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As Mitzi saw the cave ahead, realized she was approaching her destination, her steps slowed. She had decided she ought to do this; facing her fears was the best way to beat them, right? But she wasn't at all sure she was ready, even knowing what was coming. The only thing she was sure of was that she did not want to end up running to Roch sobbing again. He probably already thought she was a crybaby, she didn't need to reinforce that any more thanks.

By the time she was actually in front of the cave, she had stopped entirely, and was staring with trepidation at the horsemen in front of her. Several other people passed her, horsemen who seemed to know what they were here for, and the Reaper ghoul took several deep breaths. They all seemed to think nothing of this place, but the ghoul didn't know if she wanted to face her darkest fears. She wasn't sure she knew her darkest fears. But maybe that was why she needed to do this.

With that conclusion, she managed to take one more step, then another, and then she was being offered a strange mushroom. Roch had mentioned this, if she ate it, that was it. So before she could change her mind, she devoured the mushroom. At first nothing felt weird, and she almost tried to leave again, but the horsemen were all urging her inside, and she found her feet carrying her into the fog almost against her will.

Knowing what was coming, at this point, almost made it worse. As the fog obscured her vision, she became more and more jumpy, expecting something to happen any moment. But then a breeze blew the fog away, and she was back in the one place she hoped never to see again.

She was back in one of the clear cages from the Trials of Death, with Whisper in the tube at the center. Only for a moment, before it changed to her grandfather for just an instant, and then Circe, and then Roch. And she felt her terror rising with each change, until with the last it was as if the floor had dropped out from under her.

And then, as if offering her a way out, the door of her cage opened. She had a chance! She could save him! But as she tried to take a step out of the cage, to find a way over to the control panel and somehow open the weaponization cylinder, she felt all of the strength leave her limbs. No. Not this again. She had to…

She didn't even bother trying to summon her spear, she knew what would happen if she tried. It wouldn't come, she couldn't stand the thought of trying and seeing it happen again. She managed one more step before she collapsed, sprawled out on the floor, just short of the control panel. And then a Hunter stepped into her view.

Even as the figure approached her, stopping over her, it shifted from a human in those distinctive coats, to a War Horsewoman, and back again. She felt her panic rising as the woman, human again, leaned over her. "Useless," she whispered, but to Mitzi it felt loud enough to shake the ground under her.

And then a multitude of voices joined in, repeating the word. Useless. Useless. She had a chance to save her grandfather, her friends, but had she been able to do it? Of course not. She thought she saw other faces above her, Hunters and Horsemen and even Halloweeners. She was almost certain she saw her father's face, heard her mother's voice. And then all of the noise was cut as she heard a sound that terrified her even more.

The sound of the weaponization machine starting.

She didn't know when the Hunter - or Horsewoman, whichever she had really been - had passed her to reach the controls, but it didn't matter. She had failed her grandfather, she had failed her friends, and now they they were meeting a fate worse than death. She had had the chance to save them, and failed.

She somehow managed to look up, towards the flashing lights of the weaponization machine, but she couldn't see who was actually inside it. When she glanced back down, instead of the clear cages from the actual Trial, she saw the wooden ones from the day before. Human hands reached out, pleading for help, as both Hunters and Horsemen walked by, doing nothing to help, one taking notes on a clipboard like he couldn't care less...

And then whatever the Hunters or Horsemen or whatever they were had used on her, she blacked out.

She woke to find herself on her back. When she attempted to bring a hand up to her aching head, it wouldn't move, and then a Horsewoman appeared above her. And suddenly she knew where she was, remembered what Imryn had said, and started thrashing against her bonds.

It was no use. With a flash of terror she knew what was about to happen, and that she could do nothing to stop it as the figure above raised a scalpel, and brought it down to her shoulder. The pain as the blade bit into her was overwhelming, and it was all she could do not to scream.

Then, just for a moment, the face hovering above her, slowly taking her apart, was her own. She finally cried out, and suddenly found herself free, her limbs all attached, and she was able to scramble away. Then the fog billowed back, obscuring everything.

