Lilian, still carrying Stepanie was now approaching the thin border of light ahead of him. The light from their gems illuminating the darkness of the woods and the ground upon their feet. Through the light, both Lilian and Stephanie can see the destruction from whatever was chasing after them. Trees that grew hundreds of feet into the air now laid shattered and were in bad conditions, some pulled from their roots while some were snapped in half. The bushes were trampled down and pulled out from the ground. And upon closer inspection, on the ground where the flowers stomped on and lost their light.
Lilian slowly treaded through the shredded trees, avoiding shards from the trees. Stephanie behind him took deep breaths as Lilian carried her. After walking through the darkness for a while, slowly flowers were now starting to appear on the shrubberies. Little by little, the appearance start to appear more frequently as they were now closing on to the path. "We're almost there," Lilian said, positioning Stephanie on his back. The flowers, now slowly started to illuminate the surroundings, the pure black abyss now filled with soft colors and light.
But suddenly, the air's temperature immediately dropped. The flower starts to flicker, shivering from the chill like the kids. Lilian, immediately knew what was going on.
"L-Lilian-n" Stephanie said with a shaky voice from both the cold and fear. Instead of replying, Lilian bolted through the woods, the cold air beating against his face starting to freeze it. Both of their breaths start to fog while the ground beneath them starts to freeze. With the soil now being slippery, Lilian now is losing his balance while running. "Cmon, Cmon!" Lilian mumbled to himself as Stephanie behind him his encouraging him.
But all sounds were shut off, from a distance a menacing roar was heard. Something was approaching them, and it was coming in fast. Lilian snapped out of his trance of fear and start to run towards the patch. After almost slipping after a few steps, Lilian then had an idea, he then starts to ski on the frozen ground, but he then immediately fell down. The thing was now even closer, around a few feet away from them. Lilian now quickly carried Stephanie in a princess position. Lilian, just an arm's length from the path was quickly knocked down to the ground. Stephanie has knocked away a few feet away from Lilian as for Lilian, he was pinned down to the ground by the unseen thing. But due to the light from the flowers and the path, it only showed a large black shadow. It had no features and its mass and shape were constantly moving, but it had a silhouette of a large panther. It had a large paw and unlike the rest of its silhouetted body the paw had more defined details, its whole fur and skin were made from the same shadow and pinning Lilian to the ground. But after a few moments, the paw starts to smoke while the large shadows started emanating a high-pitched scream. It lunged back as the paw then turned back to its formless state. Lilian then took deep breaths as the paw blocked some air from entering. The shadow starts growling at the Kids, Stephanie then tries to lift Lilian from the ground, still limping. The thing then again lunged at the pair, Lilian then quickly grabbed Stephanie and both of them jumped onto the flower path just as the shadow lunged at where they were a few moments ago.
The thing, now stood in its place staring upon the kids. It starts to shake vigorously. It then released a large and ear-piercing roar, the flowers beyond the path for a second all suddenly dimmed so much for a moment, darkness surrounded the path. At the moment the flowers retained their shine, the thing now suddenly wasn't there anymore, but it was replaced with something else.
It was the same black panther, yet it was molded and looked corrupted and more malice seethed from its body. It's size grew twice from its previous build, it had more defined muscles with its claws now larger with sharper claws that dug deep into the ground crushing the flowers and roots in its grasp. Spikes from its spine and different area of its body were protruding from its skin which seemed to hug tightly to prevent the muscles from tearing it off. Its head had more small muscles which all scrunched into a glare of pure hate with its blood-red eyes. And finally, its mouth was much larger than before, countless rows of teeth were seen, so sharp that it might cut through a rock with little effort. Saliva and drool dripped from its mouth as it growls at the kids.
It then gave off an ear-piercing roar, it echoed throughout the entire forest, the leaves shook, the flowers beyond the path flickered yet again, all of the insects, and sounds all disappeared only leaving the deafening silence. It was so quiet that Lilian could hear both his and Stephanie's hearts frantically beating in fear.
It was crouched down, ready to pounce upon the children, yet all it did was glare at them not even moving at all.
"Lilian, we should go, now." Stephanie said with a shaky voice. But Lilian didn't move an inch, as he only replied in a low whisper. " I can't, I can't move."
"What the hell do you mean you can't move!" Stephanie whispered harshly frozen in her place. Both kids were petrified in place from the Cat's gaze. They were all locked in a standoff none moving an inch, nothing in the whole forest moved. The forest was completely frozen, the wind was completely gone, not even an ant moved a leg, there was nothing but silence.
After a few painstakingly long minutes, the Panther then raised its paw and slammed it onto the ground causing a small hole to form. It then led out another roar, a roar of anger and annoyance as it started to return into the shadows of the forest. Before fully disappearing, it gave one last glare towards the kids as it merged back with the abyss, where it belonged.
Stephanie's legs buckled at collapsed under her weight, both children finally let out a relieved sigh. And when the beast finally disappeared the life in the forest finally returned. The chirping and buzzing of insects finally returned. other fauns started to emerge from their hiding. The fireflies now danced yet again in the air.
Lilian bent down, supporting Stephanie onto her feet. Due to the certification, Aiden still had trouble moving but it was enough for him to help Stephanie. "Thanks Lilian" Stephanie said with a smile of relief. Lilian, upon seeing this gave a smile back.
He then placed Stephanie onto his back, he faltered for a moment. Lilian then took a deep breath and he balanced himself. "Lilian, just put me down, I can manage to limp." Stephanie said tapping Lilian'sshoulder and trying to get down. Lilian simply gave a grunt from repositioning Stephanie. "No, you still need to heal. I'll carry you." Lilian said Stephanie was about to argue back then just accepted it and lay her head on his back instead.
With this, Lilian now carried Stephanie as they continued walking on the Blue-bell path.