As Cyri walked back to Romelia’s tree, he thought about Ordello’s message. It was dark enough that the moon cast an eerie glow

“You must know yourself before you know the answer to your question.”

Cyri didn’t know what he meant by that or why he would say that. He already knew himself. Didn’t he? Before the teen could think more about himself, a shrill screech sounded in the night air.

The sound was high-pitched, so high-pitched that Cyri wanted to cover his ears in fear of damage to them. It sounded like an animal but then again not. It also had a dark tone underlining it. The mere sound of it made the hairs on Cyri’s back stand while fear raced through his system with lightning speed. It disappeared as fast as it came though.

Just as Cyri was about to run, a beam of moonlight penetrated the leafy canopy and lit the ground behind him a few meters away. It lit up something he did not expect to see again.

Cyri held his breath and whispered, “Nightmare Horse...”

The moonlight lit up a tall figure that was coming over the hill. It looked like a black horse with red eyes. It’s mane tossed around in an invisible wind only it could feel and parts of it dripped to the ground, only to sizzle in the moon’s light. Its red eyed gaze floated around the forest until it rested on Cyri. The teen froze in fear as soon as it did. The horse snorted and reared up high on its back legs. It opened its mouth, but instead of a neigh, the shriek he heard earlier came out of its mouth.

The shriek snapped Cyri out of his trance. Run! He turned and ran as the Nightmare started running after him. Cyri only ran faster when he heard the thundering of the hooves behind him.

What is that doing here? he thought to himself as he ran. Why was it even here? Did something happen? Is Romelia-

Before he could finish his thought, something tripped Cyri and he fell into a tree trunk. While he wasn’t physically hurt, the impact still left him sore. Before he could regain his footing, the Nightmare Horse appeared in front of him. The black horse seemed almost amused at the boy’s attempt to flee. Cyri could even hear a cold chuckling sound that came from it.

The black mammal opened its mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth. He knew that there wasn’t much they wouldn’t be able to cut through. It was more than likely that this horse wanted something that he wanted to keep- his flesh. Cyri closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to start.

Only, it didn’t. Instead, the growling stopped. Curious, Cyri opened his eyes to see that the Nightmare horse had disappeared. Slowly, Cyri stood up, still confused.

Was that… Was that a hallucination?

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