I raised a hand to my chest and clutched onto it, feeling my heart pound. I hadn't even realized how hard I was balling my hands into fists until I calmed down and consciously undid them. I felt my heartbeat slow, and my breathing relax.

"The Night Crawlers are gone. They can't survive in sunlight." I told myself, “They’ll unravel and turn to shadows."

I walked to the cliff's edge and sat, my legs dangling off the ledge as I had done the day before and watched as the sun started to rise. I took another deep breath and peeked over the edge to see a pheasant trotting about beneath me. I observed it for longer than I care to admit, but when it flew off, spooked by something else, my gaze rose to the shifting sky.

The orange, yellow and pink clouds gleamed as the massive star rose above the horizon, giving everything a hue of warm colours. The clouds turned bright red as they floated high above me.

Filled with curiosity, I armed myself with my hatchet and headed into the valley. Now that I had someplace to return to, I would have no trouble returning. I hiked through the trees and spotted something. I froze, not wanting to alert it. With a huff, the creature raised its head. A deer grunted and fled when it saw me. I sighed with relief, continuing into the forest, heading west.

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I started to wander further away from my hill. I suddenly came across a patch of freshly moved dirt. Still curious, I wanted to dig it up, but I heard a deep, long huff before I could bend over. I whirled around to see a massive, antlered beast whose body was woven with strands of light. It had the same four eyes as the Endoran; a bright lime green glowed from them as it lurked closer, tracking me. I took off running, but I only got a few short meters away when it ran after me. Its muzzle parted, and a loud, high-pitched shriek pierced the air.

The Maratren, also known as Day Walker, caught up to me and slammed one of its slim hands into my back. It caught me, and I screamed when its thin, gangly claws wrapped around my torso. When it brought its muzzle close to my face, I gasped when the creature's woven lips ripped apart, and large, glowing green fangs lined its jaws. I swung my hatchet at the centre of its head. It grunted and stumbled back, letting go of my torso. Its eyes focused on me again, so I jumped to my feet and swung my hatchet at the Maratren's head again. It roared, its jaws still unhinged. It swung its long, thin claws at me, and I jumped backwards, not entirely missing them. I felt the claws tear open the skin on my shoulder. I yelled out and hacked at the Maratren again. The hatchet sank even further into its head and made it halfway through before the creature let out a long, high-pitched scream. It wrapped its claws around me again, and I got one last hit before it launched me through the air, unravelled into strands of light, and faded into the beams of sunlight that fell through the trees.

I whirled through the air and crashed against a large boulder, sending a severe jolt of pain through my back. I wheezed as I lay there, panicked and in pain. I crawled to my knees and huffed. I stayed there for some long minutes, panting on my elbows and knees, head down and cringing with pain. Suddenly I felt great relief and the warm movement of blood on my back stooped.