Ru was standing outside, an impenetrable, misty fog encircling her, rising up from the ground in thick tendrils, wrapping around her and preventing her from seeing more than a foot or two in front of her face.
The air was cool, and a layer of gooseflesh rose up on her bare arms. She was dressed all in black; her clothes seemed foreign. Everything about herself seemed altered, as if she didn’t know who she was or what she was doing.
She took a step and found the ground to be marshy, as it often was off in the hollows around the outskirts of town. A few more steps revealed she was standing in thick woods. The trees here were twisted, their branches extended in long, scraggly fingers.
Another few steps and movement in front of her caught her attention. She stopped in her tracks, wondering who or what it might be. Peering through the dense fog, she made out an outline of a tall figure. Like a walking shadow, it came closer, and she wasn’t sure if she should be frightened or reassured. Was this her savior, here to guide her out of the darkness, or something far more sinister?
The form stopped a few feet in front of her. The fog was still rolling about, but she could see now. By the shape of him, and the height, she guessed it was a man. He wore a cloak the color of night, and his hood concealed his face so it was obstructed from her view. Remembering the research she’d done, she checked his hands. Both empty.
“Who… who are you?” she asked, her voice cracking and sounding as if it was a faint echo even to her own ears.
He was quiet for a long moment, and Ru thought he might not answer. Eventually, his voice resounded in her head. “You know me. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Now, I’ve found you at last, Ru.”
His cadence was even, his tone rich, like a melody. The words played through her mind like a song. Did she know him? He seemed like a distant memory, like someone she’d known before, in another life. “What’s your name?” she asked.
He chuckled, and once again it carried through her mind like an instrument. “You know my name, Ru. You know who I am. Come, we’ve much to do.” He extended his hand to her, and Ru looked at it cautiously through the fog. It wasn’t bone, as she’d thought it might be, but a strong, human-looking hand, and he seemed assured that she would grasp on to it.
“Show yourself,” she said, her voice sounding more commanding than she felt. “I want to see your face.”
“I would show you my face, Ru, but I fear you wouldn’t be able to comprehend a beauty as complex as my own. Come with me, and I will show myself in good time.” He beckoned her with his outstretched hand.
It was tempting. To reach out, take his hand, trust him. He could lead her out of here, out of the dense woods full of confusion and darkness. He could save her. Ru picked up her foot, but then she thought about her students, her friends. She thought about Cutter. Ru put her foot back down, behind the other one. “No, I can’t go with you,” she said, shaking her head. “I have so much to do.”
“You can still do all those things,” he protested, taking a step closer. “You will be so much more than you ever were before, Ru, if you just come with me. I will help you.” His hand continued to reach for her, though he did not move to grab her.
Once again, she was tempted, but she fought the urge to reach out and take his hand. “No, I can’t.” This time, there was not as much conviction behind her words as there had been before.
“Very well then. You leave me no choice.” His voice was still calm, serene, but a bit more forceful. He reached up and moved his hood so that it rested about halfway back on his head.
Ru gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth. His hair was black as night, but his eyes were a glowing green, almost as intense as Cutter’s though even more electrifying. Perhaps what struck her most of all was the perfection of his face. He was by far the most handsome man she’d ever seen. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Feeling entranced, Ru took a step forward. “I… I do know you,” she muttered.
“Yes, of course you do.” He broke into a smile, his teeth glinting even in the dim light. “Come along now, Ru. We’ve much to do,” he repeated.
Ru took another step forward. How could she fear someone so pristinely beautiful, particularly when she knew she’d seen his face before? Had she known him when she was a child? Did he know her mother? Would he be able to help her find her? “How do I know you?” she asked.
He shrugged, nonchalantly. “You have always known me, Ru.”
She nodded, but his words didn’t make sense. She stopped, drawing her eyes away from his face as she contemplated a memory. Searching her mind, she fought to remember. And then it occurred to her. The computer—the research she’d done. She looked up at him, straight into his glowing eyes. “You’re Thanatos!” she said.
His expression flickered, as if he was caught off guard, but then it changed back into that reassuring smile almost so quickly, she might not have seen the difference if she hadn’t been watching him so intently. “You know me.” He said it as if she shouldn’t have been surprised, like her speaking his name was natural, like they were old friends.
“You’re Death,” she said, taking a step backward, suddenly feeling the fear building within her.
“Ru, I’m not here to take your soul,” he said, stepping closer to her.
Ru continued to back away, tripping over a tree root as she did so. “No,” she whispered. “I will never go with you.”
“Ru, wait! We need to speak. I can tell you so much.”
She wasn’t listening now, however. She turned and ran through the woods, praying that he wasn’t following her. The roots were thick, the branches reaching for her hair, the darkness obscuring almost everything, and she was certain she heard footsteps behind her. Ru picked up her speed and continued to run, feeling the sting of branches as they sliced through her skin, drops of blood dripping down her cheeks.
It was too late to stop. The ground came to a halt in front of her. With a skid and a spray of twigs and leaves, Ru careened over a cliff, plunging into a deep ravine, the ground at least a hundred feet below her. Seeing the terrain rush up to meet her, she screamed.