She sat panting for a moment, her heart racing, as she tried to calm down enough to think clearly. It was all just a vision. She could do this, she could wait and see what else it was going to throw at her. For just a couple seconds too long, she waited, before the fog dissipated. She found herself simply in an empty cave. She still expected something to come out at her at any moment, but finally she realized it was over. She stayed sitting for several minutes longer, not feeling any calmer, until she finally felt like she might be able to reach her feet.

She had almost pulled herself together enough for her terror not to show as she walked back out of the cave. She just shook her head as the horsemen waiting outside tried to talk with her; if she tried to speak it would all fall apart.

She walked off into the trees, to actually find somewhere private this time. She wanted so badly to go find Roch, or maybe Circe, but she was determined that she could handle this herself.

She could be that strong. She had to be.

He was not sure why he had trod this way, what urge had set his feet wandering down this path. He could have said it was his wish to find all he could, his search for clues, hints at the true reason why the horse clans had brought a group of ‘children’ (he really hated that word) to their lands when it seemed to him they were thought of as all but useless. Surely it was not out of the goodness of their hearts, then what hidden motive did they have?

He could have said that was his motive, but in truth he wasn’t sure. Maybe he had only felt he needed to wander, maybe he hoped to clear his thoughts in the quiet of the forest. He hadn’t known where the path would lead, he may not have even realized he was on a path. Whatever the reason, whatever had guided him, he had followed the path, only stopping in his steps when he realized he had reached its end. A...cave? He left out a huff, a flick of his tail, another cave was exactly what he had not wanted to find.

It was a moment later that he had realized he was not alone. He had barely a moment to acknowledge that fact before he was ‘assaulted’ by the overtly friendly horsewoman. What the—there was a startled yelp and a step backward, his tail flicking with a snap a he felt her grasp his arm. Do not want, do not, want, DO NOT WANT! Why was she touching him, wait, where was she leading him? He did not like this! Let go of me!

At last he pried himself free of her grasp, huffing and muttering under his breath as he pulled his arm away from hers. Then again, maybe it was that she had released him before he’d really even tried, he was getting the suspicion that if she had truly wished to hold him there would have been no shaking her off. Crazy woman, what did she want anyway?

“Faiza, I would appreciate if you—“

He had barely opened his mouth, his words cut of as she spoke again, suddenly thrusting an oddly colored mushroom into his hands. He raised a brow, looking at the mushroom with suspicion and curiosity. What the jack was this for? Did they expect him to do something with it? Wait, they expected him to eat this? How stupid did they think he was? Jack no!

A notable step backward as the second horsewoman approached. Damn straight he wasn’t taking her word for it, not a chance in hell. Eat a mushroom he had never seen before and then step into a cave? A cave on the island of war? Did he look insane?! After the last cave he’d walked in to there was no way, no how, no chance whatsoever that he was setting foot anywhere –near- that cave. Absolutely not! He snorted arms crossed stubbornly, no, he was not going into that cave, ever!

And yet…

There was a curiosity in his gaze, a thoughtful twitch in his tail, a question, what if? A cautious step toward the cave, did he dare? No, don’t dare, do not go in there! Senses screamed at him to turn back, to throw that mushroom right back at the horseman who had given it to him, march back down that path, and never look back. But there was a part of him that had been captured by curiosity, and deep interest at the words of the warrior who had spoken, whenever he felt doubtful. Was he right, was the reward worth the risk?

A doubtful look toward the horsemen, not certain whatever reassuring looks they may have tried to give him made him feel any better at all. He looked over the mushroom, a suspicious sniff, then cautiously he licked the mushroom. Hmm, it didn’t seem harmful, it didn’t taste foul, he didn’t feel any different, then what was so special about it? If he was going to do this it was now or never. Finally, still not convinced this was a good idea, he ate the mushroom, then with a deep breath he stepped into the cave.

So, what now, what was supposed to happen? He didn’t see anything especially—what? He suddenly froze, his tail lashing nervously as the mist moved around his feet, swirling, building, threatening to consume all he could see. What was this? He had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling.

He turned one way, then another, searching around him for whatever may have been hiding in the growing fog. His posture lowered, his senses raised, the hair on his neck and tail most certainly standing on end.

