Forest of Ceylis

Neraru did not feel calm nor safe, even with Maion standing next to her. Especially once when it became very obvious that it was her father. For a few moments, she completely forgot that Maion was even there with her and started falling into that dark place inside herself where she usually lost control of her magic.

However, instead she did something that would have made her father extremely proud. Before she fell into neverending despair, she seemed to shake it off for the most part. Her speech however seemed to reflect how deeply troubled she was, her tone low and her voice very shaky.

"It.. that.. it's my dad.. that's his shadow.. but.. that means.. that he is back in that monster's world.. where that bad thing lives.."

She shivered a little at the thought, not wanting to go back to that place ever again, but she would to save her father. She wished she had just kept the monster inside of her head.

The shadow being walked closer to the two, passing within feet of them. The whispers continued to grow until they began to sound like they were trying to quietly shout at the them. They could make out individual words like "run away" and "don't touch" and similar warnings. They were obviously trying to get the two away from the projection, and it obviously sounded like some sort of intelligence was trying to speak to them.

The projection slowly came to a stop, and looked to the two people. It tilted its pitch-black head, and they could see the halo moving with the head. At this point, the whispers seemed to die back down to a hushed murmur.

Maion now had a very good idea of what the shadow meant, it was literally a shadow. She stepped between Nera and the shadow, wisely doing as the warnings pleaded.

- Nera, tell me what you know about how we go into this place. I believe your father is in there, and telling us exactly how to go in, except he's telling us not to do it. Does touching these shadows make us get transported into the shadow creature's dimension? I'm asking before we do something because it is very important to know these things before we act. I believe I might be able to go in there and try to rescue him, but since it's very dangerous, I may fail and need to retreat. If I can't do anything about it while I'm in there, and you're there too, I don't know if I'll be able to keep you safe.

She already knew Nera enough to know she was brave when it was about her family, even if she was a very troubled girl. She knew even suggesting going inside could bring her father back would make her want to do that, but she still had to try and make her look at the situation with less desperate eyes.

Neraru's eyes remained focused on the shadowy creature, hoping that somehow it wouldn't be her father, but of course every moment she spent looking at it made it more clear that it was. She hung on the shred of hope that if the shadowy being was telling them to stay away, maybe her father's consciousness was still in there somewhere.

At first she didn't register what Maion was saying, which was probably made very clear by her eyes completely mesmerized by the creature. As a result, she joined into the conversation midway, "If.. if you touch them.. you do go to that place.. but.. why doesn't it want us to go to it's world?"

The shadow stopped moving altogether, and stared at the two with a tilted head. It looked as if it was trying to study them, their actions, their speech patterns. Maion could begin to feel a sense of the same evil intentions that she had felt in her previous encounter with the monster.

The whispers died down more, and one voice began to speak louder than the rest. Nera could instantly tell it was her father's voice. Lute sounded like he was doing his best to yell at her. He was saying the opposite of the previous whispers, trying to tell Nera to touch the shadow, to save him, to try and actually help her father for once.

Maion, of course, could feel the evil presence rising along with this new voice. However, the voice wasn't saying anything about her, only mentioning Nera.

Maion knew this was probably the shadow telling them to do the opposite of what Nera's father wanted them to do... and using his voice to do so. She didn't want to lie to Nera, so she told her what she was going to do.

- Nera, I believe your father tried to warn us not to get any closer, because that would trap us. Now, I feel the monster's evil presence, so this voice calling us is probably the shadow mimicking your father. telling us to do the opposite, and probably planning to trap you and me. We shouldn't do what the monster is asking, but I will go and try to save your father anyway. My mission here is not to interfere with other people's decisions, but instead, to guide them. I must tell you that this is very dangerous, and I would rather go alone. BUt I need to know if you want to do this. I won't stop you, but knowing you're taking the risk will at least give us the advantage to plan something, even if it is quick.

She looked at the shadow again, knowing the shadow was probably listening to them. It didn't matter if they had a plan or not, but making Nera head into this with confidence was crucial, as the shadow would probably try to assault her if her mind was weak and confused.

- Tell me when you're ready, or if you want to wait here and let me do it. But please, don't do anything without letting me know.

((My apologies for my super late post. Had a really hectic week.))

Confidence was not something Neraru had, which became even more obvious when she heard her father's voice through the shadow. Though the sounds were her father's, even she could sense the cruelty behind it and she knew that it wasn't really him. Immediately, she pinned her auds back against her skull to try to muffle out of the voice. The shaking that had started when they first set on the creature had not stopped, and her instability was just continuously growing.

Once Maion began to speak, she tried to focus on that instead to keep the voice out of her head, but it only partially worked. At the very least, she got the gist of what the wolf was saying, "The only way to get to him though.. is by touching the shadow. If it has to go inside of me again.. then that's what I'll do.. but it can't.. I don't want it to keep hurting my family anymore."

Maion knew Nera wasn't confident that she could do it, but tried to show her some hope anyway.

- Look, I know it's been hard fighting this monster until now, but you made it this far. From what you told me, you kept it from doing harm to your family by keeping it inside of your mind, so you are strong, or else worse would have happened for sure. Your mate Kerunine and your children are safe now. Maybe you had bad times and got hurt, but now everyone is alive, and I wasn't here before, but you managed to endure this. Do you realize this monster is not stronger than you? He's trying to get to other people, like your father, as a way to assault you indirectly, because it knows it couldn't beat you. That's why I'm telling you to face this without fear, because that's exactly what the shadow wants.

