Hours pa.s.sed. The clouds covered the stars and the new moon, leaving no light for the party to navigate through the foliage. Their clothes and skin shrunk along with their will to keep moving. They occasionally had to stop to take breaks under the thickest tree branches. Their food, no matter how quick they were to eat it after pulling it from their s.p.a.cial rings, was soggy.

The path seemed to stretch on forever. Their eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, letting them see just enough not to smack into trees. Doevm and Frey held up better than Thomas, who tried and failed to hold back his complaints.

Another few hours pa.s.sed. Thunder echoed over the forest, originating a mile or two in front of them. They walked towards it without a choice. There were no flashes of light accompanying the roars, only slight movements in the rain's path, as if they were blown away by something. "Maybe we should find camp," Thomas said. "It's too much for us to keep going this way. Maybe we can find a cave to temporarily stay in."

"Doevm, he's right," Frey said. "I thought we could just walk through this, but the rain is not improving and we have no fire to warm ourselves. We are in bad shape. I think the thunder is only a signal the weather is going to get worse." Doevm turned to them, his entire face covered in a layer of shadows. His mouth opened but the thunder drowned out his words.

Thomas didn't notice anything. For him, it was just another clap of thunder. Doevm and Frey, however, got into stances, their weapons practically flying into their hands. They were like animals who sensed a disaster before humans could. "What's the matter with you two?" Thomas asked, but the two didn't respond. They backed towards Thomas; their spears pointed into the darkness.

"Did you feel that?" Frey asked, not daring to turn his head away from the invisible threat.

"Yeah," Doevm stepped forward. "Let's go check it out."

Frey caught Doevm by the shoulder: "Are you nuts?" Doevm shook free of his grasp, but Frey held his other shoulder. "Whatever that was, it didn't seem welcoming."

"I know," Doevm said as he shook himself free again. Another burst of thunder added onto his voice as he lit a light crystal, illuminating the edges of his white teeth and curious gaze. "Counter argument…" He turned around and headed into the darkness, the light fading behind the leaves and branches.

"Let's follow him," Frey sighed as he mumbled curses under his breath.

"I'm not going close to that." Thomas held up his hands. "I don't know what you guys felt, but it sounded bad. Why should we go near whatever that is?"

"Because," Frey sighed again. "We're safer with Doevm, no matter how crazy he's acting. He's got a knack for surviving. Just trust me on this one." Thomas listened and followed, but he held his spear out. They quickly caught up to Doevm, who had emerged from the forest and was crouched over a broken wooden sig. He had already found most of the pieces and a.s.sembled them. Frey read it over his shoulder: "What does teeaim…teeamwwork…Oh teamwork."

Thomas leaned over Doevm's other shoulder. "It's Jameson's handwriting. He was going to count while you two got in positions to defend me from any-" Thunder boomed as if lightning had struck within a mile from them, yet there was still no light. "What's this?" Thomas picked up a white shard that looked to have once belonged to a mask. He followed the liquid dripping off of it, which led to an opening in the forest.

By opening, that referenced the hole torn in the forest. Instead of continuing the pattern of trees, there was a mess of broken branches and torn leaves. The wreckage formed a wide path which led out of their sight. Doevm held up a shard of metal. "This looks like it belonged to a spear…" He frowned as another round of thunder clapped. As he walked over to the wreckage, he seemed to get smaller. The light dimmed under the ma.s.s of water. He tripped, the light fading into complete black. They heard the crystal shatter as a wet thud smacked against the earth.

Frey pulled out his own light crystal and activated it, only to find that Doevm was gone. He looked at Thomas, then down the road. "We should go find him," He said as he took a step towards the trees, waiting for Thomas to follow.

"Or," Thomas said, "We could get the h.e.l.l out of here before whatever messed this entire forest up comes after us as well." A crash brought an end to his complaints, along with a groan.

"Will someone just come help me up?" Doevm's annoyed voice called out from the darkness.

Thomas smiled: "Oh, I can still hear his voice now. He was such a brave soldier. He will be missed." A pile of curses directed at him and his entire family made his smile fade. "Ok, sheesh. Come on Frey." They walked into the dark, stopping just before a ma.s.sive crater. The light crystal shown down on Doevm, who stood at the bottom with his arms crossed.

"My light crystal broke when I fell." Doevm said as he crouched down. "Hold out your hands." A layer of blue life essence came out of his legs. He jumped and the two caught him.

After pulling him up, Frey leaned over the edge of the hole, s.h.i.+ning the light crystal to the depths: "What creature could dig a hole this deep? You couldn't jump out even with blue life essence."

"No," Doevm gave him a soft punch in the arm. "Because I'm not a giant like you, who could probably leap over a castle." He backed away from the crater. "A creature didn't exactly dig this hole." Frey and Thomas raised an eyebrow. Doevm took the light crystal away from Frey and walked to one of the trees, which was lying over twenty feet from the crater.

When he held it against the trunk, the light seeped into the five deep claw marks around the trunk. He moved down to the roots, which were covered in dirt matching the crater like two puzzle pieces. "The tree, along with everything in the area, was ripped out of the ground. Whatever's out there, it doesn't dig. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what creature could have done this." He scratched his chin.

"Are you some kind of expert?" Thomas laughed before Doevm sent a glare his way.

"Yes, I am. I can a.s.sure you that no creature on this planet can make claw marks like this. While there are creatures with five claws, most of them aren't in the Acrin kingdom, and the ones who are, aren't this big, nor can they scratch like this." He ran his finger along the cut's edge and held it up. "No splintering. Its claws went through a tree like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter."

He inspected more trees while Frey and Thomas trailed behind him like children following their parent. "This one was made by a weapon." Doevm swept his hand through a tree that had been divided down the middle. "I think it was fighting something." He stood up and looked into the darkness. "It was definitely fighting someone." Another crash of thunder was followed by a painful howl. "I think we found our creature." He smiled and walked towards the noise. "So it wasn't thunder we were hearing."

He stopped with the thunder. Through the light patter of the rain against the branches, something was being dragged through the dirt. He stood still; his hand wrapped around his spear. Frey and Thomas got close to him, tightening the grip on their weapons. The dragging got louder as it got closer.

Thomas's heart increased its rhythm, beating louder than the rain. He looked at his two companions, trying to match their blank, unblinking eyes. Some of the clouds moved away from the sky as if parting the way. A thin ray of starlight shown down on a man in the distance, his entire body covered in a layer of shadows. The path had ended just before the man, stretching out into a wide circle. The entire area was covered in a black ooze.

In one of his hands was a giant spherical lump. It dragged against the dirt, knocking against trees and bushes. The liquid dripping from it, when exposed to the light, was the same black liquid on the ground. He cursed as he headed for the three, stepping over craters and twisted trees.

In the man's other hand was a spear. Its broken shaft hung loose like his shoulders. He looked up, noticing the group. A bit of silver life essence flowed from behind his cracked white mask to his eyes, and he sighed. "h.e.l.lo father," Doevm said as his smile grew even wider. "What did you fight?"

"Doesn't matter what I fought since it's dead now," Jameson said as he walked clear out of the trees. His lip was ripped open like parts of his armor. Under his torn s.h.i.+rt, were five shallow wounds going hip to shoulder across his chest. The lump brightened as it got closer, letting Thomas see its red face, but nothing else for Jameson stuffed it into his s.p.a.cial ring. "We're going back to the mansion." He walked with light steps, but everyone made s.p.a.ce for him, as if standing near him were taboo. "I won't test you guys today. I don't know if there's more."