Ash wove through the snow-covered forest, trying his best to match Moradin’s steady pace. Being forced to ghost walk behind him made it harder than it needed to. The paranoiac didn’t like to leave two sets of trails for whatever reason. Ash didn’t understand why. It wasn't like there was anybody out here. The Old Wood housed nothing but thousands of miles of difficult-to-traverse forest, a vast majority of which was unexplored. People simply didn’t like coming out this far. Yes, the place had a surprising number of ruins; however, the ones at the outer edges had been picked clean hundreds of years ago, and going after those further in wasn't worth the time or the risk for most people. The deeper you went into the Old Wood, the more dangerous it got. Hence the reason why Ash had never seen another person in the entire seventeen years they’d been out here. Ash sighed internally but continued following nevertheless.

  The snow was beginning to fall a little harder now, making Moradin’s already shallow footprints even harder to see.

  Damn snow, Ash cursed to himself, the wind’s chill stinging his face. So focused on his inner rant, he barely realized they were moving at what most people would consider a sprint.

  He’s seeing if I can keep up, he thought as he vaulted a fallen tree, being sure to match Moradin’s hand placement going over it. The man didn't seem to be slowing down; in fact, quite the opposite.

  Taking a deep breath—feeling the cold air biting as it traveled through his nose to his lungs—he increased his speed. Ash didn’t consider himself the strongest or the brightest, but there was one thing he knew for a fact: he was fast. A small smile crept onto his face as he leaned into his already growing momentum.

  ********

  But for the ponderously falling snow, all was still and quiet deep within the Old Wood. Like charcoal and bone, the weighty black of the lumberwood trees contrasted heavily with the white blanketing the forest floor. The canvas-like stillness was shattered momentarily as two black cloaked figures cut through the treeline like specters. Much like a passing gust of wind, the figures were gone as fast as they came, leaving the forest to settle back into its quiet mundanity.

  ********

  Ash's mind was empty as he and Moradin flew through the Old Wood. It took every shred of focus he had to maintain this speed. He had never moved this fast. In fact, he had no idea his body was even capable of this.

  The wind whistling loudly by his ears and trees barreling past were like distant voices filtered through thick glass. All of his focus was locked onto Moradin, following the man's every step, every shift of weight, every movement.

  He wasn't sure how long they'd been going for. He honestly didn't care. He just kept moving forward.

  Moradin’s pace suddenly changed, his momentum slowing with every step. Ash, matching his movements, did the same. Soon they both came to a complete stop in a piece of woodland no different from any previous they had been through.

  It took a moment for the adrenaline clouding Ash's mind to drain. He looked around, assuming they’d reached their destination, but saw nothing but dark trees and white snow. He looked at Moradin. The man was still as a stone, focused on something in the distance. Ash’s brows furrowed.

  “Are we -” Ash was cut off by a quick gesture from Moradin, the man still staring off in the distance.

  Ash still didn't see anything, so instead, he tried listening, and what he heard was… nothing. It was quiet. Unnervingly so.

  “It’s pathing towards us,” Moradin whispered with slight frustration. He turned to look at Ash, the man’s eyes full of a sharp severity. “Don’t move. Don't make a sound,” he instructed, “and, no matter what you see, remember: It. Can't. See. You.”

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  Ash nodded in response, confused.

  Moradin gave Ash a half-hearted reassuring smile, before turning back to the direction he was looking.

  Worry started to bubble up inside Ash. He still couldn't see or hear anything in the distance, so he decided to try a third option. Closing his eyes, he reached out with his senses.

  His field of perception was nowhere close to Moradin’s, but he could still scan a decent distance. He felt about for any sign of life, any hint of an aura. But there was nothing. Not even a mouse for a quarter mile.

  Alarm bells began ringing in his head. This felt wrong.

  A loud snap of a branch in the distance wrenched his eyes open. He looked in the direction it came from. Movement. Something big: its color blending into the trees, making it difficult to track, as it meandered in their direction. The density of the woodland made it hard to make out any discernible features at this distance.

  At around two hundred feet away, the thing finally moved into a patch of trees far enough apart that the back half of it was unobstructed.

  A deer, maybe? Ash guessed, but quickly discarded the idea. Its body was similar, but far too tall; its four hoofed legs unnaturally long, and strangely thin, like jointed stilts. They moved awkwardly as it eased forward, past the tree it stood behind, revealing the rest of it.

  Ash grew pale.

  A head attached to a reedy neck stretched out from behind the tree, stiff and serpentine. Plastered onto it was the face of a crying woman, its features grotesque and exaggerated. Thin black hair framed the still expression stretched onto the creature's face.

  Its body stilled for a moment, its stiff serpentine neck swimming in the air searchingly, until, with a sudden jerk of motion, its eyes, large and bulbous, locked onto Ash.

  His instincts took over and forced his body to move: to run.

  Moradin’s swift hand on his shoulder held him in place like a vice, grounding him. He tried to compose himself.

  It can’t see you. Remember. It. Can't. See. You. Moradin’s words repeated in his mind.

  The thing started to lumber in their direction again, eyes still locked on Ash.

  One hundred and fifty feet.

  It can’t see you.

  One hundred.

  It. Can't. See. You.

  It wove through the trees, slow and steady, its gaze never leaving him. The neck twisted at odd angles in order to stabilize its head in place, giving the appearance that it floated in a perfectly straight line towards him.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off it.

  Fifty feet.

  It can’t see you.

  Twenty-five feet.

  He held his breath, heart beating like a drum in his ears.

  Ten.

  It! Can't! See! You! He screamed internally.

  It stopped.

  Besides its hooves lightly pressing into the snow, the creature was completely quiet. If Ash closed his eyes, he wouldn’t even know it was there. It had no aura; it made no sound. But he couldn’t stop looking. He had to keep his eyes on it. He had to know where it was.

  The head started to reach closer to him, the neck stretching unnervingly far.

  Five.

  It can’t see you. Remember, it can't see you. It can’t see you. It can’t see you, he repeated.

  One.

  Time passed like a falling feather. Everything in his body, everything in his mind screamed. To run. To fight. To do something. But Moradin’s heavy grip kept him still.

  It was so close, but he couldn't even feel it. All his other senses told him there was nothing there, but his eyes said the opposite.

  It can't see you.

  Ash heard a step.

  It can't see you.

  Then another.

  The nightmarish visage was still locked onto him, less than a foot away, until, suddenly, it wasn't.

  Ash watched as the head and neck slowly returned to float above the creature once again. It continued at its meandering gait towards the direction they came from, its unnatural form eventually disappearing into the dense obscurity of the Old Wood.