Two shadow-force creatures from afar:
"They are busy in their subconscious fight… it's the perfect time to strike."
📖 The forces of shadows have two powers:
The physical and the spiritual.
The spiritual are the entities of misguidance.
Meanwhile, the physical are a mix of different creatures that have been misguided and devoted themselves to the shadows.for example creatures with
Power and influence.
Swan's words reminded Lana of someone…
Her mind drifted into a blur, hazy memories surfacing like distant echoes.
Then the fog lifted — and it became clear.
She could see a face.
—Her father's face—
Reciting the same words Swan was now uttering.
She let out a deep breath, steadying herself.
Her jaw clenched, her fists tightening—
Then she opened her eyes, snapping back to her senses.
As she opened her eyes, she glanced at Zai. His were still closed, his expression tense lost in a dilemma.
But not one that had to do with the grifkit or whispers of violence
No—
It was as if he was drowned by whisperes of old memories of fear, his breath gradually getting heavier and sharper.
then he dropped to his knees with a thud, gasping for air.
Lana felt a sharp sting in her heart seeing him like that
She quickly dropped to her knees beside him
Her heart beating faster with worry.
She was reminded by someone
—a friend
Back then whenever Leon collapsed she knew what to say to ease his mind, because she knew him.
But what was she supposed to say to zai?
She barely knew anything about him
"Swan … can't you do something about this?"she stuttered hoping that swan has a remedy
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gently made him lean on her shoulders.
Then from the tips of her fingers she emitted blue flames that soon faintly covered the surface of his entire body
Like dancing entities of calming flames
"Zairis" swan said his name with calm grace of motherly warmth
His breath began to slow, growing steadier with each inhale.
Then he opened his eyes he glanced at swan then his gaze drifting until it met Lana's.
His eyes widened, and his cheeked flushed. he abruptly pulled away
" what just happened?..I didn't say anything stupid did I?"
His expression embrassed. Thinking he might have blurted out something he didn't want them to hear.
Lana and swan rolled their eyes and chuckled
Swan : Welp he's fine… let's get going
Lana looked around scanning for the grifkit it was still there, sitting in silence
She walked towards her and knelt beside her stoking her fur gently
And scratching her chin
The grifkit vomited piles of glittering golden pearls as a token of gratitude for treating her injury
Then—
It flinched and jolted as if it sensed something in the forest's trees.
It ran and hid in the bushes
"…Guys, we're being watched—QUICKLY, RUN!" Swan shouted
They started to run as fast as they could,their feet swift dodging tree branches and jumping sharp rocks while Swan flew ahead of them.
The two shadow creatures started running after them, their hissing sounds sharp—so sharp they made you feel as if you were going to faint.
They kept running and running until they saw a cave shrouded and covered in thick veins at its entry.
Swan: "Quickly, hide here!"
They entered it, the veins and plants covering the sight of them.
Everyone was breathing heavily, scared and anticipating the uncertainty…
The hissing sound faded like a distant echo. Until it was quiet again
Swan: "Zai… your essence is too strong. At this point, they will catch us."
She handed him a purple-blue feather that she summoned out of thin air.
"I assume you know how to activate an illusion feather… put it around your ear.
It helps suppress your essence and change the visuals of your physical appearance.
Quickly, use it now!"
He quickly activated it.
His once-blue diamond eyes turned like ember honey,
his icy night-blue hair turned to brunette,
his sky-bluish silk cloth turned into an entirely different fabric and style with neutral colors.
Most importantly, his essence was concealed.
Swan: "Seriously… you chose to look like Lana?"
Zai: "Wait… what?" He stuttered
Swan: You know you have one chance to choose your visual appearance…
"Ugh, never mind." She groaned
Zai's face turned red from embarrassment.
Lana crossed her arms and leaned on the cave walls "Now we look like siblings."
(She chuckled.)
"Shhhh" swan interrupted
"It's quiet outside.." she said as she peaked through the veins
Zai turned to look around , his eyes widened
"Umm… guys, look behind you."
Everyone turned around and saw a flickering light, as if it led somewhere—to an exit.
Lana: "Hold up, let me light the way."
She emitted fire from her dagger—The floor was full of snakes, hissing!
Zai's face turned white from fear.
"Don't… you dare scream… we can't get caught." Swan said in frustration
The snakes scattered the closer Lana's fire came to them.
Lana: "My fire should keep them away. Stay close to me."
Swan and zai scooter closer to her.
Then they walked toward the light.
Once they reached it, they found another exit covered in veins.
They slashed the veins with their weapons, and behind that exit…
Was a completely different forest.
They were all standing there, immersed by the forest's complexity and beauty.
"The Shapeless Forest…" zai said in awe, his jaw slack.
