Wɩŋteʀ Rʌveŋ ☾ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥 (TMNT)

18| Lɩʛʜt ʌŋɗ sʜʌɗow

2/28/19

Oh wow I actually published tonight-- I hope you guys like this chapter!

Chapter Eighteen: Light and shadow

As the final horse disappeared into the other side, I leapt after them just in time before it shimmered shut. I glanced back from where I had just come from, only to see a faintly blue illuminated image of the woods as if merely behind a window.

Breath hitching, I turned to see just what secrets this forcefield was hiding.

*                        *                        *

The dark land had left my skin crawling since the moment I stepped through the forcefield, only several minutes ago.

There was no sound except for the occasional tumbling of rocks and the consistent thrumming of the bluish green walls, which surrounded what seemed to be a ginormous valley.

Huge, pointed outcrops of rock like mountains cut through the earth, violently pressing into each other and suffocating the thin trails leading to the center... Where a breathtaking tower of rock stood, twice the size of the ones surrounding us, presenting itself with a starkly crowned top. Somehow, hovering above it, seemed to be an object producing a great rippling light— the only source beside the forcefield walls.

I didn't understand.

Why would Jei come here, where there seems to be no life at all? Wouldn't he rather have some sort of army, besides just a handful of predators and akuma?

I snuck from boulder to boulder as I followed a bit behind the pack, hesitant to get close due to fearing that my scent could be discovered. It had only been about ten minutes now, and in the darkness— the sky was a pitch black color— and shadows of the peaks, I had already lost them once or twice due to being wary.

But I could at some points detect their movements, and always managed to find my way back to the strange pack.

It was now, upon looking around to study the valley once again, that I realized I had gotten too far behind once more. I hissed in pain as I stepped on a particularly sharp pebble, part of the occasional rubble, and grabbed my foot as I tightly clenched my teeth.

"Aw, rats! I lost them and stubbed my toe!" I quietly sighed, pouting as I looked around.

Oh, no offense, Master Splinter!

Thinking of him, even just a name, made me shiver once again; this time, it was not just the faint chilliness or creepiness of the atmosphere. It was because it had been so, so long since I thought of him... or even of the others I left behind on earth.

I was too distracted to even ASK about April and Casey, or Icecream Kitty! And Leatherhead, or Mondo Gecko, or—... was I really here, in this world, for so long that they faded from my memory? Just like that?

... How am I ever going to leave my friends here behind if I could even temporarily forget them as well?

My rambling thoughts were cut off by a sudden lurch of the earth.

I yelped and jumped upwards, landing on a boulder as the earth rumbled and rocks and pebbles spewed like violent waves over the jagged slopes. I covered my head as high pitched, droning noises slashed into my ears, a mournful cry that almost made me collapse, before finally the world shuddered to a thundering stop.