The forest is dark and May can hardly see anything. She carefully searches for Sidhean's hand and finds it quickly. He is obviously also looking for her hand. He holds her hand tight and whispers to her that everything is going to be alright and that he will be at her side, no matter what happens. Softened by his words May knows that she is safe at his side. Suddenly they hear a shrieking sound, coming from the far end of the forest.

"What was that?" May asks in horror.

"The dark creatures are amongst us. They are coming towards us. We must be ready", Gyles warns them.

He pulls his sword out of his belt and stands ready. Sidhean quickly lets go of May's hand and also draws his sword.

Just then a dark figure appears in the shadows before them. Then another one turns up behind them. Suddenly they are surrounded by these dark creatures.

One of them comes towards May. They look so unreal that May does not believe they are there. Convinced that this is some kind of weird dream, she carefully walks towards the dark, black creature, hovering over the ground, only a few inches away from her. It does not have a proper face, but more like a black round head with no sign of any eyes or ears, not even a nose. There is only a huge gap, where the mouth would usually be. Huge sharp and red teeth are visible and its mouth is slowly opening and the gap is getting bigger and bigger and the teeth are becoming more visible.

May carefully stretches out her hand to touch it, when she is suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled away. When she turns around, to see who had just tugged her away, she finds Sidhean staring at her in bewilderment.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want to get yourself killed or what?"

May looks at him, not quite knowing what to say.

"I thought this was a dream. It didn't feel real at all."

"A dream? These creatures are as real as they can get. So, keep a clear distance." Sidhean shoots her a warning glance.

"He is right, we must be careful. One touch of these creatures and you will feel like death itself", Gyles warns them. "We must get past them, so we can carry on with the journey. We still have a long way ahead of us."

They start fighting their way past the creatures.

Soon there is a big enough gap, for them to get past the shrieking creatures. They do not stop running, until Gyles leads them to a cave.

"We'll be safe here for the night", he explains and starts to get out some blankets and lights a fire.

That night May lies awake on the floor for quite a while. Every so often she can hear one of the creatures or even more of them shrieking somewhere in the distance and although she knows that she is safe in the cave, she still is frightened. The fire is crackling over at the far end of the cave, where Gyles is sleeping. Finally, the creatures stop wailing and May falls asleep.

* * * * *

That night May dreams of saving her dad. She is in a forest, covered in trees. Only at some parts the sun shines through. She starts to walk a bit, until she realises that the trees are slowly parting, to reveal a sandy path. She looks down the path, but there is nothing to see, except for the sandy pebbles and the trees.

The sun is now visible and she feels a warm chill go down her spine.

Suddenly she hears a swooshing sound above her head and a shadow is casted on the ground. When she looks up, she sees a big bird. It flies past her, only to land on the path in front of her a few seconds afterwards. It has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. May has heard of such a creature before in tales. It is called a griffin. May wants to run away, but she stays frozen in her tracks. The griffin looks at her with beady eyes. Then he suddenly lowers his head towards the ground and lies down, raising his head again. May does not quite know what is happening, but the next thing she knows, she is slowly walking towards the griffin, with her right hand stretched out in front of her. When she is only a few feet away from the griffin, it lowers his head again. May carefully touches the beak of the wonderful creature. The griffin seems to be enjoying it. Then May carefully walks towards the side of the griffin and climbs onto his back.

Once she is on, the griffin stands up and takes off. May cannot believe the feeling she has, when she soars through the sky.