Second Place (December 2025) "Chapter One, Shadows of a Bleeding Soul"

The walls begin to breathe, the lights flicker with purpose... and something ancient stirs behind Door 0001. Something that isn't meant to be released.

Something that should have stayed forgotten.

Shadows of a Bleeding Soul: The 26th (Opening Poem)

Tranquil are the waters below the moon.

How they shift under the seeing light,

sensing the break in spoken words.

    Yet you still run.

The woven fabric without border

press against restless order,

deep in thought across the diamond dust,

     yet you still run.

The Conduit that must not be drawn,

else it asks a sacrifice you cannot mourn.

Beneath waits a darkness unseen,

    yet you still run.

The still pool that bleeds

  and the thought that cut,

cracked under the grinning shadows,

yet I still run.

Shadows of a Bleeding Soul: Chapter One

Black charcoal snaps against the curling paper, its edges

under the cast of smouldering wood.

Licks of flames crawl across splints.

Feel no heat.

Taste no death.

The last of the silk threads tell no more than

     my eyes that see

                  nothing.

Kade found himself gliding against the soil as he ran faster, each step appearing to widen the space between the trees.

Ground flatter.

Fewer jagged roots to rip into his legs and drag him down.

His body felt like a knife; cutting through air, through resistance, through reason.

For a second, it was as if—

No.

Not like that. Like this:

Kade’s vision flashed dark. Bile rose up his throat. His spine snapped straight, and his back was drenched. The world spun. He forced his eyes shut and breathed—no, gagged—until the knots in his stomach loosened.

However, the darkness didn't fade. It deepened.

It was everything around him.

Freezing soil crept into his fingers, his bones. He dug his hands out, placed them on his knees, pushed himself up — and stumbled.

Only to collapse.

Thick, tall trees circled him, piercing into the sky like arrows carving through air, boundless and bare. A forest. Kade’s throat tightened at the uncanny appearance the trees had. Bark too smooth. Trunks too straight.

As if the forest wasn’t even real.

On top of that, a silence pressed in on him that was so strong and deafening, he could hear the movements of the trees against the shadows.

How... how did I get here? His face scrunched as he searched his brain, looking into the deepest corners of his mind to find anything he could hold onto. But everywhere he looked, an empty expanse of darkness stared back.

Wait. No.

NO.

Hands twitched. Hairs on his arms began to rise, goosebumps running underneath. The more he tried to control his breathing, the faster it got, yet he tried anyway.

Kade forced his eyes open. Focused on his hands—still shaking, but his. Focused on his breath—ragged, but real.

One thing. He just needed one thing to grasp.

Get out of this forest. Fast.

He turned to run but immediately stopped himself. Gripping one trembling hand over the other, his eyes scanned the shadows.

It is all the same everywhere.

Nevertheless, Kade locked his gaze at a seemingly meaningless point in between the shafts of wood. Slow movements brought him closer. But a loud ringing noise stabbed his mind, a sharp contrast to the dreaded silence.

A horrible screeching that began as soon as his foot left the ground.

Rising both in pitch and in volume, the whistling pressed against his mind, clouding his focus — but he willed himself to keep moving.

Then, as he passed a burnt tree, the ringing cut off abruptly. He froze. This tree stood alone among the others—thicker, taller, its bark as black as ink and as charred as coal. The more he stared, the more it felt like the tree knew he was there. Which gave him all the reason he needed to keep moving. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the—

His foot caught under something heavy, and he nearly slammed his face into a thick, sharp root protruding from the ground.

Quick thinking saved him—hands shooting out, slamming on either side of the root, stopping Kade’s face from becoming skewered by mere inches. His heart rammed against his chest, threatening to burst out of its locked cage.

The knife-like root sat between his eyes and certain death. He exhaled shakily. If he was even a second too late...

Kade shook himself, pushing his face away from the harbinger. He lifted himself off of the ground—or at least, he tried to. The object underneath his knee was moving—rising and falling, slowly.

Breathing.

Kade stumbled back, spine slamming against a jagged tree trunk.

He couldn’t make out the figure clearly in the dark, so he slowly approached it. Blood rushed hot and loud to his ears, drowning out the silence of the forest as he knelt to take a closer look. That’s when the same hot blood drained from his face.

A boy.

Once.

Mud smeared, black-brown hair, pale face.

Alive.

Kade’s breathing became sharp, grating against his throat.

“No way...”

His nerves were on the verge of tipping. He knelt. Had the forest hid him?

A frustrated grunt escaped him, and, pressing his hands against his eyes, Kade could feel a sharper headache creeping in. Looking down, he could just about trace the outline of the chest, rising and falling against the inky backdrop.

Kade choked. He couldn’t run now, leaving this poor boy alone in this damned forest. If you could even call it that. He lowered himself against the rough bark of a tree and, suddenly, his eyelids became too heavy to hold up.

As soon as he heard a groan, Kade’s mind jolted out of the dreamless sleep. He stumbled. The dark body in front of him folded into a sitting position. The boy, clutching his arm and face twisted in pain, coughed violently. Kade’s feet stayed rooted, limbs refusing to move as he watched the boy struggle.

Then, breathing heavily, he pushed himself off the ground, but slowly, as though he was afraid the ground might tip over.

The stillness on his face drained into confusion as he turned.

“The hell...?” His voice came out hoarse and deep, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

Kade wasn’t sure why, but the word sent a cold shiver down his spine.

The boy cleared his throat and spoke up again. “How... how did we get here? How long were you awake for, mate, what... how...” he stammered.

“Believe me, I’m just as confused as you are. I have no idea how we got here or why,” Kade let his gaze fall to the floor, “I wasn’t awake long before you.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the boy muttered something under his breath. Then his eyes widened — not exactly fear this time, but something like it.

"Bloody hell... I don’t remember anything,” he said slowly, as if testing the words. “My memory’s gone.”

Kade’s knees weakened. He gripped a trunk for support, bark rough under his palm.

“Same,” he managed. “It’s just all… black. Like someone burned it.”

Marcus’s jaw tightened. “Convenient, that. Wake up in a nightmare forest with a stranger and neither of us remembers jack.” His eyes narrowed. “How do I know you didn’t do this?”

“Do what?” Kade’s voice cracked. “I don’t even know what ‘here’ is!”

They stared at each other. Marcus’s shoulders slowly dropped.

“Yeah, alright mate. You look as terrified as I feel.” He rubbed his face. “If my brain’s not completely scrambled, I think my name’s Marcus.”

Kade exhaled. “Kade… at least I’m pretty sure it is.”

Marcus let out a humourless laugh. “Pretty sure. Brilliant, that. We’re absolutely knack—”

A faint sound drifted through the stillness; so soft they almost missed it.

Their eyes met. Marcus raised a finger to his lips.

Silence stretched. Then—another sound. Not a howl. Something tighter. Sharper.

The creak of a bowstring being pulled taut.

Kade’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to shout a warning—

A sharp whistle split the air.

You... you do not remember.

But... why don't you—

About the Author

Some things were never meant to be read.