Before anyone could answer Cassy's question, from the darkness, at the treeline, emerged dark figures. Their bodies were like shadows, their eyes two glowing balls of piercing, glowing white orbs, devoid of love, of anger, of anything, their silhouette taking on the forms of humanoids. The air suddenly felt a whole lot colder for a Summer night.
"What the hell are those things?" Tabitha asked Cassy, fear audible in her voice.
"I-I don't k-know," she stuttered.
Even with her vast amount of knowledge about folklore of almost every religion in Decatar, Cassy had never heard or read anything about such bizarre creatures.
They approached the adventurers, walking slowly and calmly, as if they had all the time in the world. Tabitha tried to push the group back, up the hill, so that they would have some ground to fight on, but she found that more shadows were coming up behind them, surrounding them, closing in on the group like a fist.
Suddenly, the two girls were pushed aside, and Marty, with a confident grin on his face, stepped forth.
"Relax," he said, "I'll take care of this."
He held out his paw, and from this appendage sprouted a ball of fire, increasing in size until it was as big as a bowling ball. It shot forth, speeding directly towards the nearest shadow, hissing furiously.
When it struck the shadow, the creature exploded, sending black smoke spraying in all directions...before that very same smoke retraced, forming back into the shadow ones more, looking like it suffered no damage at all. It re-continued with its advance.
Marty shrank back, his confidence replaced with absolute fear, his eyes growing wide and mouth falling open.
Tabitha pulled her twin daggers from her waist, adopting a battle-stance, saying, "Alright, any other bright ideas?"
No one answered, and the fox only shook her head in frustration. She decided to attack, going for the shadow closest to her with her daggers, aiming for what she guessed was its neck.
With a impossible amount of speed, moving so fast that it seemed nothing but a blur, the shadow dodged Tabitha's attack. Its hand lashed out, grabbing the fox's upper arm with a iron grip.
Tabitha felt how her feet left the ground before she made contact with it again by her back. The force she struck it with almost made her lose consciousness, her daggers flying out of her hands, but she fought to stay awake.
Tabitha saw, through the slits of her eyelids, how Cassy and Marty desperately battled these monsters: the cheetah threw fireball after fireball, the creatures jumping easily out of the path of the raging inferno, and the horse swung her staff, the piece of food only passing through the monsters' dark body.
They stood no chance in this battle, Tabitha knew with dismay, and they will be captured by this creatures. She could not imagine what they would to to them.
A bright flash of light erupted above them, so bright that it nearly blinded the fox. Unearthly howls went up into the night air, and the shadows began to dissolve.
As quickly as it happened, the ball of light disappeared, leaving the adventurers standing alone on the slope of the hill, the shadows no where in sight.
Rubbing her head, Tabitha sat up, looking around her, wondering what just happened. Cassy and Marty were just as shocked as the fox, looking about themselves as well, trying to find whoever saved their lives.
"It looked like you guys needed some help," said a voice.
Looking behind them, they saw a old man standing on top of the hill where their campsite was, wearing a cloak that concealed everything except his boots. His hair was snow-white, his face clean-shaven, his eyes a deep grey color.
He was smiling at them warmly. "You are trespassing on dangerous land," the old man said, "But you are probably another search party, unaware and uneducated about the dangers that lurch in these forests."
"Who are you?" Tabitha asked.
"I'll explain to you in time," the old man said, "But first we should sit down first. I'm starving. Do you have anything to eat?"
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