"No wonder it's called shapeless"
Lana said as her eyes darted immersed
as they stepped further into the forest, the ground beneath them started to shake.
"It's changing!" Zai blurted
Lana and Zai quickly grabbed each other's hands and started running forwards while Swan flew above them.
Then—
The shaking stopped
~Silence~
Their eyes were wide open, the three of them looking at each other's faces back and forth.
Lana: "Phew… good thing the ground didn't break—"
THE GROUND BENEATH THEM BROKE
Swan: "No… no, no!!"
Rocks started scattering in the air so swan had to doge them losing sight of Lana and zai
Lana and Zai fell, rolling on the curves the broken ground made.
The ground continued to break beneath them, eventually ending with them falling underground…
Stuck in a giant place underground like a huge cavren That had tunnels.
Now they were separated from Swan.
They hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Lana: "Ouchh… that… that doesn't hurt as much as I thou—"
Zai quickly put his palms over her mouth, signaling her to stay quiet.
He pointed behind her…
She turned her head to see what he was pointing at.
Her eyes wide open and her pupils shrinking.
It was a giant creature—the body of a wolf,
with curled spiral horns on its head and fur soft as silk,
with small spikes at the ends that glowed in the dark.
It glowed in the color of sky blue.
Then they spotted a squirrel that passed by them.
Eyes wide open! They stared at it straight in the eyes, scared it might make a noise and wake the creature.
And it stared back with its big, cute eyes.
Then it continued to walk.
"Stchhh"—it broke a small stick on the floor by accident while walking!
The creature opened its big eyes wide,
growled, its body shivering
and the spikes that glowed blue turned yellow.
Zai and Lana quickly ducked to the floor, hoping to blend in with the rocks.
It turned its head around, and the moment it spotted Lana and Zai, its face wrinkled and the spikes turned red,,
as if it's signaling its anger.
They quickly stood on their feet
Zai: "As Swan always said…"
Zai and Lana collectively said :
"We're cooked."
The creature didn't do anything. It just kept staring, anticipating their next move.
Lana: "Shall we draw our weapons?" she whispered to Zai.
Zai: "It's either that, or we… walk backward slowly to the tunnel behind us," he whispered back.
Lana: "What if there's another one?"
Zai: "Then… we draw our weapons."
They started walking backward slowly.
Step by step.
The creature growled and clenched its jaws.
However, the spikes' color turned yellow—again.
They stopped in their tracks.
Then its spikes and fur started shivering and changing colors,
as if it was signaling its pack around them.
Then many spikes appeared around them, also glowing—
it was a whole pack surrounding Lana and Zai.
Lana: "I guess we're drawing our weapons then."
Zai: "No, no… wait… it looks like it's trying to communicate? Through—"
"—through colors," Lana completed his sentence.
Lana bit her lips in frustration
"I know this… flame creatures from the Eclipse Forest use signals similar to this."
She summoned her dagger
She took a deep breath hoping what she's about to do works in their benefit.
Zai held his breath and squinted his eyes ready to take sudden action if necessary.
Then she emitted flame,
She turned it from shades of yellow to shades of green, then to shades of blue.
Like the slow swilr of nebula in the night sky.
And finally it settled at sky blue, just like how they first saw the creature glow before waking it up.
All the pack let out a soft growl and tilted their heads in awe and repeated the same color pattern Lana demonstrated with their glowing spikes and horns.
they all settled at sky blue.
📖 These creatures are named:
Glowfang Silence — they are extremely sensitive to sound.
They also signal each other in the dark through colors glowing from their horns and fur spikes
Zai was immersed by the beauty of the flames,
but he also looked shocked for some reason.
Zai: "…You're… you're a flame creature from the Eclipse Forest?" he stuttered and gasped his knees shaking.
Lana brushed his question off
"Not now, Zai… since we're no longer worried about getting killed, let's think of a way to get back up to Swan."
Zai stood up straight holding off the questions spiraling in his head and focusing on the matter at hand
"…Can you communicate that to them?"
Lana: "Ahhaa… I can try?" She said with hesitation as if she doesn't know how to.
The pack then ignored Lana and Zai and went on their way.
All of them started walking deeper into the tunnels.
The Glowfang that first spotted them came closer to Lana
and bent down, as if telling her to get on its back.
Zai : yeah.. we're not sitting on spikes
The glowfangs fur spikes slowly sheathed themselves until only soft fur remained.
Lana climbed snd sat on its back feeling its soft fur against her palms
It gave soft eyes to Lana—meanwhile, when Zai tried to get on its back too, it growled slightly at him.
"Zai, grab my hands." Lana said as she reached her hands towards him
She pulled him up onto the Glowfang's back.
Then the Glowfang started to follow the rest of the pack…