Shifting her weight, Aloisia stretched out her stiff back. Her ribs still ached, far less than the day before. A flash of blue caught her attention. Aloisia stilled. With a loose grip on her bow, she searched the gaps amidst the trees for another glimpse of blue light. But none came.
“If you’re out there, wisps, show yourself.”
Her voice was too loud in the quiet of the woods. The following silence, however, was deafening. After a long moment, Aloisia shifted her weight onto her knees, intending to head back. There was only so long she could wait. And the longer she remained, the less time she would have to capture a Forgotten God.
The blue light flickered again. Aloisia rose to her feet and crept towards the source, a steady glow deeper within the forest. An orb of light flitted back and forth between the trees, and she gave chase. Finally, it came to a halt beside a stream. The orb shimmered, shifting into the form of a young girl.
The wisp tilted her head, as if listening to something Aloisia could not hear. “It is not too late. He can still be stopped.”
“Who?” Aloisia asked.
The wisp reached out a hand. Aloisia reciprocated. The spirit shook its head, tendrils of light bouncing around its face like locks of hair. Instead, the wisp placed a palm to her cheek, still reaching out to the huntress with her other.
Aloisia approached, kneeling before the spirit. It drifted forth, closing the distance. The wisp’s palm rested upon her cheek. Though she didn’t feel the touch, her skin warmed as if in sunlight. Staring into the pale blue glow of the spirit’s eyes, the world around Aloisia faded away.
Darkness closed around her, gone in the blink of an eye. She was back in the forest, on her knees before the spirit. But the world felt distant, the ground beneath her knees not quite solid, the breeze rustling the branches not reaching her.
Aloisia turned, a frown on her brow, to examine the surrounding forest. An inky black shadow writhed overhead, blocking what little sunlight could get through the canopy. Rasping breath sounded around her, echoing in her ears.
“The threads of this world are snapping,” the spirit said.
Aloisia glanced back, and the wisp was gone.
“The balance is tipping further and further in their favour.”
The breaths turned to growls, menacing, a threat.
“Their power grows, their hold on this world becoming tighter, their claws digging further.”
Aloisia backed away further towards the stream, further from the shadow dripping like oil down the tree trunks.
“Blood,” it snarled.
“How do we stop them?” Aloisia asked.
“Blood is the undoing,” the shadow rasped.
Blue light flickered across the stream. Aloisia waded through the water, which drifted about her like mist, and hauled herself up onto the opposite bank.
The wisp shifted into her human form again. “A sacrifice summoned them. A sacrifice will dismiss them.”
“What kind of sacrifice?”
“Blood magic, dark magic, both are entwined. Both demand the highest form of sacrifice.”
The shadow seeped over the stream, dark tendrils coiling around her legs. Aloisia skittered backwards, but its grasp held. She let out a yelp, her legs going from under her. When she hit the ground, there was no impact. Like the stream, it faded into smoke, entwining around her. The darkness of the shadow melded into the mist, winding around her, its grip more corporeal, slick like oil as it slid across her skin.
“Help!” she shouted, looking for the spirit.
The shadow continued to engulf her, closing in like a thick fog on all sides. The world faded into darkness. She thrashed against its hold, the tendrils of shadow tightening like vines around her.
Aloisia screamed, hoping the wisp would return, hoping Kaja would hear her. If any of it were even real. The shadow closed off her airways, the smoke filling her mouth and nose, seizing her lungs. The coils around her body tightened.
Her heart thudded frantically.
Her lungs protested.
Her consciousness drifted, fading into the darkness that surrounded her.
