prompt
Prompt 5: As if the eerie fog isn't enough to deal with, once the sun goes down you must take shelter quickly--or risk the beast of this land. While there is sometimes the sensation of being watched, it worsens when the sun goes down. A shadow can sometimes be seen outside, but if it catches you in the window it will attack. If it senses life in any building, it will batter against the door, scrape against the walls, and clatter at the windows. An overwhelming sensation of dread and fear seems to roll in with the creature. It cannot break into the buildings, but it can damage them--just never enough to get inside. Once a house is damaged, it is not safe to return to unless it is repaired before nightfall. The creature can splinter wood, claw at bricks, and crack or shatter glass. It can wail like a banshee and can linger for moments or hours throughout the night. It is always gone before sunrise.

They'd stayed out too long.

Not intentionally, of course, but the forest's thick canopy made it difficult to see the slow shift of light in the sky, and by the time they'd realized when it was, fog tendrils were creeping slowly across the grass, almost experimentally, as if silently searching for who it could claim as a victim.

They'd run as soon as they realized. The village was never out of sight from the forest, so it wasn't far, but still far enough that they'd probably need to breathe between one place and the next. Probably. Rakovanite could teleport... But not with a second person. He had reminded Narcissus of this. He was not so well adapted to his upgraded skills that he could successfully teleport two people. But one of them escaping was better than neither of them escaping.

So he had.

It had been the reasonable thing to do. If they were both caught outside in the fog, they'd be easy targets for the creature. This way, at least, Rakovanite could catch his breath, wait until Narcissus made it closer to the shelter, and then snatch him inside before anything disastrous happened to him. He'd hoped.

It had worked out... almost like he planned. Narcissus had resisted him when Rakovanite went to grab him, but his superior strength and speed were enough to wrench the Dark Mirror from his feet and haul him inside without that much of a fuss. Mostly. Rakovanite hadn't breathed anywhere near as much of the fog as the other man, but even so, it felt like his skin vibrated, and something lurked just outside the edge of his vision.

He took quick, shallow breaths as Cervantite slammed the door behind him.

"What were you doing," Rakovanite's brother hissed, furious but trying to keep his voice in check. "What were you thinking? Why were you gone for so long? Do you- Do you not get it? I told you- I told you we can't go out at night! Why won't you listen-"

"Be quiet," Rakovanite shot back, eyeing the door and listening for the low rumble of something beyond it.

Rakovanite's dark eyes twitched to the window, where the last dregs of murky daylight were no longer visible through the fog. Their shelter was nearly completely black in the darkness, with only the slightest outline of other people able to be made out. Rakovanite wanted light, but rationally he knew that was foolish. It would know they were in here if they lit a fire-

Something seemed to move in the darkness, and Rakovanite's breath caught.

It could be in here already. Cervantite had had the door open for them when the fog came. It could be in here. He whipped his head to squint through he darkness, but unsurprisingly, he couldn't make anything out. His heart quickened, and while one hand still held clasped tightly to Narcissus, the other fumbled for his Negaverse pen.

It was long depleted of energy after having been in this strange world for over two weeks, but that didn't mean there weren't resources for replenishing it. Cervantite and Narcissus wouldn't mind if he siphoned a bit of their energy. Just for a second. He only wanted it for a second. They were both close enough that he didn't have to be in direct contact with them (though he was still holding Narcissus), and the tiny purple orbs gathered and drifted out of them so that Rakovanite could gather them into the crystal at the top of his pen.

"Nat, stop! What are you doing?" Cervantite hissed, eyes wide and incredulous.

The holographic screen of his tablet flickered to life, bathing the room in a very dim purple glow. Of course there was nothing else in the room. Just the tree of them. Nothing was here.

Nothing was here.

He switched it off and tucked the pen away.

"What's wrong with you," Cervantite demanded stiffly.

What a stupid question. Rakovanite thought it was obvious that he wouldn't be thrilled about being hunted, and when a shadow crossed in front of their window, he found himself reaching for Cervantite too, as if frightened that he would- Vanish? Act out? Turn into the monster? Rakovanite didn't know.