They moved out the same day, just before noon. At first, Iris felt somewhat awkward. No one was talking. Myrica was leading them through the thicket of the forest, her steps light as feathers. Arlo followed her closely, his heavy, loud strides total opposite of the woman's. He was carrying most of their equipment on his back, but he didn't seem to mind. He was cheerfully humming some melody under his nose. Iris followed behind him, and Jayden was closing their pack. His face was gloomy, and he kept glaring at her, but he didn't utter any snippy comments so far.

As time passed, the forest became thicker and wilder. The tree trunks were massive, their crowns obscuring the sky completely. The sounds changed too. It's been a while since they left the camp, and they haven't heard any human noises so far. The voices of the forest were overwhelming. Iris discovered she never listened to nature so vividly before. It's like they enter an entirely different world. The birds sang so relentlessly as if competing who could keep up the song longer. The wolves howled in the distance, and some other animals that she could not possibly identify were calling at each other.

Iris found it oddly calming. She no longer saw a dull grey sky that reminded her of what had become of the world. She could not see any miserable people struggling for survival. She wished she could stay here and enjoy this perfect serenity. She didn't even care about the silence of her companions. It wasn't heavy anymore.

Suddenly the loud screech of the bird of prey pierced the calmness, and Iris jumped in surprise as a shape fell from the sky with incredible speed aiming at Myrica. But before she could utter a warning, the woman just raised her arm, and the big bird landed gracefully on it.

'Greetings, old friend,' Myr said and stroked soft feathers on the animal's head. 'What news are you bringing today?'

The buzzard chirped something, and the woman nodded slowly.

'Is she...?' Iris asked, looking at the woman with awe.

'Yes, she is,' Jayden replied, stopping at her side. 'Shut up, and don't interrupt her.'

Iris wanted to talk back to him, but seeing the bird ruffling its feathers nervously, she kept her silence.

'Thank you for the warning, friend. Good hunting.' Myr raised her arm, and the bird shot up to the air once more.

'What a little birdy told you, Myr?' Arlo asked.

'We have to take caution from now on,' she replied, her tone serious. 'It spoke of an unusual activity of Shadows on the way ahead of us. There are not many, but still, we must be on our guard.'

'I'm always on my guard,' a big man said, puffing out his chest and patting an axe hanging at his belt.

'Good. Let us move. We still have a couple of hours before the darkness falls. We need to reach the safe camping spot.'

They started walking again. Iris felt her legs were tired already, but she was not going to complain. about the Shadows lurking ahead of them. After a long time of hesitation, she slowed down a bit to match her pace with Jayden.

'Hey Jayden, can I ask you a question?'

'If you must.' He shrugged, not looking at her.

'Have you fought Shadows before?'

'I have.'

Iris sighed at his sparse reply. 'Care to elaborate a bit? I've never even seen a Shadow, so I don't know how to chase them away....'

Now it was his turn to give a heavy sigh. He looked at her with annoyance. 'You're hopeless.'

'Quit insulting me and tell me what to do. You're supposed to teach me.'

'It's easy. The Shadows are attracted to the light and the lifeforce. They sense it in people. But at the same time, they can't stand direct light. If you want to chase them away, make sure you illuminate your surroundings, so they won't come near you. If you want to kill them, you must pierce them with light. It's not easy because they are swift and will dodge your clumsy attack any time, so leave the killing to me and focus on maintaining the light over our position, all right?'

'Well, I can do that,' she said, ignoring his jab.

'Good. And if anything happens, stay close to me. I'd hate to explain to Marcus why you get yourself killed,' he added.

Iris rolled her eyes. 'Well, that would be a bother.'

She fastened her pace to get back to her position in front of him. She didn't feel like talking to him anymore. She had enough of his insults, but she was expecting more coming soon anyway.

They kept walking until it was too dark to go on, and even Myrica couldn't find her way further. They reached a little clearing and made quick work of putting up their tents and starting a fire. While they were working, Myr slipped away with a bow in her hand, and before they set up everything, she was back, carrying two little furry animals in her hand.

'Oh, thanks for bringing dinner, Myr. Let me handle those!' Arlo eagerly took the quarry from her, took out a knife and started expertly skinning it.

Even though Arlo was whistling some happy song again, the atmosphere was heavy. Something dark was hanging in the air, suffocating them, making all the positive thoughts leak out of their minds, leaving only cold dread of something inevitable coming. They ate in silence, and Arlo finally broke the silence.

'Can you feel it? It's like something foul is coming.'

'I can sense it too. And it is getting closer.' Myrica was already on her feet, bow in her hand. Her golden eyes seemed to glisten in the dark as she scanned their surroundings. 'Arlo,' she said in a tone of a seasoned commander, 'light up as many torches as you can and spread them around the camp. Move all the wood close to the main fire, so we can easily replenish it. I reckon we will need a lot of light soon.'

She moved closer to the fire, taking a bunch of arrows from her quiver. The sharps ends were covered in some rags, probably to be quickly fired up. Iris busied herself with moving the dry firewood closer to the main flame. Her hands were shaking.

