I continued to tail the group of individuals inside of their shadows till nightfall, which was when they all set up a campfire and rested for the night somewhere slightly off of the path - something about not wanting to encounter any tedious monsters. When they all set up camp, I decided to make some distance between me and them - slithering off a bit into the trees before exiting the shadow and climbing up the closest tree, before casting my gaze over at them, watching from above.
I had used up quite a lot of Magical Energy just sitting inside of the shadows of these people, so I needed to exit the world and allow myself to regenerate the Magical Energy I had lost.
Magical Energy;
240/11800
“Yeah, I almost ran out… Probably would have run out if I didn’t fixate my position onto that girl's shadow…”
I thought to myself, exhaling lightly before closing the window and looking back over at the group. The two ladies were already asleep, sleeping next to one another while the two males were sitting by the campfire and just talking to one another. I guess they had decided to spend the night in shifts - first the two guys stayed up and watched then the women.
Makes sense - in these woods, you never know what may pop out unexpectedly. That troll and sixtails from before immediately come to mind when it comes to potentially highly dangerous creatures that may appear out of nowhere.
I watched the two men talk to each other for another half an hour or so, until eventually I rested my head down onto the large tree branch that I was laying on, before exhaling a bit heavily. I was quite curious about those Abyssal Ruins that the group was headed to - as they seemed to be unable to stop talking about them. Just what could they be?
In my mind, they probably were a very dangerous yet filled to the brim with treasures dungeon, where I could potentially gain some really nice amounts of experience from the monsters and then potentially even the dungeon boss.
Now of course, the ruins could also be anything else - perhaps something of no interest at all - however I was kind of holding onto a hope that they were a some kind of dungeon or a place with strong monsters where I could gain some levels - after all, I kind of am in need of experience and levels.
Yawning a bit, I closed my eyes - drifting off into sleep not long after.
……
Everything was dark.
I looked around in slight confusion, shaking my head a bit before looking down at my hands.
Where am I?
What is this place?
How did I get here?
Then I heard a gentle voice speak from the side. Looking over, I didn’t see anyone there, which crept me out a bit. I got up from the cold feeling ground and looked around once more, shedding a slight sweat.
‘Hello? Is anyone there?’
I spoke out, my voice slightly trembling.
Despite feeling fine, when I spoke my throat felt sore and it felt like my voice was being crushed on the inside - as if something was hanging onto my vocal cords, not allowing me to speak normally.
After recuperating a little bit, I spoke up again.
‘Hellooo?’
I called out, a bit louder this time. Once again - it hurts to speak. Only this time, it felt even worse, as it felt like my vocal cords and neck were being sliced in half with a knife and then ripped out. Then, I heard a gentle voice once more.
‘Why?’
I looked behind me, seeing a young man and a young girl standing far off into the darkness around me. I raised an eyebrow at first, but then my eyes widened as I realised and recognised the scene playing out in front of me.
‘I hate you!’
The young girl shouted at the young man, before turning around and running off into the darkness - disappearing. I reached out towards the girl running, before pulling my hand back. I stared at my palm for a bit, before looking at the young man who was still standing in the darkness, tears dropping from his eyes as he turned around and walked off into the darkness - disappearing as well.
I grabbed a hold of my head, a tear dropping from my right eye.
My head hurts. My heart hurts. My body hurts. Everything hurts. I could almost feel myself being split into two by some unknown and invisible force - as if I was being pulled from the right and left side at the same time.
After feeling the pain for a bit, I lifted my head up and in front of me, the same girl I had seen earlier was standing right there - with a shadow over her face and her expression gloomy and upset.
I tried to speak out towards her, however not a single sound left my mouth - it was almost like my neck was suddenly blocked by something internally and my vocal cords had completely disappeared. The girl looked up towards me before turning around and walking away. I quickly reached out towards her - as I heard the same sentence over and over again.
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I hate you,
I Hate You.
