The Forest of Shadows is a giant Forest which extends from Eventale all the way to the edge of the continent, covering a sixth of Erekzu.
No one knows what exactly the forest is besides a forest, all they know is that no one returns from the shadows.
Ciel's mother always told her that the shadows are hideous creatures, monsters who lurk in every corner of the forest just waiting for their prey to enter the forest.
Ciel, however, knew 2 people who came back from the shadows. The father of Kashmir and her very own father.
They never talked about it but they were there. Ciel was a child back then, so she never even dared to ask what happend in there, why they were there and how they escaped.
Her father only said one thing back then: "Prey for time, for which you have non"
And now Ciel was standing in the same forest everyone stays quiet about.
Ciel looked around - unsure what to do, what to think. She was in pain, her back stopped bleeding, but it still hurt like crap.
Her head feeled dizzy and she could see straight. She didn't even know why she looked around, she saw nothing and if, she only saw things distorted and wobbly.
She took a deep breath and listened.
She didn't hear anything, not even a bird singing or a leaf crunching.
It was an eerie peace, strangely she didn't feeled under any kind of danger.
Until she feeled it.
Eyes. Looking at her. Out of the shadows. From the shadows. White burning dots.
Ciel didn't moved. Her heartbeat was so loud, she was sure the eyes would hear it. But she didn't move, didn't breath.
Her white fur, drenched in her own blood, stood still. Her tail hung from her waist, not moving.
She was like a white and red pillar.
Ciel lost her sense of time. Not knowing, not sensing and not registering anything.
She remembered her father's words: "Pray for Tine, for which you have non"
So she prayed.
And prayed.
And prayed.
And prayed.
And forgot.
And remembered.
And prayed.
And forgot.
And didn't remembered.
And remembered.
And prayed.
...
And prayed.
And the two white eyes, the burning suns, to which she prayed for time, went black, leaving her alone again. Alone in the darkness.
She prayed.
And stopped praying.
And collapsed.
She awoke, not in the forest where she collapsed, but on a small, empty plain.
She stood up, pained and tired she looked around.
The forest still around her, still being full of pure darkness, but the plain was illuminated.
Illuminated by the two white suns, burning right in front of her.
She looked into the white suns, hypnotized. She tried to grasp the source of the suns, but she saw nothing.
And then...
Ciel screamed. Not because she was afraid, but because a blade pierced her back, coming right out of her chest.
She fell to the ground.
The blade pierced the ground, holding her body up in the air. She looked between her legs and saw him behind her.
His eyes were full of madness, his body was full of bloody scars and bruises, his left eye was missing.
But Ciel knew who he was.
"Well my little cat, I got you after all", it was Groß, laughing like a maniac.
Ciel looked at him and smiled tired: "Fuck you"
She died.