Our legs had all but given out long ago. Our bodies ached, our lips begged for even a taste of fresher water than what we had been surviving off of for too many days. Our bones were becoming old, though we felt younger still as we pushed forward.

For what felt like many weeks, we had wandered the forest in search of something, anything, that would tell us we were getting closer.

Closer to life. To youth. To bliss.

Our lungs grew weaker with every breath and yet it felt impossible to cease our search.

My brothers and sisters. How they followed me blindly into the brush, how they matched their footsteps with my own as I led the way. How unaware they were that I was just as lost as they.

The horizon, so thick with vegetation one could not see what lay in front of them, glowed faintly with the setting sun. An orange hue enveloped the forests' leaves, but the minutes ticked by as they grew darker and darker still. We watched until we could see only the slightest evidence that the sun had ever been to visit. Until we could see nothing at all.

Except— the faintest light, some distance to my left. Wordlessly, I led my kin through the dense grass that caressed our knees and toward what hope I had left in my body.

The light struck me as highly peculiar. I felt as though my feet were leading me toward it without my mind's consent, pulling me, heavy-footed, into the dark. It was nothing special, the light, but the minuscule yellow glow of it compelled me nonetheless. Could this be what we have been searching for, seemingly in vain, for near a week?

"Where do you take us, sister?"

I neglected to answer.

He would learn soon enough.

We drew nearer to the light after walking for some time, our lungs no stronger and our legs no more sturdy than they had been before. Perhaps this was not what I anticipated.

The light illuminated the entrance of a cave which, by the looks of it, led to a tunnel that did not have an end.

Alongside my brothers and sisters, I stopped at the threshold.

Maybe five feet from the cave's edge was the light. It appeared to be a candle, though wax did not drip from its sides, and it stood on a slab of rock that rose directly from the ground.

None of my group had the countenance to approach it. I had led them there. This was my responsibility.

I took cautious steps toward the cave. One foot over its entrance. My sides feeling pressed in by its grotesque-smelling walls.

I heard the hesitant steps of my brethren behind me. They don't tread without fear, I know, but they will learn to relish in what I have gifted them.

"Eternal youth."

The candle cast light upon the glimmer of a fountain further into the cave. Its trickle echoed throughout the space, the sound of the water calming the group's nerves. Understanding dawned on the faces of my kin. This is where I had led them: to the Fountain of Youth.

I turned to them, a grin wide on my face.

A grin that disappeared with the light of the candle as it snuffed out.

It became clear that this cave was not what it appeared.

Soon, the darkness shrouded us, hiding us from the hungry gazes of our predators.