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Whether it was the whispering of the wind, or the sound of birds singing in the thick branches of trees, or the rhythm of rushing water,
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or the crashing down of rocks from a high cliff, or the unseen scurrying of little animals, or the howling of the most frightening of beasts, or an echo from the valleys between the hills; whatever it was, it frightened them so much that they were completely paralyzed.
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So while bright sunlight lit up the rest of the world, and people and things went about their ordered, active lives,
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an oppressive night lay all around them, and around them alone. It was a sign of the darkness that was going to receive them, but they were a heavier burden to themselves than even the darkness itself.