I heard whispers fill my mind as rapidly flashing images began to rush through my mind. They were mostly nonsense, however some of them I could make out. Some scenes were of my mundane life and existence - others of some grim and dark scene.
Then, after all these flashing images seized - a single image appeared in my mind, one that was slightly obstructed by static. It was a grim scene of a large open field in which dust and smoke covered the ground. Bodies and weapons laid everywhere - and the environment was stained with blood. In the middle of the entire field, there stood a single, tall figure - which wore a dark coat that gently moved in the wind.
The figure turned its head around and looked at me - its eyes bright light blue and shining, with black void filled pupils inside of the bright light blue colour. Then, I saw a message flash across the entire thing.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Wake up.
I woke up breathing heavily - scarred to death.
I could feel my heart beat rapidly and my blood rush. It felt like I had just had a life threatening event occur to me - like I had just barely somehow escaped the clutches of death.
“Wh… What was all that? Was that all just a dream..?”
I thought exhaling lightly as I looked around.
I could finally feel my heart rate return to normal as my breathing calmed down.
“Another nightmare… I swear, these nightmares will make me terrified of going to sleep.”
I shook my head lightly, choosing to forget all the things I had just seen inside of the nightmare. Afterwards, I looked over to where the group had set up their camp yesterday - luckily, they were all still there and in fact, only now had slowly begun to pack up their things.
Exhaling again, I quickly took a look at my Magical Energy reserves.
Magical Energy;
11800/11800
Sweet, it has fully recovered. That means I can continue following these guys for today as well. I stretched out my long slender body, before leaping off of the branch I was on and sunk into the shadows below, before quickly moving over to the group and locking myself to the same girl's shadow as yesterday.
This also allowed me to overhear their current conversation, while they all packed their things.
“I hope nothing jumps out on us today - after all, we’ve finally reached the Abyssal Woods fourth sector. This place is full to the brim with dangerous monsters.”
A deeper voice spoke - my guess being that the voice belonged to the man who was dressed in the heavy armour.
“You worry too much Earl - I’m sure we won’t encounter anything today. And besides…”
A woman's voice replied to him, most likely being the witch looking woman I saw yesterday as her tone and way of speech did match that which I heard yesterday. I heard footsteps as her shadow walked over to the girl whose shadow I was wrapped around.
The woman then placed her arms over the other girl's shoulders, hugging her.
“Anna will ensure that we won’t encounter any highly dangerous monsters - right Anna?”
“Hm? Oh - yeah! No need to worry Earl, I know where I’m going. You should place your trust in your ranger!”
Anna replied, before looking at Earl with what I imagine was a confident expression? It was a bit hard to tell judging off of her shadows movement as none of their shadows had faces - so I was going solely based off of their body movements.
Earl seemed to roll his eyes before looking over at the other male - Alex I believe his name was.
“Hey Alex! Are you done over there? We’re kind of ready to bounce already.”
He called out to Alex, asking him the question with a slightly annoyed sounding tone. The aforementioned other male seemed to be crouched over by some bushes a bit away from where the group had set up their camp, as if searching for something inside them.
He rustled around in the bushes for a bit, before letting out a heavy exhale and looking over at the rest of the group, before standing back up and walking over at them, throwing on his bag.
“Sorry - I was just making sure we weren’t visited by any creatures in secret during the night. Even if we were sleeping in shifts, you never know what could have happened around us.”
“Yeah yeah - We get it, safety first. But I’d like for us to move now so that we can get to the fifth sector of the forest before nightfall.”
Earl responded by crossing his arms.
The two women nodded in agreement which caused Alex to sigh before looking at Anna.
“Alright then let’s move. Anna - lead the way.”
“Right on it!”
The young girl replied with an enthusiastic voice before flipping around and beginning to move - the other three individuals following after her. Finally, back onto the road - now I suppose all there is to do is just chill here and listen to what these guys babble about.
Hours went by.
