Aes tossed the rancid dark fruit hard back at the shrub she had picked it from. desperately washing her mouth out with water to rid herself of the horrid taste. "I think I'm gonna be sick!" she whined.

"Ya get used ta it" Gloam assured her.

"I don't *want* to 'get used to it! I'm tired! I'm cold and I WANT TO GO HOME!" Her voice echoed throughout the grotto, as she slammed her fist and feet against the soft earth. Gloam rolled his eyes.

Masked by Aes's sobbing. Ear clawing noises emitted from beyond and within the grotto. Gloam turned his attention from the human, back to the surroundings.

"Ah! Yes!" He cheered in a weasley voice. "Now, I recall the path!" Aes looked over her shoulder, back to the lantern. "Yes! Just up ahead. Up the fall and ya can see a clearing! It can give ya a perfect vantage point!"

"Is it close?" Aes asked, sniffling.

"Yes-yes-yes! Now, dry ya tears and let us venture forth, hmm?" He urged as he glanced back at the forest. Aes wiped her face, lifting the lantern as she stood up. She looked out into her surroundings.

"You hear some..."

"Just the wind de'ah! Tis just the wind, nothin' more. Now, quickeh ya move the quickeh ya can get home!" Gloam grimaced.

=============================

The path opened wide to a natural haven. Steam covered the ground, lifting from the pure white, moon light falls. A gentle hum filled the area before her. Smooth natural inclines offered a path from the radiant pool up several levels to an opening of the forest above. soft flickers of hovering glow flies drifted around lush plants colored with cool hues. Strange nocturnal wildlife grazed and consumed fresh water. Aes gave a warm half smile at the sight of eldritch beauty.

"Keep moving, de'ah." Gloam urged. Aes stepped delicately towards the path. Moving along the edge of the shimmering pond. The wildlife appeared to pay her no mind. She paused at the earthen incline that reached the top, staring at it intensely. Its structure gradually obscured from the moon's light by heavy clouds.

"De'ah?" Gloam inquired. Aes paused before responding. "Why did ya stop?"

Before she could respond. A chilling wail soared through the air. The creatures broke into a strange panic. Each skittered, flew and stampeded away from the source of the noise, from some unseen thing. Aes rose the lantern instinctively. A wave of black mist poured down from the grottos opening.

"What is that?" she shouted, her voice echoing off the stones.

"No time! Up the path, NOW!" he ordered. Aes hesitated as she looked up the path. Its wide grassy trail offered ample space for her, yet she hesitated. "NE-OWW!" Gloam roared, his light brightened and shifted in color. Aes squeaked as she obeyed. Forcing Her trembling legs up the grottos incline.

The black mist filled the ground beneath her. Shifting and reforming, it moved with strange intelligence. Its presence froze the life from the delicate plants. Creatures within the area howled in terror and agony as they were consumed by its black mass.Aes looked back just long enough to notice it amass itself to ascend the trail she was desperately running up. Her legs wobbled with instability.

"What is the matter with you!?" Gloam demanded.

"I'm scared of heights!!" Aes shouted back with gritted teeth and tears.

==============

"YOU WHAT!?" A large, wolf-faced creature roared at another. "BYRN! How SH'tupid can ya be?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I-I'm sorry Grif." Bryn replied, with his ears back. "I thought, ya know, it be 'elpful.."

" 'Elpful? 'Elpful?? How ya being 'elpful? when ya tellin' that old shrew the Black Heart's affairs?!" Grif roared, his large arm back as if to strike Byne. "You's was 'elpin dat huge gut to her food. Meanwhile, she was butterin' ya up, so ya would spill it!"

a couple other knolls glared at Byne. "All she wants is the f'ing we caught in the tower. Oh, and it's lamp thing." Byne pleaded.

"Dat's it?" Grif snarled back.

"Yeah, she said it was a fief, stole the lamp from her." Byne confirmed. Grif sneered; his left canine protruded from his lips. It was jagged and broken at the bottom.