No, it couldn’t be.

As the fog cleared, he looked on in horror, he knew this place, this ruined world, it was all too familiar. No, no, no, no, this could not be happening, this couldn’t real, this world only existed in his nitemares. He shut his eyes, shaking his head in a desperate attempt to free himself of the illusion. But as his eyes opened, he found it had changed, he was in another familiar place, another familiar room, gazing into face he had wished he could forget.

The room was white, cold, blinding, the walls hard and confining. He was back in the cage, it was happening again, his eyes narrowed in horror and fury as he gazed at a familiar face. It was her, the hunter, it was happening again. No, this could not happen again!

The cage opened, he knew what would happen next, he could feel it, his consciousness fading, could see the cold and wicked smirk as the hunter looked down at him, laughing at him. Please not again, not again, no, his friends, Tess, Petro, Angenora, Circe, Willow, now, he could not let this happen again!

And in that moment, even as he felt darkness approach, he felt it, something inside him, something had changed. It crackled around him, the energy inside him, building, surging through him. The air around him suddenly grew frigid, as if energized by some force. Wrenching himself free of the hunter’s grasp, Sheridan stood to his feet, his head thrown back to release a powerful bellowing terrible roar, a roar that echoed through the room.

What was this power, this strength he suddenly felt within himself? Was this his FEAR? Was this what it meant to truly tap into one’s FEAR? How was this possible without his natural form? And suddenly he understood, understood why he had failed so many times before. He had been blind, relying to heavily on his natural form and abilities, he had not seen the truth strength within him, had not seen that he was so much more than those abilities, there was so much more he was capable of.

Startled, the hunter had staggered backward, the flicker of fear in her eyes. But she was quick to recover, jumping back from the dragon as she summoned her weapon. Growling low, he stepped toward her, unafraid, an angry snarl showing draconic fangs as it spread across his face.

“No, hunter, not this time!”

A glint of metal had caught his eye, sending him leaping over a piece of machinery in the room, reaching out to catch the metal scalpel the hunter had most likely intended to use on him. Armed this time with more than his claws, he charged toward the huntress, ducking below her weapon strike with a slash of his own, drawing blood as the blade cut through the flesh of her arm.

The smirk he may have worn was quickly erased as the hunter retaliated swinging her weapon at him to land a powerful blow against his shoulder, followed by a kick that sent him sprawling over the table in the center of the room. She was fast, surprisingly fast, matching his speed as he barely managed to roll away from her next attack and scramble to his feet.

He didn’t know how many blows he took, how many times he was thrown across the room, how many times his own attacks struck home only to have her keep coming. But he would not give up, he would not fall back, his will was as strong as hers. He had found his inner strength, his reason to live, his reason to fight. And as thoughts and images of his friends flashed through his mind, he finally knew that he did not fight alone. They were with him, always, everyone he loved, everyone he cared for, everything he held dear, they were a part of him, they gave him strength.

The hunter would not win! A vicious hiss, his teeth clenched in a snarl as the hunter held him pinned sideways against a counter. His tail snapped with a powerful lash, sweeping the hunter off her feet. He was quick to seize on the chance, snatching the hunter by her coat and shoving her against the closest wall, the scalpel in his hand now placed against her throat. In a flash he saw it, the humans, the hunters, they –feared- him, they feared Halloween. Very well then, let them fear him, he would make certain they had a reason to do so. With a final snarl, he struck, plunging the blade through her eye and into her skull.

Letting the hunter’s form slump to the floor, Sheridan turned away. Whether she still lived or not he did not know, it didn’t matter, she had been defeated, and he had won. And as that horrible world faded back into the mist from which it came, Sheridan knew he had faced his fear and defeated it. And as he exited the cave, there was a pride in his steps. Though he walked with a heavy limp, and the hand clutched around his arm seemed to barely stem the blood flowing from a deep gash, he walked with a newfound strength and determination, a strength and pride that even the horsemen who watch him emerge must have seen.

He, had won. And from now on, he would not be afraid.

(( word count: 1,700 ))