The Road Not Taken

As Enki walks, the smell of death fills his nostrils, causing the man to stop and blink in surprise. A wind gently rustles the white branches overhead, causing them to creak and moan like an old man in pain which causes a shiver to race along his spine. Somewhere, not too far away a deer screams in pain and he jumps, wide eyes turning to the white barked trees in the direction of the call and he spies the first signs of the hunter and its prey that have passed this way.

There, on the bleached bone trees, bright red slashes across their thick trunks. At first, it isn’t much, a few drops here and there that mar the otherwise pristine beauty of the ivory ivy and trees but, as he slowly follows the trail, he finds more and more of the bright crimson splashed across, not only the alabaster trees but the green ground and dark rocks. The scent of another wolf and doomed deer reach his nostrils and, in this eerie place, it causes an unnatural chill to permeate him.

Suddenly, a soft glow catches his attention off to his right, pulling Enki from the dark spell that had been cast with the life and death struggle happening ahead of him. Hesitating, he turns his bright eyes toward the glow, realizing that that shade of purple, so soft yet bright shouldn’t be. Curiosity, pulls him toward the glow, his previous hunt now abandoned as he slowly winds through the trees in search of this strange light.


"Enki Klein"