the swarm
Y
ou've decided to brace whatever might come and run through the glowing eyes gathering around you. Their gazes burn even more into your skin and it feels as if they used the fire to brand you (and maybe they have). The illusion does not dissipate like fog, which you may have been hoping for. Instead, there is growling and chattering. The eyes glow brighter and the noise gets louder.And then there is the flapping of wings.
The red eyes move and reveal themselves to be dozens of bats. Although the creatures are typically harmless to horses, these are different. They fly around you in a swarm, screeching almost as loud as a banshee. They are disturbed and angry. Perhaps they want you dead.
What little light had been left from the fires or moon's glow seems to be gone now. All you can see are the small bodies of the bats and their wings as they fly frantically. Some dive bomb for your head and pull at your hair. Others might be dangerously close to biting you. If one thing's for sure, you are forced to slow down from the race and need to escape somehow. Is winning still important to you? If so, you may still have a chance...
To continue the race, you must reply to this thread with your character's choice. There is no word limit, and you can be as To conclude the race, you must post a closer. There is no word limit, and you can be as creative with the prompt as you'd like! The eyes were not merely a trick of the light or errant embers from the flames: as the smoke grows thicker a swarm of bats descend on you, obscuring your vision, attacking anywhere they can reach. You are free to determine the level of the attack, and your character's response to it!
You are free to write your character crossing the finish line in this post, or you can simply write them reacting to the bats swarming them. Once all the race threads are completed, a dice will be rolled to determine the winner and the results will be posted in each race thread.
Thank you for your participation, and good luck! We hope you enjoyed the event!
@willfur
