The Verdant Dreamer (Closed)

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara blinked, not expecting this response. She hurried over to Rin, clambering on her back and pointing forwards. "There's a trap up ahead...but if we can survive then we will be home before dark." She explained as her hands began to flicker an emerald green colour. "But be careful... With the fire. It can hurt."

[Medievarad]

The small light strayed sidewards, but kept relatively close to Rin. "A trap?" She inquired, frowning slowly, but nodding. "You mean my fire?"

[CyclicalCycal]

"No...yes! I mean..."

Cara sighed, just pointing forwards. "Go...go to the trap...we can manage. Trust me..." She mumbled, wearily. Her voice betrayed her. She was uncertain. "A-and...be careful with the fire...if you set...the trees on fire...it'll...be bad. V-very bad."

[Medievarad]

"This is a light," she answered with a smile. "It doesn't produce fire," she concluded, before nodding. "Here we go," she murmured, taking several strides forward defiantly.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara continued guiding Rin through the forest, and they began to enter a section that was...odd. It was not normal, no, nature didn't form a 'tunnel' of trees. At the end of it, there was a clearing, that was sunlit and bright. "...be careful." Cara warned, as they began to approach it.

[Medievarad]

Rin stopped as she noticed the canopy starting to close around them, frowning slowly. "Illusion magic?" She pondered the question, before glancing at Cara on her shoulder and nodding. "I will be," she answered with a soft smile, before moving on.

[CyclicalCycal]

As the duo walked into the clearing, they could see that there were rows of graves on either side of them. They were in the centre, in a pathway, where one could examine them. They were all wooden graves, and they had archaic scribbles on the heads of them. More dangerous than that, though, were the eyes. Dozens and dozens, all different shapes, all in different arrangements, watched from the foliage around the graveyard.

"Uvmb lv rhrwm, vqdozhov..." Cara mumbled, as she glanced about at the headstones.

[Medievarad]

Rin was wary, very wary so. When Cara started to murmer, she frowned softly, but pressed on, trying her bedt to avoid crossingany eyes, with one of their on-lookers.

[CyclicalCycal]

"Okay. Can you stop, please." It was not a question. Cara had told her to stop. "If you keep...moving...they will attack. I can calm all them...just...it might. It might not work, okay?"

[Medievarad]

Rin immediately stopped in her tracks when Cara told her, not saying a word.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara paused, for a very long while. She then slowly reached her hands out, towards the shadows, her breathing growing slower. "B-be careful...Rin. They don't like you...you are invADING OUR-You're going here against the rules." She mumbled, ignoring what she had said. Perhaps she didn't mean to. Regardless, a few of the...creatures...began to approach from out of the shadows.

[Medievarad]

She glanced around as the beasts approached her. With a soft click, she unsheathed her blade partly, glancing aroundat. "I am invading naught. I merely am returning a lost child home," she answered, hand still on the hilt of her sword, ready to defend herself.

[CyclicalCycal]

"They don't understand...they are just." Cara swiftly turns to the approaching entity, pointing at it. "Sleep." She commands, the beast pausing. The light died from its body and it slumped over, turning to inert wood. Cara clutched onto Rin, panting. "I can't...do that...many mor times..."

[Medievarad]

Rin nodded slowly. "Don't overexert yourself," she murmured with apparent worry. "Is it safe to move on?"

[CyclicalCycal]

"Uh. No. We...would...father made this to only let through members of the group. But you can trick them. Or kill them. C-can you...do you know about flora?" Cara was getting more and more worried.

[Medievarad]

Rin glanced at Cara on her shoulder, before pulling a paper charm from her belt and dropping it to the ground, a purple sheen around them appeared, some form of bubble.

"That should give you time to think," Rin said, glancing at the force-field. "It's not indestructible, but it's very potent."

[CyclicalCycal]

"...oh. Oh...no."

Cara said, glancing around at the bubble-shield. Cara began to panic, panting, glancing about at the shadows beyond the graves. The beasts, the entities, the creatures leaped out, charging to the bubble and clawing at it. They were all sorts of animals, felines, canines, avian, all twisted and made of bark and wood. There were about a dozen of them.

And they were very angry.

"R-Rin...I...I can fix this...d-don't worry..."

Cara paused, for a moment, taking a very deep breath.

[Medievarad]

Rin unsheathed her blade fully with a soft sheen, holding it up in her dominant left hand. "Then fix it," she answered, glancing at Cara momentarily as a droplet of sweat traveled down her face. She could take a lot of these creatures, but they both lacked normal anatomy and they were magical. She'd be overwhelmed in seconds. "Just, whatever your plan is, do it fast."

[CyclicalCycal]

"I-I'm...just continue down the path? Okay?"

Cara didn't bother explaining herself, a glowing green aura surrounding her body. She took another deep breath, and held it. After a few moments, she breathed out, and as she did so, a pulse of magic lurched out of her. The creatures scratching, clawing, attempting to rend the bubble...collapsed, their eyes losing their green glow. Cara grinned.

Then, she promptly collapsed, falling off of Rin's back to the ground with a 'thump', completely unconscious.

[Medievarad]

Rin frowned slowly, glancing back at the cracks that slowly started to appear in the barrier.

But then, all of the creatures dropped to the ground, soon followed by Cara. Rin's eyes grew wide as the barrier shattered and she spun on her heels, sheathing her blade and kneeling down next to Rin, softly shaking her.

Regardless of her waking up, Rin picked up the small girl in her arms and made her way down the path again. She hold Cara close to her armoured chest, glancing around warily.