Lost and Found

Darkness. Blackness. Pain.

A searing pain burned deep within his core—something so painful being stabbed in the chest could never compare.

It was blinding. Nauseating. Aching right into his bones. They seemed to crackle as if they were electrified. He tried to cry out, beg for help, but nothing would come out. His voice was lost, trapped in his throat by the blood and bile gurgling in his lungs.

But then there was a light. Something distant, vague, but there, real and tangible. He tried to reach out, he tried with all he had, but as he believed it was within his grasp, a wicked smile, something connected to nothing, appeared in front of him and blotted out the tiny light and any flicker of hope.

Grotesque, jagged teeth. Drool dripped from fangs as though a beast was eyeing its prey. It breathed, hot and heavy, against his face. A hiss escaped from nothing, for there were no lungs, no body for air to leak from. When its teeth parted, he could make out the sight of a throat enshrouded within the void; he braced for it all to come to an end.

He felt the slickness of its tongue, the stab of teeth clenching down on his legs, the throat contracting around his body—Ryuu woke up.