"Fine! You's t'ree take the hounds with yas. Secure the tower. Bring me dat Fief before ya take it to her! I want ta see it for me self!" The three saluted him, Grif stormed off without saluting back.

"And then I get me a promotion?" Byne asked, his ears perking up.

"Ya be lucky, if ya get a demotion after all dis!!" Grif roared back. "Now shaddup and move out! I want it found before auspice!" Byrn opened his eyes slowly, both of his canine ears pressed back. He shamefully signals the others to follow him.

Just on the other side of the Gnolls gathering. In a small, well-managed garden outside the Tipsy Incubus pub. The head mistress casually fanned herself with a creative arrangement of black feathers. Her dwarven servant approached with a smile and a kettle of tea on a platter.

"I think Grif took it quite well, don't you?" She chuckled to the dwarf.

"Aye," she responded. Pouring a dark green liquid into a tiny ornate teacup. "…And a pinch of night shade, fer a kick." The robust ogress shimmied her feet in joy. "I took the liberty of havin' the boys on standby, just in case." The dwarf winked. The Head Mistress grinned wickedly.

===========

Gloam groaned at Aes's confession.

"Well, excuse me for having the same fear as the rest of the population!" Aes squeaked. stepping over plants. Stumps and the occasional rock. Struggling to maintain her balance.

"De'ah...ya could have been a wee bit more up front about it, hmm?" Gloam replied, nonchalantly. his prison shifting from side to side with each step.

"Says the guy whose every answer is LITERALLY 'teh ya lat'ah de'ah'! " She mimicked.

"Heh, I don't sound like that..." he dismissed.

"Uh...YEAH, YA DO!!" She raised the lamp to her face and gave the spirit a quick, intense glare.

The black mist focused heavily on a trail, stalking the young woman. Shifting through blades of grass, racks of rock, and crevasses of wood, it gained speed after her. Sailing on the low current of air in the towering spiral of ancient oak and earth. Aes's spirit companion urged her to rush and run faster and faster. With intense breathing and burning fire in her upturned sky-blue eyes. The young human's resolve pushed her through the fear of the rising elevation, however...

"UOHFF!" Aes grunted. A single misplaced step forced the girl into the thick grassy growth. Skinning her forearm on the terrain.

"Git up, Aes, git up!" Gloam commanded. Watching the amalgamation of black mist rush towards her. She looked back only a moment; terror filled her eyes at the sight of this unknown thing that chased her. "GET! UP!" Gloam ordered again. Aes clawed herself to her feet, pushing past the pain to escape. Turning her focus to the massive grotto's opening. A large, heavily rooted gnarled tree reached across a wide gap. A convenient bridge to escape.

Aes let out a mix of roars and scream as she charged blindly across. The mist moved like a violent torrent, speaking ungodly sounds. Gloam stared back at the thing with an intense and morbid curiosity. He watched as the black mist solidified into a maw shaped form. Wide, long gaps of jagged hooked spikes widening as if to consume the human and yet, Gloam gave no warning to his young companion at all.

The deathly chill from the mist sucked the warmth from under Aes’s bare feet. Life from the very tree bridge slowly drained as the bark started to show external damage from cracking.

Aes threw herself through the branches and limbs. She fell prone upon the earth’s surface. Looking back to see the semi-solid monstrous maw clenched down with destruction power. Shattering the part of the tree into splinters, she was just out of reach. Aes clasped her rosary to her bosom, just barely able to murmur the words of protection from Saint Michael.

The clouds parted in a beam of nocturnal and heavenly radiance. The light of the moon pierced the mist like a spear into the heart of darkness. The thing howled and screamed with soul-shattering torment. More lunar luminescence reigned down with the parting of the clouds, banishing the thing back to the wooden bridge and searing it over the side of the cliffs edge.

Aes stared with tear-filled yet hopeful eyes.” My God…thank you, Jesus!” she whispered, performing the sign of the cross. She wasted no time. Rushing to her feet, she hurried on, to anywhere from that demon. Gloam, however, sneered at something in the shadows.

” Pox upon you.” He hissed.