Dark Halls Trinity: Rising shadows.

::CHAPTER 2::

At the edge of GreyClaw forest as Tinferd was up in flames, a Fox creature sits on a tree branch, He has mostly orange fur, his chest and stomach are white and the tip of his tail and ears are red. One of his eyes is pupil-less, and gold, the other is green with a slitted pupil, a large gray mark surrounding it. He has two tails, one a large but otherwise normal fox tail, the other a long, whip-like tail. It has six spines close to the end of it, they are folded down towards the tail, keeping them out of the way, the tip of the tail has a small red leaf-shaped part that gives off a low glow. . . .

I looked out at the smoke rising into the sky in the distance. "Been a while since something's happened in that town," I said, talking to myself. I turned around and hoped tree branch to tree branch, heading back deeper into GrayClaw. In only a few minutes, I climbed down from the trees, walking toward the edge of the cliff, and looking down at the lower levels of the crater. I hear wing beets behind me. I turn around to see a harpy land in front of me. She has mostly black feathers with gray ones sprinkled over and large completely white eyes.

"Do you wish to go back to your level, friend?" She asked. I nodded in response, she then lifted herself off the ground and grabbed me in her talons as she brought me back down to the mid-layer of the Crater. As she placed me on the ground, she nodded to me before speeding off into the sky and above the clouds. None of GrayClaw native harpies had names, and they've been stuck here for almost ten years, since their god attacked and killed all but five of them.

I had been a good friend with one of them, he managed to make a deal with their god to leave him and his children alive as long as they stayed here in GreyClaw. He died a couple years ago at the age of 203. His four children took up his role not long after, to make traversal of the three layers of the forest simpler and possible for most of the creatures, though I know it's been rare for the youngest to come down from the clouds.

I walked farther into the forest towards the nearby pond. As I crossed into the clearing around it I sensed another presence on the other side of the pond. Looking, I could see a younger Greyclaw fox, one of my sisters. She has white fur and blue eyes, and looks like she is around half my age. She was drinking. "Why are you here again? Last time I checked, Mother didn't want me near any of y'all or vice versa!" I hollered across the pond. As she noticed me, she jumped. "Uhm, I. . . I didn't know you were here Shadow, I'll. . . I'll go." She said before turning and speeding back into the forest towards Mother's territory.

I huffed and drank some water, I had seen her hanging out around here twice the past week, and countless times over the last couple months. I finished drinking and turned towards a nearby tree. I walked over to it and uncovered a hole at its base covered in sticks and leaves. I crawled inside and used my tail to close it behind me. Crawling down the tight tunnel into a small den. The walls were held together by moss and roots. There was another exit opposite the one I came in that went down to the bottom layer of the crater.

I had left a small kill in here, though I noticed it was gone, and I gave off a low growl. I guessed that my sister had taken it and that was why she was here, and she somehow managed to get in and out before I got back. That would explain why she was even here in the first place. She looked young, and I can most likely say that our mother had no part in this. I couldn't smell her scent in here, which means she was probably hiding it. I shook my head as I walked toward one of the roots outstretched from the wall. Hidden on it hung a necklace. It hadn't been touched and I picked it up off the root. I felt a tingling sensation for a second, I walked over to a bed of moss and layed down. Closing my eyes, and drifting off to sleep.

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In the tree trunk at the edge of the forest about 30 minutes later.