Hopefully, she would raise her confidence even a little bit, but they couldn't wait anymore.

- Nera, I'm going to touch the shadow now. Think of what you have already acomplished against it and follow me. Let's get your father to safety just like you did to the rest of your family. Trust me, you can do this, because that's the same thing you've been doing until now!

With these last words, Maion stepped closer to the shadow and touched it, hoping a renewed Nera would quickly follow her.

Neraru still didn't think she was stronger then the shadow demon monster, specifically because it had taken over her father's body. And her father was the strongest magefox in existance according to her. However, she was very grateful to this wolfess she barely knew; Not only was she willing to risk her neck for people she barely knew, but she strived to encourage Nera. That alone gave her the strength and confidence to want to help.

Though Nera was silent, she gave a determined nod and followed Maion over to the shadow monster. She tried her best to keep calm; She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and reached her paw out to the shadow.

When Maion touched the shadow, Nera saw the same sight she had witnessed in the desert: Maion's entire body instantly turned pitch-black, into another shadow. As Nera reached out to the Luteshadow, she could hear two last disturbing voices: Maion and Lute were both laughing at her, a malicious and hungry laugh.

As the two of them actually touched the shadow, their worlds changed. The Luteshadow they touched disappeared as if it had done its job and was no longer needed. A wave of darkness draped over the sky like a blanket. The sun blinked out, engulfed by the wave, and the sky turned black. The darkness swept past them, changing the land. The trees and landscape around them disappeared and changed, sweeping them into an entirely new area of the forest.

After a few seconds, the world stopped changing, and everything went quiet. The two were left in a very dark, cold, unwelcoming forest, much different than the Ceylis they were in a few seconds ago. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle breeze rustling the trees around them.

Maion looked around and saw what she knew was a warped version of the material plane. Shadow creatures lacked in creativity that much.

- So, you could have created a world of your own, but you chose to twist what people are used to. Very clever if you pick people who believe they're still there. Unlike us.

She realized Nera had followed just as she touched the shadow, this was a good thing. She was determined.

- Nera, I want to ask something about your father. If he saw this place, would he know this is another world, or would he get confused and start walking around looking for a way out? I'm asking this because we might need to find him, or we might need to uncover him. If he tried to fight the shadow, he might still be around here, with the shadow hiding him from us. I'm hoping he didn't wander too far.

But this could also be a mind realm, instead of a mirrored material plane... she kept that possibility for herself for now, so she wouldn't confuse Nera. First, they needed some clues of what this place was.

Nera, having been in this realm before, we as prepared as she could have been to enter it. She brushed off the hungry voices as an illusion, determined to rescue her father from the shadowplace.

She looked up to the all familiar surroundings, seemingly unfazed by it all, but she was still uncertain how far she would be able to press her abilities in this realm this time around. After a moment, she responded to Maion.

"I'm not quite sure.. I still don't know how he got stuck here. He may have been trying to fight it off, but he's been here before so he must know it's not real. Even so... he might not be looking for a way out.. but a way to get the creature.. my father is very brave."

Despite Nera's claims that Lute was very smart and brave, he probably wasn't quite as omniscient and powerful as Nera would want to believe. But he was the bravest Lute ever, damnit.

The area lit up a tiny bit for a second, enough to let the two realize something was going on. The source was coming from a particular direction. If they looked in that direction, they'd see something unusual. A large hill was poking up out of the treeline, defying the forest's natural geography. There were strange protrusions coming out of the hill, obviously some sort of unnatural creation. It was too dark to tell what the objects were, but they were definitely of different sizes and shapes. The light was flickering on top of the tallest object. It was pulsing eratically and strangely, like a candle flame that is trying its hardest not to be snuffed out.

Looking around, Maion finally spotted the weird and misplaced hill. She didn't know what thos forms were, maybe they were people, or just a metaphor for something evil. She tried to make sense of it, but the only thing she could distinguish was the flamey tip of the tallest object.

Nera, I think we should go check that hill over there. I don't know what it is, but in this kind of world, lights are usually things the shadow creatures dislike, and if there's light there, then I'm sure it wasn't created by them. Your father may be there, or may be it. But even if he isn't, he might have seen the hill and decided to take a closer look himself. Do you think we should go there, or do you have another idea?

Maion wanted to go there immediately, but remembering Nera had some knowledge of what they were fighting, she could have interpretated something different that could turn into very useful information.

(how far are we from the hill, Lute?)

Neraru would always think that her father was the bravest, strongest, best father ever. And she probably would turn into angry shadow Nera if anyone ever said otherwise.

She had noticed the light too, having thought something very similar. Her own illusions and abilities had always been hard to manipulate when it was too bright.

"I've never seen something like that.. even when we were in the shadow world before. My father has fire powers, but it is hard to use any magic here. It might be him, but it could be a trap too. This monster tries to mess with your mind.. and can use your thoughts against you in an instant."

She was hopeful at least that it was him, she knew that he would be fighting regardless of how strong this thing was. However, the last time they were here, it wound up being her that made the final blow.

"Either way, we should head over to it.. if worse comes to worse, I can always try to use my magic again."