The sun was dead above us and shined down - indicating that it was the middle of the day. The group was slowly moving down the path, with Anna leading them all while the two males kept on the look out and the witch looking lady remained between the two males. I guess this was a sort of patrol group position that they were all in - in order to be able to react to whatever was happening around them.
Magical Energy;
8078/11800
“I am using up quite a bit of magical energy… with these reserves, I have about enough for another eight hours before I run out.”
I thought, before exhaling and closing the window. If we assume it’s the middle of the day - so about twelve o’ clock - that would mean I had enough magical energy to just barely make it to eight o’ clock in the evening.
It’s a bit insane how sitting inside of the shadows consumes around one thousand of my maximum magical energy every hour… I thought my current amount was great, but seeing how fast it can drain, I will most definitely need to find ways to increase it. Who knows - maybe things such as magic items exist in this world too.
I mean - so far this whole world seemed to work quite a lot like those RPG games people loved in my previous life.
The group kept moving forward for a while before suddenly the girl whose shadow I was wrapped around suddenly stopped and ordered the others to also stop. I looked around confused - it was hard to see what was going on inside of the shadow world, but judging off of the group's body language, I’m guessing a monster showed up?
“There’s something approaching.”
Anna stated, lowering her hand down to her sheathed dagger.
The others nodded to one another as the heavily armoured man walked in front of the elven girl and took the shield and mace off his back while the other male took a stance next to Anna, unsheathing his blade.
The other woman took a stance behind them all, manifesting a staff which seemed to be made of dead vines and tree branches.
Was she perhaps a spell caster of sorts?
I mean, that would explain the witch's appearance and why she didn’t have any regular weapons like the others.
The group looked a bit tense as they all just stared down the path.
I felt a bit confused for a bit - unsure what had made them all this alarmed, however then I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as an intense presence suddenly appeared. Usually, while inside of the shadows I could not feel a single thing that was going on in the physical world, but this time… I felt a strong presence.
It wasn’t as strong as the one I had felt with Arabor when I first encountered him, but it most definitely was stronger than any other presence I had felt up until now - I’d even say that it was stronger than that mysterious cloaked man who I saw kill the sixtails.
Followed by the presence, I finally saw the shadow of the individual from whom this strong presence was coming from. Based on the shadow, it was a humanoid individual, however, definitely not human, as I spotted five tails behind it. The individual seemed to be dressed in clothing that I instantly recognised - a… kimono? Wait, but that shouldn’t be possible.
How does something from my world transfer to this one?
Especially something as insignificant and random as a kimono.
“Who is that? A person?”
Earl asked. Anna shook her head.
“Definitely not. A person wouldn’t have five tails behind them. Fea?”
Anna looked back at the witch, who sharpened her gaze onto the individual. Afterwards, she shed a sweat and backed up a bit. Anna looked at her confused about moving towards her, before Fea shook her head and looked at Anna nervously.
“Be careful - That… creature is one that doesn’t possess any magical energy. I can’t get a read on it.”
She stated with the others nodding.
The individual walked closer and closer, eventually coming out into the light and revealing her appearance. She had white, long hair which was caught in a ponytail behind her and five white tails also behind her, as well as a pair of fox-like ears - which were also in a white colour.
She wore a dark blue kimono, which was decorated with lighter blue flame like patterns and white accents. The kimono covered her entire body and stretched down all the way to her feet, where she wore a pair of footwear that looked a lot like getas…
She really was like a Japanese woman… just minus the ears, tails and her canine like eyes.
“My, my - I was tailing a rogue monster but instead I seem to have found a group of foolish humans that have wandered a bit too deep into the woods.”
She spoke, her tone cold and almost teasing. The group tensed up as the woman looked at them with a wide grin and at the same time, a stone cold serious expression.
“Would you all be so kind as to hand over the monster you’re hiding? I have business with it.”
Just a bit curious - is the story enjoyable/interesting so far? (Your feedback is very much appreaciated!)
