Enna Is a Land God- Book:2

What Did I Expect? Really!?

Our trip through the village was oddly quiet as we made our way to the Dark once I was sure that the evacuation preparations were about done. It wasn't that the village was empty, because it wasn't. There were still people rushing about, kobolds being sure they hadn't left grandpa in his room or that their pets were gather, all that sort of thing. But the mood was that of fear and sadness, over shadowing the excitement of it all. The death of the family this morning weighed heavily on all of our minds, and everyone seemed to be working with speed, their heads lowered, only speaking in whispers.

The feeling was made all the more eerie by the fact that we were heading straight for the Dark. Once we cleared the town and entered the no-man's-land between there and the Dark, everything grew completely silent, the only sound being the whisper of the autumn wind over dried and yellowing grass. 

The forest itself was rather imposing as I and the three men approached the tree line. It was almost a wall of dense foliage that rose a hundred feet or more up to the canopy, where the interlocking branches all but blocked out any sunlight from reaching the forest floor. The effect was to make the entire forest look as if it was kept in a perpetual twilight. Standing on the outskirts, I could not see very far in. I could smell the scent of autumn decay about the place and could hear a lot of branches scraping together above my head. It was a little spooky, but not down right terrifying. Not yet at least.

"Must we really go in here...?" Grumbled Draxly, glaring at the dark trunks of trees, his claws out and ready for anything. "This place makes my fur itch."

"Agreed." Said Brillum, eyes scanning every surface for potential attackers.

"There is no point in asking or complaining." Huffed Lagdon, prodding me in the back to get us all moving forward. "You know full well she will not be satisfied till this is done. Best to do it now while the sun is high in the sky and we are ready to leave."

"You know me so well." I sighed, maybe a little sarcastically as we all shuffled over the border and into the twilight.

We did not need to go far for me to get the information I desired. In fact, even the first few steps into this dark and mysterious place provided me with at least a little insight. I knew, instantly, that this place was old. Certainty, it was older than the few centuries since Aeros had begun neglecting his duties. I couldn't remember who had said it, but someone had said that the Dark was maybe even older than the dragon himself. I could believe that now. It just felt antient. But what it did not feel, was malevolent. If there was evil here, it was not because the Dark itself was evil. 

It was magical, however. I could feel the place Absolutely buzzing with the energies all around me. There was no shortage of life and power here, even when the rest of my inherited lands had been dyeing off when I came here to this world.

"Well?" Asked Lagdon as we came to a stop just about fifteen feet into the forest.

I looked around us. It was dim and the trees grew close with thick, thorny bushes all around. I couldn't see nor sense any animals, but there did appear to be plenty of glow bugs flittering about, their dim green lights all that lit up the forest. It looked Darkly enchanted.

I knelt down to the mossy ground, setting a hand on the earth and closing my eyes. I was trying to connect with the land, as I did with the other parts of my territory. I was surprised to feel resistance to my mental, magical probing. Like the Dark was warry of my touch, But after a moment the push back eased and I found myself swimming in the energies of the place. It was as  dense as I had thought, and I could tell immediately that there were many powerful creatures living here, even if I could not instantly locate them. But only one stood out like a sore thumb.