Northstar Vale And nobody owes you now

He was fleeing as fast as he could, rummaging through the dark without any semblance of hope; he knew, just as the beast knew, that this wasn't going to end well. Perhaps it never would end. Thoughts of being dead resurfaced — perhaps this was not hell, but purgatory? A place where he was meant to suffer for crimes he could not recall, until there wasn't even the smallest spark of life left inside of him.

He realized suddenly that there was silence. Only silence.

The creature had stopped chasing after him. Was it tired? Was it gone? His own scrambling stopped then, and he looked haphazardly over his shoulder for the first time since being driven deep in to the earth. He saw nothingness; he saw darkness and the glint of grey light on distant teeth, and knew he couldn't stop.

Thankfully the earth came to his rescue. As Mou climbed one more flight of irregular slabs, he felt the earth at his paws crumbling. He found himself lodged in a narrow passage that was barely higher than his shoulders, and it forced him to crawl like a worm in the dirt; but the platform beneath him wasn't secure enough for his pursuer.

For now, he was safe.

But where could he go from here?