☽A soft scream echoed from the swamp
In the deepest darkness
In the stillest of shadows
He felt a giddiness in his heart
It could have been day
Yet the ancient mangroves choked the light
Kept it at bay
The animals wandered this way and that
Panic and fear in their blindness
He watched, carefully, waiting
They fell, into the water, into the dark and hungry mud
The maw of the swamp, like a great ravenous beast
Hundreds of them, thousands
All around him, their heartbeats like fire in the night
He watched with fascination
As the thick swamp waters slowly swallowed them all
Another soft scream in the vastness
The green fireflies awoke
Shuddering into existence
He lifted his gaze to see
The swamp it shook and shuddered
The great black waters before him parted
Up rose a Dark Path, shiny and slick
He felt it was his, deep in his bones, he knew
The fireflies floated down, kissing his pelt and turning to ash
The others lit The Dark Path to guide him along
He stepped forth and walked through the suffering
As the animals reached for him and squirmed
Monstrous they became in their deaths
Hungry, tormented, twisted and vile
The further into the darkness he walked
The happier he found his soul grew
The surer his steps
The swamp swallowed him greedily as he went
He sighed in rapture at last.☾