I fell flat against the ground, eyes shut tight.

Dammit. One day into death and something had already gone wrong. I smacked my dry lips as the feeling grew familiar. I suspect I wasn't the luckiest person in life.

"Callie." I called softly, "Come."

She did a little doggy crawl towards me, staying low like me. Her eyes were focused, and body tense, ready for anything.

"One three, run." I whispered. She gave a little whine.

"One..." My palms sweat heavily against the cobbled road.

"Two..." my arms and legs shivered with anticipation.

My mouth as dry as the air around me, I whispered, "...Three"

Callie leapt up beside me, and the two of us ran for our lives down the path.

From behind, something snarled in outrage, a low gravelly sound that would have scared the devil into paying his penance.

I could hear ragged breathing close behind me, but strangely no footsteps. The small revelation only spurred me on faster.

"Come on Callie!" I yelled. She barked at me, feet flying.

My vision became rimmed with black. My vision tunneled and panic began to truly set in. The only thing that kept me going was pure adrenaline.

A loud roar filled the air, and I clamped my hands over my ears.

"No, no, no!" I cried, "NO."

Tears were falling freely down my face, and my steps slowed. My lungs shut off, air became a thing of my imagination and my head clouded with fear.

In my haze, I could hear a faint barking as something big and heavy tackled me from behind.

I landed on my stomach, unable to see the beast now standing on top of me. I could feel its breath on my neck, and knew I had lost.

"No..." I whispered. I would not die like this, well, die again. I tried to build a wall, block out all my fear, but some of the emotion kept leaking through. Spilling from the cracks, hopelessness flooded as I desperately tried to put the bricks back in place.

The weight on my spine relaxed, then disappeared. I cracked open an eye, tears still flowing, and to my disbelief saw Callie wrestling with this... thing.

I stared in horror, my mind trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Huge and black, winged and clawed, the only word that could even come close to describing it was monster.

It's six long arms were covered in metallic black scales, grinding together and screeching as it swiped at my dog, while it's thorned wings beat furiously to keep it's furry body off the ground. It's feet were clawed like a falcon or eagle, and its face. God it's face..

Terrifying, nightmare inducing, and somewhat unreal, it stiffened, and turned towards me slowly, giving me a view that would cause nightmares for years to come.

It was so horrible I'm not sure I could even describe it accurately. All I know is when I looked into its slanted purple eyes, I finally felt myself grow numb as my panic plateaued. A little more water spilt from the dam.

Callie jumped on its back, hackles bared and teeth shredding into its shoulder. The monster screamed a bone chilling note,  and my hands once again flew to my ears. I watched as this thing grabbed her by the scruff and flung her away, into the wheat.

"CALLIE!" I screamed.

My arms darted in front of my face, my entire body flinching away from the beast as it began to stalk towards me.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" A new voice screeched.

I lowered my arms just in time to see something fly into the monster, sending it catapulting into the wheat.

"DIE SUCKER!" The voice said again. I strained my neck, trying to see past the tall stalks, but to no avail.

The same unearthly screaming filled the air, like nails on a chalkboard times a thousand. I curled into myself, just praying that it would go away.

"A little help here?" The voice called out to me. I whimpered lightly, not daring to move a muscle.

"I think I got it! Haha! I got it! WAIT NO I DO NOT GOT IT!" The voice sounded younger and masculine, and far to confident given the situation.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH." A loud thud echoed in front of me. I lifted my head and came eye to eye with a youngish guy, who appeared to be around my age.

"Umm, hi." He smiled a devilishly good looking smile.

"The monster?" I whispered.

He stood up, brushing off his hair, "Gone. It can't get onto the path."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, "It followed me down the road more than a hundred paces."

The smile melted from his face, "A minor fluke, I'm sure."

It was at this moment the monster decided it wanted a rematch. I watched as it stood to it's full height, high above the grass, and barreled towards us.

"WATCH OUT!" I screamed.

"Wha-?" My savior turned around and laughed as the beast stopped mere inches from the road.

"See?" He said, "It can't get close."

The monster snarled, and screamed, throwing the most horrifying tantrum when it realized it wasn't going anywhere. With one final huff and some evil eyes, it darted into the grass, disappearing.

"Thank god." I cried, watching it run. And with that, the dam broke.

"Hey woah, you ok?" The boy said. I sobbed and sobbed like I never had before (I'm pretty sure). Snot and tears ran freely down my face and breathing was once again impossible.

"I'm going to die in this awful place" I sobbed.

"I mean, you can't really die twice." The boy said, sitting next to me.

I cried and cried as he sat next to me. I didn't even notice when he began rubbing my back.

"Just breathe. You need to take a breath." He said.

"I can't." I cried.

"You can." He said firmly, "Now breathe!"

I sucked in some air. "Good, more." He said.

And so on it went. All the stress and panic and fear tumbled out of me as I released all the tension. In and out.

"My name's Nox." The guy said, hauling me up.

"R-R-Riley." I stammered.

"Hey Riley. Let's get out of here shall we?" Nox suggested.

"Callie." I whispered.

He cocked his head, "Who's Callie?"

"She's a dog I met," I explained, "She got hurt when fighting that thing."

Nox frowned, "I didn't see any dogs. Are you sure?"

My eyes filled with tears once more, "Yes!" I moved away from him, edging nervously towards the edge of the path, "Callie? Callie? Come here girl!"

A soft whining noise came from the side of us.

Frozen in place, I was trapped between my need to find her, and the desire to get as far away from that place as possible.

"I got her." Nox assured me and dashed into the wheat. A few seconds later, he returned with my friend in his arms.

She had a couple of scratches across her nose, and a longer wound in her leg. But none of them looked too bad.

"Hi girly." I sniffed. Nox set her down and she ran straight to me, licking my face over and over.

"I had no clue you had a spirit animal." Nox commented.

I looked up at him as I scratched her head, "What?"

"You have a spirit animal." He groaned at my blank expression, "You know, spirit animals! The animalistic spirit guide that helps you in the afterlife."

"Not ringing any bells." I attempted a chuckle, but it came out more as a shudder.

"It's fine. I'll explain on the way." Nox said.

"The way to where?" I asked.

"The Doors." He pointed at the tree, "Duh."

"Doors?" My head hurt, "Who exactly are you?"

"Oh yeah, formal introductions are the first step to Guiding." Nox muttered, "Here wait, let's start over mkay?"

"Uh ok..." I said. He turned around and shrugged his shoulders a few times, as if loosening up for some kind of competition.

He turned on one heel and gave me an award winning smile, "Hi, I'm Nox. I am your personal Grimm Reaper here to escort you to Death's Doors."

______________________________
1420 words

Nox has asked me to inform you all he has many chaotic pranks (with the 'r' rolled ofc) planned so remember to keep your distance once you hear fireworks.

PS- Honestly, knowing him, these things can be fatal so just be careful.