'Jayden, are you ready?' Myrica asked an arrow nocked on her bow already. Arlo was standing close to her, with a torch in one hand and his battle-axe in the other. His usually jovial face was dark and gloomy, bushy brows knitted together in a frown.

'Yes.' Jayden's hands were already glowing with bright white light. 'Iris,' he said his voice stern and commanding. It was the first time he called her by name, but she didn't have time to cherish the moment. 'Draw the light. On my signal, illuminate the camp as brightly as you can, and keep it up as long as possible. Replenish your light as you need it, but be sure to keep that light up, understand?'

'Yes, sir!' she blurted with her hands already full of light. She felt a cold dread rising inside of her and spreading through all her limbs. A shiver ran down her spine, and all hair on her body stood on its ends. She was trying her best not to let her knees buckle under her.

'And stay close to me,' added Jayden, giving her a quick nod. His eyes quickly got back to scanning nearby bushes.

The darkness around them seemed to deepen with every second, pressing hard at them. All the noises of the forest died. The only sound was the crackling fire and their heavy breaths. The temperature plummeted suddenly, and Iris shivered in the cold. Her breath escaped in a puffy little cloud.

'What's happening?' she asked.

'They are coming,' warned Myr.

An ear-piercing shriek broke the silence. It was close.

Very close.

'Wait,' commanded Jayden in a calm tone, seeing how timid she was.

'But they are close!' Iris protested, her voice a pitch higher than usual.

'Save your strength. We'll need it soon. Hold.'

The shrieks and howls were closer with every passing second. Every primal instinct in Iris was screaming for her to run, but she forced herself to stay still, safely positioned between Jayden and Myrica. If there was any safe place for her in this forest, it was right here. Suddenly the darkness around them exploded with movements.

'Now!' screamed Jayden. Iris raised her arms and let the gathered light explode in a brilliantly glowing sphere, illuminating the whole clearing. What she saw almost made her lose her focus for a second.

Countless dark shapes were hissing and screeching, scrambling away from the sudden brightness. Their figures were hideous like someone tried to paint the figures of people or animals but got it wrong, creating twisted forms with too many limbs and too sharp angles. They were made of darkness, swirling and turning around, slightly translucent. Whenever they moved, the ground was immediately covered with white frost.

Before Iris could notice anything else, the bright lances of light flew all over the clearing piercing through the creatures. Whenever the light touched the Shadows, they shrieked in pain and dissolved into thin air. Next to her, Myrica was sending flaming arrows in all directions. The fire didn't seem as efficient as Light Magic, but the creatures loathed it, hissing and backing away. Arlo was running around them wildly, waving his torch in wide arcs, keeping away any Shadows that were creeping closer while Myr and Jayden were occupied with other sides.

'There's too many of them!' gasped the big man while chasing away persistent creatures behind their backs.

'We must hold them off!' Myr shouted, sending another blazing arrow that went straight through a colossal shadow lurking at the border of the forest. It shrieked and shied back into the darkness of the woods. 'Make sure the fire is burning!'

Iris swayed to the side, her arms and legs trembling. The light overhead dimmed a bit. She felt a strong arm steadied her and looked surprised at Jayden. His face was ashen pale and his dark eyes wide.

'Draw more light!' he commanded. 'Don't you dare let that light get off! The moment it does, we're all dead!'

Iris nodded and reached towards the fire. She immediately felt warmth spreading through her whole body, chasing away exhaustion and fear. She stood steady on her two feet and then raised her hand again. The sphere overhead shone brightly once again.

'Good, keep at it!' shouted Jayden, sending another series of light projectiles at incoming Shadows. The painful howling was deafening. 'Keep that fire going, Arlo!' he called as their central fire visibly died down.

Iris didn't know how long they were going like this. Her whole body was stiff and tense. She didn't dare to let herself relax, even for a moment. The Shadows kept coming like their numbers were endless. She had to replenish her light reserve thrice already, and their firewood supplies shrank to almost nothing.

'They are backing down!' shouted Myr at last. 'Spread out! Chase them away!'

'Iris, you stay where you are,' commanded Jayden, and she nodded. She was already trembling with exhaustion. She wasn't sure if she would be able to take a step in any direction. Instead, she focused on keeping the light nice and bright overhead. Myr, Arlo and Jayden spread out in different directions, chasing away remaining Shadows. After overbearing waves they've just faced, it seemed like mere stragglers.

Iris saw a rapid movement in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a dark shape dashing at high speed in her direction. It moved differently from the Shadows and was more tangible. The light glitter on the metallic blade in his hand. Iris' eyes widened when she realised that the shape was not a Shadow but a person.

Armed with a dagger.

'Jayden!' she cried. But he was on the other side of the clearing now, and so were others. Iris lowered her hand, but she was already exhausted. Her body was reacting with a delay. Before she could scream again, the assailant was at her and hit her straight in the forehead knocking her out cold.

Picture by Tama66 from Pixabay