying to lure her in? She could not take that chance, would not and thus headed in the direction of that voice.

There are rules to this place. The Fey-realms are driven by twisted structure, by archetype, by clear choice that might not always seem like such... and Izumi has charted her course, her body and mind freely given to the Wilderness and that which lurks within it.

"Izumi? I'm scared." Brambles and twigs sting at her bare feet as she pushes into the woods. Growls and guttural purrs linger in her ears, leaves snapped and crushed by forces which seem within touching distance, but the source of which she cannot see. "I don't know where I am. There's something out here and I think it wants to..." Her walk accelerates to a jog, weaving through fallen limbs and risen stumps until she breaks clear into a hollow. It's lit dramatically. It's clear still, but the moon seems to lend it a certain luminescence, spotlighted like a stage set, a soft clearing circling a large oak; and perched within it is Madeline.

Her face at least. That is clearly hers. Sweet and cloying, eyes puffy with tears. But that body is something else entirely. Dark and sinewy, a shadow wrapped around the frame of muscular predator, it's feline tail lashing against the branch on which it's perched. Her cherubic face smiles, but it's certainly not her smile, instead something dark and primeval, her voice her own but possessing a dangerous sort of sing-song. "They told me what you did, Izzie. How you betrayed me. How you used me." A howl rises, only so far as the trees, and Izumi can see multiple pairs of eye scrutinizing her from the copse-line, red and orange and flickering like distant torches.

Her feet ache from small stones and roots she trods on in her haste forward. Hearing Milly she only wishes for her silence given what she had heard so far. If something indeed was out here … no she was sure of that. Her heart beats against her chest as she bursts into a circular clearing well lit.

Izumi's heart sank, she knew it was too late though nothing had prepared her for the strange amalgamation she witnessed. Her eyes widened, full and blue given her contacts. “W-What the – no, no, that isn't true ...” she stammered backing up as she spoke but some how refraining from braking into a run.

Was this a Sphinx? That would have been what sprang to mind but that feline body was all shadow and rippling muscle. Before it got too close though Izumi found herself turning and running.

She was close enough to the foreboding woods where there was a chance, a slim one but she had to try. Being bare footed wouldn't help though. It would slow her down but she tried though it wasn't long before she collapsed, her feet hitting something hard tripping her up along with that robe which provided a degree of difficulty in rushing forth.

The voices behind her are at once both utterly alien and chillingly recognizable, a sing-song purr she half-recognizes as the mangled voices of her former coven sisters.

dumb creature silly meat it thought we were its friend

The forest rustles around her, the distant sound of twigs and limbs snapping, distorted faces barely recognized glimpsed from the corner of her eyes. It's hard to know if she's being chased or circles, but she daren't pause, daren't look back. She can't bear what she might see.

virgin meat virgin sacrifice lured out there by the face of a pretty boy why was she the one to survive

A vine coiled around her foot and she's sent stumbling forward before she even realizes what's happening, sharp pain climbing up her leg as she frees her sprained ankle, forest canopy wet and mealy under her bare hands, flash of pretty white leg exposed by the torn cloak. Soil and leaves stuck to her cheeks. She's pushing to her feet before she sees it standing over her. Him standing over her. Kevin, ghostly pale but assuredly him, his grin a broad rictus, his body, whatever monstrous form it takes, extending into the shadow. And beyond him she sees light, a break in the treeline. Light, perhaps? Hard to say. He/it prowls towards her on heavy, beastly legs.

The voices are haunting, familiar as she conjures up images of her dead friends. Though she sees no-one she begins to recognize the voices. Had it been vengeful spirits that lured her here? She had not remembered that day despite the nightmares she still had but upon waking she could recall nothing of that terror as if her mind deliberately suppressed what had happened.

Virgin meat ... It was obvious that she was the sacrifice. Snickering words beat through her head as she ran though she was unaware of where the creature was. All that mattered was her flight, one that had been abruptly ended with that vine.

She fell. Gasping out in sharp pain. Her palms ached as well as she used her hands to brake her fall though agony shivered through her leg even as she worked it free of the vine though from that stage on her run became an awkward hurried limp until the creature made it's appearance.

Beyond it was light, was it blocking the way to escape? “NO!” She turned and tried to brake off in the opposite direction though so impaired she realized she was not about to get far. Panicked rather than reasoning things through or all these impulses that flowed through her.