Aubrey had once heard that adventurers were, above all else, goal setters. 

They'd test themselves constantly—this trail, this cave, this mountain. They never paused between goals. Never let themselves be satisfied. They were relentless.

And so late into her second day in the forest, Aubrey decided that she needed to become an adventurer. 

She woke up just as the sun started to dip below the horizon, images of multicoloured sand and smooth driftwood flitting through her mind. She wasn't used to dreaming. She propped herself up on her elbows and shook the dirt from her hair. The sun hung heavy in the sky—Aubrey predicted it would start to set in an hour or two. 

As Aubrey scrambled to her feet, brushing the leaves from her cloak, she was taken aback by a stabbing pain in her heel. 

"What the.." Aubrey kept her voice low. She knelt and slipped off her shoe before inspecting her heel carefully. 

And there, right in the calloused pad of her left foot, was a large bruise. 

Aubrey squinted, studying the injury. It looked almost like a flower—soft petals of purple and blue and brown and green stretching underneath the skin. And she couldn't for the life of her figure out what she'd gotten it from. 

She tugged her shoe on, choosing to ignore it for the time being. It didn't hurt too badly if she kept her weight off that foot. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and started to make her way through the forest. 

And like the great adventurers Aubrey read about when she was younger, she had a goal in mind. She would make her way to Amber Falls. Truth be told, she didn't know much about the little town. But the longer she spent in these accursed woods, the wearier she became. 

Souls need something to drive them, after all. 

As she walked, Aubrey tried to distract herself with the little things. She hummed lullabies under her breath. She challenged herself to jump from moss-covered boulder to moss-covered boulder. She plucked berries from thorny bushes and ate until sticky juice ran down her face. 

Aubrey didn't quite know where she was going, but she knew there had to be some kind of end in sight. She'd learned long ago that dwelling on her thoughts brought nothing but misery, so it was best to keep herself distracted. A bird's whimsical call. The rich smell of soil. Dew splashing her legs as she walked through patches of clover. 

She'd once read that sharks remained constantly in motion, and if they stopped swimming they'd die. Aubrey figured she wasn't too different from a shark. There was no telling what would happen if she stopped moving. 

Time felt oddly altered in these woods. Minutes stretched on infinitely, and yet the hours slipped by like grains of sand in an hourglass. The sun disappeared and the moon took its place, dipping the world in quicksilver. 

The cold night air bit through Aubrey's tunic. She shivered, eyes darting between the trees. The first night she'd spent hadn't been too terrible—she'd survived, after all. But she'd also heard too many tall tales to trust an empty forest at night. 

And, as always, Aubrey's magic put her at a disadvantage. She glowed brighter than the moon. It was useful enough as she tried to navigate, she supposed. But it also made her a hell of a target. 

At night, the forest was quiet and still and dark. And here was Aubrey, clumsy and static and shining like a goddamned beacon. 

She was so busy anticipating an attack that she almost didn't notice the shadow. 

It was subtle, at first. Aubrey caught it in the corner of her eye, liquid darkness pooling between the tree trunks and sliding across the ground. Her breath caught. Her heart pounded almost loudly enough to drown out the roaring of blood in her ears. She rolled up the sleeves of her tunic and let the blue glow flood the forest. 

"Who's there?" Aubrey asked, trying her best not to let her tone waver. 

The silence was almost deafening. 

"I said, who's there?" She repeated. She could feel her magic coiled up in anticipation like a loaded spring. 

In the light shed from her veins, Aubrey could vaguely make out a silhouette. It almost seemed like it was diving for cover, ducking behind stumps and rocks and shrubberies as Aubrey attempted to catch a glimpse of it.

Doesn't like the light much, does it, Aubrey thought to herself. 

Once she'd determined that the shadow didn't seem to want to attack her, she allowed herself to relax somewhat. Adrenaline coursed through her veins steady and hot, mingling with the magic, but Aubrey felt more in control of it than she had in a long time. 

The shadow slithered between the tree trunks. Power surged through her body as the magic expanded, swelling out of her. Wide bands of azure swirled around her, leaving shimmery trails of blue dust in their wake. Aubrey shivered as the shadow drew nearer and nearer. It seemed to become more agile as it swerved and evaded her magic. 

The blue tendrils started to spin more and more quickly. A ragged sob tore from Aubrey's throat as she felt the control snap. She squeezed her eyes shut just before a blinding flash of light sprang from the palms of her hands. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the streaks of luminescence enveloping everything. 

 And as quickly as it had appeared, the light faded. 

Aubrey cracked an eye open reluctantly. She realized that all the light had faded. Even her usual magic was gone.

The only light left came from the moon. 

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Aubrey felt a cool hand brush up against her cheek. 

Aubrey tensed up, praying for the first time for her magic to come back. She reached out but felt nothing. 

A cool breeze rippled through her ear. Dangerously close, she heard a soft whisper in her ear. 

Come with me.