​                                                                                  ​

 

His feet were trembling. His stomach was tied. Cold sweat showered his face and made his eyes burn. He could feel his blood flooding almost everywhere over his skin. His heart ached with every bit and his jaws were tightened, as if he was trying to hold his soul in his body with his teeth. Swallowed sobs strangled his throat. Who ever said that those who would be named heroes, aren’t afraid?

The attacks had stopped abruptly. His enemies had abandoned him suddenly, leaving him alone. But that brought no relief. The heat of battle was leaving him slowly, allowing the pain of his countless wounds to cover his senses. The darkness around him kept him in a continual agony. A fear as ancient as the natural fear of children towards darkness awoke. No, no he was not alone. The was something else there with him. A void inside the darkness itself that surrounded him. Fear. And Death. Shaking all over, he crawled like a child to a corner and started crying without tears. His eyes desperatly tried to see through the darkness, opened widely, his pupils dilated from terror. He felt the eyes of the Shadow that engulfed him fixed upon him. The certainty of Death was unravelled at the darkness of his eyes. He felt Fear piercing through his mind and soul, like a giant thorn inside his entrails. He had the feeling he was trying to lift giant rocks that crushed him, with hands slimmer than reeds. His face was diformed from a silent scream. Shadow and Death covered his whole existance. His thoughts were lost, confused, loosing all continuity and meaning. Unable, weak, naked in flesh and soul infront of the eye of the Darkness that surrounded him, he felt his sanity being consumed.

But something kept him. A glimpse, as small as a seed, appeared out of nowhere, somewhere within the endless darkness of his mind. He felt something breaking inside of him, an overwheling pain woke his body and he opened his eyes and saw the light spreading around him. The Shadow crawled back, surprised. Death charged with hate, unwilling to see his pray flee. The Light didn’t allow him near. Furious snarls made the earth shake. But now the darkness of dispair had left and hope reinged. More pain. More screams, more snarls. Stones fell, rocks cracked and opened.

He remembers the light fading behind him. He remembers himself running with what little strength he had left in the clear air of a moonless night, allowing tears to flow on his face, mourning the Light that fell to save him. And when at last his feet gave up and bent, he remembers the taste of mud in his mouth, as the sweet darkness of sleep covered his senses.