The Fortress in the Clouds

SHE WAS LOST.

And since she was as stubborn as a mule, Naomi refused to even admit it to herself that the road before her was not one that she recognized.

Darkness drenched the lands, painting the ominous fields with a darker and richer black. It seemed to bleed into the trees and plants of the woods, reducing the color of the once-vibrant flora into the monochromatic grays that tainted the world’s most miserable areas. If there was such a thing as sadness personified, perhaps this would have been it. It seemed like a gloomy enough picture that matched the state of Naomi’s heart.

Her feet dragged painfully across the grass, tired from the walk and sore from the run. Before the sun would rise, Naomi had to put enough distance between her and her town in order to buy herself more time before she would get discovered. If not, her little escape plan would be foiled before she could even get far away, far enough.

Even though the stars dazzled like diamonds dotting the sky, it served as no help to guide Naomi to safety. The constellations were artfully drawn maps that she could not read. She could only look up at them helplessly, sighing under her breath about her dismays in life. Yet, whenever she was feeling down, she would remember her loving father’s words that helped her through many difficult days.

“Do not sigh, my beautiful girl,” her father would say if he were there with her, “the night is temporary. The sun always shines in tomorrow.”

That was comfort enough for Naomi to bite down on her lip, pull up her sleeves, and furrow her eyebrows with determination, marching on with renewed resolve to find her way out of the woods.

However, due to the way in which reality operated, the very second in which Naomi’s confidence lit up, a new danger appeared. There came a howl from a distance, gut-wrenching and chilling to the bone as Naomi stopped in her tracks. She pivoted where she stood, eyes quickly scanning her surroundings as fear leaked through the pores of her skin.

The devil was near and the fires it lit will soon blaze into her path.

Her human instincts kicked in, the highest form of self-preservation possible and it told her to run. Naomi’s feet kicked off from the ground, the ends of her dress sweeping across her shin with each step she took. Her boots — which were thankfully much more tactical than the pretty flats that other women wore — buried itself deep into the mud due to the force of her weight slamming into the ground.

At that moment, she did not care that she was leaving footprints behind for the people to track. All she wanted was to get away from the beast nearest to her. The others would have to wait in line for their turn.

She could feel the creature running behind her. Its paws were heavy, stepping over the footprints that she left with graceful motions. From the distance that it had gained, there wasn’t much room between Naomi and the wild animal. She could hear its pants, feel its breath against her bare bones.

In a moment of weakness, Naomi’s pace was not as quick as before. The creature took it as a window of opportunity to pounce, leaping through the air like a poisonous dart before landing onto Naomi’s back, pressing her face-first into the mud.

Even though she wanted to scream, her voice was lodged in her throat. There was something stopping her from doing so, keeping her vocal cords tightly hush about the situation as she was flipped around to face her opponent.

Before her widening eyes, she was greeted by a horrific last sight. It was a wolf with jaws more powerful than the strength of ten men, its fur long and a dark gray. Bright green emeralds were that of his eyes, brilliant in the dark of the night and yet also the light in which would guide Naomi to the pits of hell itself. The wolf snarled, its sharp glistening teeth baring themselves like swords drawn before the battle.

Naomi, like the coward she was, could not bear to witness her own downfall. So instead, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and waited for death’s arrival under the heavy paws of the animal.