Taro stood in the room with the large window. The wooden floor boards creaked and the wind howled through the cracks in the walls. The window itself was coated in thick layers of grime, but you could barely make out the trees of the dark and menacing forest just outside. There was nothing in the room except for a rusty metal chair.
Seeing no other options, Taro grabbed the chair and flung it into the window. The glass shattered. Taro jumped through the hole in the window and tumbled out into the night, landing hard on the ground below. The forest was even more dark and ominous than he’d imagined, and the howling wind seemed to intensify as he stood up, trying to get his bearings.
For a moment, Taro thought that he heard footsteps behind him, but when he turned to look, there was nothing. Shaken, he took a few steps forward, careful to keep his eyes on the trees around him.
Suddenly, a dark figure lunged at him from the shadows. With a yell, Taro turned and ran, desperately trying to escape the creature that was chasing him through the woods.
As he ran, he could feel the thick, claw-like branches of the trees scratching at his skin, and his heart pounded in his chest. He had to get away, he had to survive…
As he crashed through the branches, he tried to remember the cryptic hints the witch had given him. “Through glass, towards light, don’t pass, do not fight,” the witch had said.
Light. Where is the light? He looked about frantically. Then he saw it up ahead. The full moon glimmering on the surface of a lake. Something was still chasing him. He could hear it crashing through the brush just a few feet behind him. Taro could tell that the lake was quite a ways below the forest, but he couldn’t tell how far. He was coming upon the cliff fast, and that thing chasing him was right behind. This was his only chance. He picked up speed and ran as fast as he could, off the cliff.
A couple of seconds later, he crashed shoulder first into water. Taro swam to the surface, gasping for breath as he took in his surroundings. At least it looked like the creature was no longer chasing him. Now what? Where’s the light? Was he to go up towards the moonlight?
Then something caught his eye in the water. There was an orange light deep underwater. “Towards light, don’t pass, do not fight,” he muttered. He took a deep breath and dove into the dark waters.
Taro swam hard towards the light, which seemed to be moving. Something bumped into him from the side, almost knocking the breath out of him. All he could do was keep swimming. Then something bumped him again, but this time swam in front of him. It was some type of grotesque fish creature with a pair of scaled muscular arms. It swam ahead, then slowed down and glanced back at Taro with glowing red eyes.
Taro began to swim faster, then caught himself. “Don’t pass, do not fight,” he thought. The creature glared at him momentarily, then again swam forward. Taro followed, until they approached the bottom of the lake. There was a shimmering black circle on the lake bottom.
Suddenly, the fish creature turned around and darted towards Taro. It grabbed him by the neck. In a panic, Taro lost his breath in a stream of bubbles. He fumbled for his pocket knife, until he remembered. “Do not fight.” He gave in and let his body go limp. He could not hope to fight and beat this creature underwater anyways.
Backwards he accelerated, as the creature kept hold of his neck and pushed him towards the bottom. Then, the sound of shattering glass. Taro fell on his back onto cold hard stone. He gasped for breath. A dark figure stood above him, but it was not the fish creature. The witch.
Taro looked upon the gnarled face of the witch. His lungs still partially drowned with water, he rasped, “Did I make it? Did I pass the test?… Did I break the curse?”