(In the base of the shadow's forces )
A dark entity with one head
Eyes like a spider, a huge mouth with a tongue like a snake and a bloated stomach that leaks liquid as if it's eats but never gets filled
It was lingering around the first river
While she was walking in the darkness
She stopped at her pace.
" gulveth I can sense your essence lingering … what is it that you want?"
She said in a firm intimidating form
Gulveth twisted its head like a circle and climbed like a spider on the wall above her and came closer to her and said
" has the third river found what's mine yet? …." It said with a big grin on its face and squinting eyes as if its trying to get under her skin
First river stayed silent , her mouth shut
Because she knows if she engages further gulveth will only cling to her more
Gulveth : Hmmm she has disappeared for far too long ever since I sent her to find the eclipse forest entities physical residue
Then it went down from the ceiling
And dropped with a thud on the ground in front of her , trying to stare like a laser at first rivers eyes, however rivers have a blindfold on their eyes so naturally it couldn't
First river still silent getting tensed up gradually after every sentence gulveth uttered
Gulveth squinted its eyes thinking of a way to get in her head
"what if she betrayed us like the second river?"
It said with a grinning face
" just Iike your brother" it added and grinned even harder
First river clenched her first
" what does this have to do with me?"
She said with an angry tone
Gulveth eyes widened in joy because it knew it hit where it hurts.
"Oooh it has everything to do with you"
It got even closer to her whispering in her ears
" prove yourself—prove to us your not like your brother , bring me the entities
And I will make you even a higher rank than you are better yet if you find third river I will make you even heigher than her…"
~silence~
Gulveth frowned at her silence
" I will make sure no one accuses the tigers of betrayal again" it added
"I will do it" she said with no hesitation
Gulveth grinned hard and slowly went away and started lingering somewhere else
( meanwhile Lana swan and zai)
After a few days of travelling they were getting very close to the shapeless forest
Lana : phew .. this has been easier than I thought not much obstacles came our way
Swan rolled her eyes
"please! Don't jinx us like last time"
Zai : well it's not going to be this easy from now on since we're close to reaching the shapeless forest..
SUDDENLY!
The bushes around them started to rustling and shake
Something is clearly lurking around them
As if something big is going to pop out of these bushes and attack them!!
They reached out for their weapons and braced themselves! While swan hid behind them
their eyes WIDE OPEN! ,Scanning the area
POOF!—and out rolled… a cat.
But not just any cat.
This one had wings. Tiny, fluffy, majestic little wings, with cute big golden eyes
It's body like a griffin
📖This king of creature is called grifkit
Often taken as pets by other creatures
With humanoid forms
Grifkit can deliver messages like pigeons in real life , protect homes like dogs and it's sprarkle sneeze makes sure you fall for them
"it's cute!" Swan said in surprise
Lana squinted here eyes
" I'm not tempted "
The cat sneezed—puff a glittery sparkle shot out of its nose
Zai furrowed his eyebrows as if he is judging himself for falling for it's charm
"even its sneeze is cute"
"Ok im tempted!" Lana squealed as walked towards the grifkit
"No! I'm the only pet in this gang … I'm not getting unemployed by a stray grifkit" swan said in a condescending tone.
Lana shrugged
"relax we're not dump enough to take it with us…I'm just taking a look at it"
The grifkit layed on her back showing her stomach, it's wings twitching and cried out a loud painful piercing meow
"No..No no no make it stop it's too loud! Make it stop!" Swan said
Lana came even closer to it
"It's .. it's injured" she said stuttering
"Swan .. or zai heal it quickly! So it will shut up"
Swan and zai came to the grifkit and realized the injury was bleeding gold
Swan plucked out a feather from her and gently ran the feather over the wound and healed it quickly…
The cats loud meows slowly started to get lower and lower until it was quiet again
They collectively released a sigh of relief
Lana : okay now let's get going
"hehehehehe" swan was muttering to herself with a grin
Zai blinked twice pressing his lips in a thin line clearly weirded out by swans behaviour
"…. Why are you laughing?" He asked
Swan : "hehehehhe" she laughed even louder and harder
This grifkit is rare you saw the gold in this thing we take it you know what that means "endless gold supply for us when we go to kingdoms and villages"
" yeah right.. so your gonna stab it whenever we need gold?" He said sarcastically
Swan : no need watch this
She plucked out another feather from her and put it in the the grifkit mouth then the grifkit spitted it out it was covered with liquid like gold then it quickly turned solid
Lana crossed her arms
"we can't take it by force tho.."
Then she grinned
"How about we pluck out all of swans feather and turn them into gold and take em hehehehehehehehe" she said as she grinned harder clearly teasing swan
Zai chuckled "good idea"
" WHAT!!" Swan eyes widened and her mouth fell open
Then—
A faint whisper started to spread surrounding them
" take it.. kill it.. stab it doesn't matter .. take the gold .. you need it..do it now
This is one in a lifetime opportunity"
Every strand of hair in their body stood up while the voice got closer and more tempting and giving more excuses to justify the temptation and action
Swans eyes widened in realisation
And said :
" Gulveth "
Lana and zai breath starting getting heavier
" we.. we should go.. we should run!"
Lana and zai said as their voice sounds like it's losing breath
Swan stopped them
"This can't be won by running away … this is a spiritual battle" she said with her breath heavy in worry yet she has to trust them to make the right choice
"Listen to your higher consciousness"
She started speaking as if her voice
Was trying to overtake the the shadow entity's whisper
"Doing this will only send out negative energy into the world. These actions lower your vibration, pulling you further away from clarity, peace,and truth. The more you feed into greed or harm, the more you align with a path that stays low — filled with emptiness, confusion, and darkness and you will never be satisfied swallowing to fill the void but it never will be filled. You might think you're gaining something, but in reality, you're losing yourself bit by bit."
Now it's up to them which voice they will listen to
…..