{-Casrane-}
They all looked towards Vureta, but it was Llewel that asked, “Is that something we should be concerned about?”
“Oh, definitely.” She pulled her sword out and slowly crept closer to where the voice had come from. “That’s probably the ghoul I was talking about. I didn’t think it would be this close to the main paths, but I guess it’ll do anything if it was desperate enough.”
“So what do we do to stop it?” Myr prompted.
“The ‘smart’ thing to do would be to run in the opposite direction and hope it doesn’t follow us,” Vureta remarked. “But that’s not going to work if it does follow us and then just goes right to Kyirius City. We’ve got to get rid of this thing here and—”
“I know I have all day, but I’m not that patient. You’re lucky I waited at all!” The voice sounded more like a group now, multiple people saying the same thing. Near the end it sounded like these imaginary people spread out, too, making it harder to tell where the original voice was. “You know what? I’ll be nice, since I must’ve scared you. I’ll let you choose the game we play.”
“Don’t answer,” Vureta warned. “It’ll warp whatever you say. As long as we ignore it, there’s not much more it can do to us.” She gestured the other three closer to her. “Stick by me and we can end this threat in a couple of minutes. It shouldn’t be a big deal for heroes like you, right?”
“We haven’t really done that much hero stuff,” Casrane pointed out. “Just saved a couple of people in Anthalas…”
“Just,” Vureta repeated in a mumble. “We’d be given out rewards for stuff like that and I’m sure the people of Anthalas love you for it, too. You might not be smashing runestones but you’ve definitely got some kind of experience with you.”
The voice let out an irritated groan. “Aren’t you going to do anything?” Wisps appeared around them—weaving in and out of trees, leaving their sight then coming back with a clearer form. “I gave you a chance to play it your way, but you’re all too mean! We’re doing this my way, and you are going to play along!”
“It’s trying to intimidate us,” Vureta explained. “There’s nothing these things can do to us, remember that. This thing doesn’t have that kind of power.”
“That’s what you think, huh?” A single, chilling laugh. “Who’s to say I wasn’t holding back until I found the perfect playmate?”
One of the wisps—now taking on a form too close to human for anyone’s liking—reached out of the forest to grab Casrane’s arm, but she pulled away. Even being prepared for it, there truly wasn’t a way to be completely ready for some of the things she’d know she’d do here.
The twins looked between Casrane and Vureta, with no other clue what to do but listen to direction. Of course, Vureta was too busy stabbing whatever wisps got too close to notice them.
“We’re going to need to get closer to it,” Casrane said slowly. “We need to find what it’s connected to. That’s our first step in figuring out how to get rid of it.”
“Hey, that’s what I was going to say!” Vureta paused. “But you know that’s not it, right? You might know that much but I doubt you know you have to—” When one of the wisps reached for her, she pushed it back; she did the same with the several others who tried, with the growing concern clear no matter how much she wanted to hide it. “Actually, I think we should try something else. There should be some others scouting north of here. Find where they are and bring them back here—it’ll be better to get someone who’s actually supposed to handle these things.”
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Casrane surprisingly—even to herself, in a way—calmly took a single step in that direction. She knew there was no point in getting far and hoped that maybe it could assure everyone else, too.
Several wisps moved towards Vureta and she was able to push back a few of them. It was only after this did she realize that one of them had grabbed her. She tried shoving it off but it kept its grip and, eventually, pulled her into the forest.
“We can’t have someone spilling all our secrets,” the voice mused, “no, that wouldn’t be fun at all.” There was a laugh and all of the wisps stopped to stare at the remaining three. “Does that do anything to change your mind?”
“Still listen to what Vureta told us,” Casrane instructed. “We won’t get separated if we don’t let it get to us, alright?”
They both gave hesitant nods. By now she wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be this quiet or if they just trusted her enough not to say anything. As the wisps slowly moved to match their pace, she considered saying something; keep them focused on what they had to do to possibly avoid the inevitable. Before she’d decided, though, the voice spoke again.
“It already seems like you’re much more willing than that other lady! Here’s how it’s going to work.” Some of the wisps got dark and merged together, while others stepped closer; it made the impression that they were surrounded, with others coming near them… as if shadows themselves were moving. “I’m going to find out what makes you tick… then I’m going to use it against you. If you’re able to find me, then you win and you’ll get your boring acquaintance back. If you’re driven mad, I keep all four of you, and you get to play with me forever. Oh, we’re all going to have so much fun… I’ve been waiting for someone to play with for so long! I hope you’re all good playmates, or else I may need to do something else to you. Alright? Ready, set… go!”
Most of the wisps seemed to have disappeared, the others lurking around the trees—waiting for whatever the next part of the game was, or if someone decided they weren’t going to play along.
“No matter what it is, we’re going to ignore it,” Llewel repeated under his breath. Seeing Casrane’s expression did seem to bring him at least some kind of confidence.
“There’s nothing more that it can do then,” Myr mumbled. She glanced around the forest and stepped a bit closer to her brother. “Right?”
“If you plan on underestimating me, I might not be able to play with you very long!” the voice remarked. “I hope you won’t end up like the last group that came to play…”
Casrane paid no mind to it, looking straight at the twins and saying, “I know where we need to go. Just stay right behind me.”
Of course, this was the time the ghoul decided it was going to start making things “interesting.”
“Can I trust you to take special care of it? It’s very important that I can.” For some reason, a part of her had hoped that they wouldn’t hear it. But she knew the familiarity of the voice the ghoul chose and the path it would lead them down if they weren’t careful.
Llewel and Myr had only hesitated for a moment when they first heard it. After two different voices followed, however, it seemed they couldn’t resist it.
“I’ll take extra-special care of it!”
“And I’ll take super extra-special care of it!”
“Please,” Casrane tried after they both stopped, “remember: don’t listen.” Quieter, she added, “I don’t want to break a promise.”
It didn’t look like they heard her. Or, if they did, they weren’t able to think of what else to do—beyond the small box of options that they knew they could do.
“Think about it,” she said. Maybe if she could hold their attention long enough… “You might find it familiar, but how do you think the ghoul knows that? It’s just trying to get you to stop focusing on what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but I don’t think I like it,” dozens of voices said at once. “In fact, I’m not quite sure what to do. Which is odd, because I thought I had every bit of our little playdate planned out… but oh well. I’ll just do the next best thing.”
Realizing what must have come next, they both looked to her—for something, anything. And, luckily, she still had something to assure them with.
“You still don’t have to worry,” she told them. Some of the wisps had moved out from their hiding places. “I know what I’m doing. You’re barely going to be there—it’s only going to take a couple of minutes.”
All they could do was nod before wisps came and took them out of sight.