Lost Creek Hollow and as I set to face it, I'm unsure should I embrace it, should I run?

Keeping his previous thread vague, i have the muse and I wanted to kick him over here

Edit: whoops forgot to tag @Silvertongue @Crowfeather @Ash Paw sorry about that guys!

Demon. Spider. Adder.

They all hissed across the back of his head. Aquillius didn’t recognize the person he was becoming. The demon had ripped chunks from his body, the adder and the spider whispered dark magicks. His dreams twisted dark and low.

His ankle clicked every three steps like clockwork. He began to count his steps, using them to stay present. If he lost count, he would fall into the dark all over again.

His father wasn’t here. He was healed. He had a debt to pay all his own, to the healer woman who had pulled him from death’s door and then spent the next several weeks whipping him back into shape.

The ragged, rawboned boy held a rabbit in his shaking jaws, visibly unsettled as he made for the borders of the hollow pack. 

1, 2, 3, 4

He paced the borders like a spooked horse, before freezing in place, stiff as a gargoyle.

5, 6, 7