Traversing Worlds

Arc One Ch. 11

Standing a short distance away from the agreed meeting point a pair of youths in dark furs were waiting for the others to arrive. As more time went on the illusionary that was present during the daylight hours had slowly vanished leaving the pair chilled.

"If you have something to say then speak up." A soft but chilling feminine voice ordered.

The scrawny male youth gave a snort of contempt while looking towards the boundary of the Stonemason pack. "It's time to leave if anyone else had gotten away they would've arrived by now." Which got him a chilling glare in return from her as he candidly spoke the truth they both knew to be true.

"No! I am not leaving until Aquarius comes back." She retorted in a cold sharp tone that left no room for dispute.

The pair glared at one another for some time after that as neither was willing to back down.

This deadlock didn't last long though as a scream suddenly came from the female youth. Her complexion seemed to lose a hint of vitality, while her green eyes which moments before held unwillingness rolled up into her head. As for the scrawny male he watched from the side as she collapsed right after the scream died in her throat.

Not knowing what happened exactly the scrawny male youth silently examined the surroundings before unhappily picking her up and carrying her. "What a pain..." He muttered thinking of how annoying their journey back became at such a late hour.

The Gloomy Forest during the night became strangely quite as if even those ferocious beast that resided within dared not to take a single breath. This oppressive force weighed heavily on the scrawny male youth's shoulders as he carefully treaded along small and broken pathways. If this were a normal day carrying this burden of a sister along wouldn't pose much of a problem, now that night had fallen one single mistake made by him could cost them both their lives.

'Do you know what the scariest existence in the forest is Sky?' A sweet voice whispered in his ears causing him to remember the past.

'Is it Mother in a bad mood?' He'd answered back in a naïve tone at the time but now it was spoken by a disembodied voice.

'No but your pretty close mother is scary in a bad mood but there is something far worse than her you can find within the forest. It's known as the Phantom, without a proper physical form it roams the Gloomy Forest at night hunting for weaklings like you.' Remembering how his sister spoke such words with a twisted smile on her face it didn't come out as chilling as now.

Later on he found out that such stories were told since the Alpha who founded their pack had settled within this place. Never once after that did he believe such a story was truly real, instead believing it to be made up by some paranoid mind. So he kept his mind focused on the path in front of him, Sky ignored the whispering voice that he believed weren't real. His step stopped right before the path suddenly ended at a large mass of dark water. "Troublesome..." He muttered while being to take in the area around them to see if there was a way of crossing without ending up in the water.

Taking only a brief glance he notice a few possible ways of crossing though all of them relied on an uncertain element, a fallen tree that laid in the middle of the water. 

As he made a few brief calculation on whether he could handle this complex jump a sudden burst of pain made him cry out. The sight of dozens of small red lines appearing along his exposed skin, as for the normally cold and aloof expression it had turned grim at the ghastly sight. The strange mental oppression had turned from bearable tolerable to a heavy weight that dulled his sharpened senses. "Don't believe I can't eat you both up in one bite?" That sweet and enchanting voice asked in a playful tone.

Those dozens of small red lines turned larger and deeper as they became more numerous. This time Sky gritted his teeth while pushing himself forward using a half sunken tree to kick off from he aimed for the fallen tree within the murky waters. Pushing off from the rotted log that broke under the force of his jump Sky made it to the other side safely while carrying his sister.

A feeling of drowning overcame the scrawny youth as that pressure continued to weigh down on him. "You can't escape from me." Chills ran down Sky's spine hearing the sweet voice as it whispered right into his ear.

Without turning around Sky began following the shortest path he knew back to the pack. These twisted broken paths that lined up weren't used very often due to a variety of different reason but were all generally within the same vein, infestations of either plants or animals.

Running along the dirt pathway Sky noticed almost immediately when he passed the safe area. A scent that had been described to them only as something your brain couldn't resist hit his nose. Stepping forward towards the large red flowers in a daze Sky felt pain once again bursting all along his skin.

The burning pain running along his skin allowed Sky to regain his senses for a brief moment that allowed him to escape the enticing scent of the flowers though he couldn't resist a glance at the Phantom. A burning eye is all he took notice of before pushing himself forward towards the dirt path. Laughter followed behind him causing chills to run down his spine.

Running through the darkness Sky found himself relying more and more on the glowing fungus that littered the trees and forest floor. Till he came upon large swaths of spider webs coving the trees up into cloud like shapes as the faint sound of buzzing got louder.

"You can't get away from me." That sweet voice whispered near his ear as pain bloomed once more along his skin, gritting his teeth Sky continued along the path covered in webbing.

At first the swaths of webbing came down toward the ground making it easy enough to avoid. It wasn't until the low buzzing became irritatingly loud that Sky tripped into an area surrounded by the webbing without any opening to slip through. Branches littered the ground when getting up he haphazardly grabbed one and listened closely to the three ways while also trying to use his sense of smell.

Cutting through the thin strands of webbing he assumed to be the safest option. Seeing nothing coming at him, Sky readjusted his hold on his sister before moving forward while swinging away at the wall of webbing. With each strike though it required him to exert more and more effort as the pressure given off by the Phantom weighed down on him both physically and mentally.

With a muddled mind Sky continued swing the branch in his hand in front of him as he pushed himself forward even as the Phantom attacked him.

From afar a pair of men dressed in dark furs noticed a bloodied figure heading towards them. Neither one was expecting to see anyone at this time of the night as only aggressive beasts and large bugs ever showed up so they hurried over to the pair and found them to be the Alpha's children Sky and Emerald.