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[b]Randold & Hania[/b]

[quote=Arin]As Hania screamed and Randold held his ground, Arin let his ill mind take over. He turned and sprinted down the same path as Anise, holding the lantern up high as he did so. The fact that they couldn't investigate the area further disappointed him, but maybe he could return soon. To both find clues, as well as admire Randold and Hania's corpses.[/quote]

With the lantern went the light. The wolf snarled, Hania screamed, the platform clinked and clanked, and shadows devoured it all.

Only just before the light was gone...

[quote=Randold]He walked away from the platform getting some good distance, then simply ran at his highest speed. The insane part comes into play when guessing where the ground ends and the newly formed hole began because in this insane plan he had to jump over it. When he felt it was right Randold leaped forward his arms stretched out, when he came into contact with a small body he instinctively held her close has he started to roll forward. With a grunt Randold landed on the other side of the hole, although with absolutely no idea how close they were to falling.[/quote]

The owl silently released Randold's shoulder, unwilling to follow him in his madness. It flapped away, quiet, into the woods.

With barely enough light to see Hania's silhouette, Randold had brought her safely to the ground -- at the expense of his ankle, which was now trapped in a knot of roots. Upon first appearances he must have lodged his foot there when he landed, but they seemed to slowly be growing tighter around his ankle.

The last small flash of red light disappeared among the trees, and, Randold and Hania were left in complete darkness. Eyes closed or open, there was no difference -- there was only a thick, hungry black.

In the darkness, the ticking of the platform was hollow and deafening.

[i]TICK . . . TOCK . . . TICK . . . TOCK . . . TACK![/i]

There was a sound of a lock falling into place -- and then, quiet.

The wolf had stopped growling, but Randold and Hania would hear its paws moving in the weeds. They would hear it breathing -- a low, rasping sound.

And then, they heard something else. Something was snaking through the weeds, rustling and churning. There were several of them, weaving along the ground all around them. They were coming closer, all of them headed directly for Randold and Hania.

The wolf began to growl and snarl again, but it was not directed at them. The great wolf was moving through the weeds, its teeth snapping and paws digging. The roots around Randold's ankle were squeezing harder. They began to wrap their way up his leg. They were hungry.

And all the while, all Randold and Hania could see . . . was dark.

[b]Anise & Arin[/b]

[quote=Arin]Arin admired her presence in the lanterns light for a brief moment. The two of them were practically alone in the forest, he could murder her pointless life now and nobody would know. Not even Randold or Hania. He could simply say she was mauled by a creature. The idea was utterly provocative but Arin's face remained blank. [/quote]

It could have been a trick of the forest that pressed so close around them, but for a moment the lantern seemed to glow a slightly deeper red.

[quote=Anise]A scream echoed through the trees and Anise shuddered. What had she done? She had left them behind. In the dark. With that thing. Regret instantly hit her. . . . "We need to go back and help. I'll not have their deaths on my conscience. I'm Anise by the way." She grabbed a sizable branch that was loose on the ground and began to jog back up the path back to where they had come from.[/quote]

The path rose and fell and twisted; it was overgrown with weeds and prickled flowers, crossed by jutting roots and fallen trees. It was rough, muddy in places; stones pricked her shoes and thorns tore her dress. All around, the forest was alive: crickets and toads, screeching rats, rustling leaves, and a sighing and murmuring echo that haunted the shadows.

But unlike the blind darkness she had run through to get here, now Anise could see. She could see the individual trees, she could see the branches and boulders that stood in her way, she could see the little animals flitting through the boughs and scurrying on the bark. To Anise, it all seemed illuminated as if by a full moon. Though Arin could only see what the lantern's light touched, it was Anise who had the ability of sight in the darkness.

It might have to do with the branch she had picked up from the path. If she were to investigate it a little closer, she might find a string of little runes burned into it. They sparkled, ever so slightly.

But this path was much longer than the one she had traveled before. Anise could run and run, but everything looked different, the path twisted in directions unfamiliar to her, and although she could see her surroundings she could not see the lantern-tree.

The path forked. The trail to the left led up a rocky hill, beyond which was the sound of falling water. In the distance along this path, candlelight flickered; Anise might even make out a small house beyond the hill, nestled comfortably in the rocks, a candle burning in its window.

The path to the right was thin, weedy and overgrown. Roots and fallen trees blocked the way, and shoulder-height weeds served as a perfect home for snakes and rats. This narrow path led down into a ditch, and on through damp moss-hung trees with crippled branches like fingers.

Hania's scream rang out again through the forest, shrieking in pain and terror. It came from the narrow path on the right.

Behind her, Arin was being followed. At first there had only been one firefly that emerged from the dark branches -- and everything, to Arin, was black beyond the reach of the lantern. And then, more fireflies flashed around him, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. They gathered together in a trail behind him, silently pulsing their yellow glow, as if in response to the lantern's red light.