"It's super dark here." I said uneasily, as we wandered deeper into the jungle that was the core. "Like, obviously I'm fine with the dark, we've been in worse but this feels...thicker. Like why isn't my perception piercing this?" The trees had started to shift as we walked further in, from jungle palms and...other jungle trees, to more forest like pines and oaks and stuff.

As that had happened though, the light coming through the trees above us got thinner and weaker, and the dark had begin to condense in a weird way. Callie looked particularly unhappy, and I realized a lot of the worry I felt was coming through the bond. "I feel like I'm swimming in mud." She muttered. "The darkness here is gross." She held up a hand, and I saw the dark above it writhe slightly as she tried to condense a shadow snowflake, but it dissolved before completion.

I wasted no time triggering my Eye of Revelation, through which I saw...trees. Right. Middle of a forest. "What's the compass say?" I asked Callie to distract her. I could tell the unnatural darkness was bothering her. As an Abyssal Infiltrator Callie didn't just use shadows. She WAS shadows, at least in some ways. And being cut off from such an integral part of her legend was seriously disquieting for her.

She just pointed deeper into the woods. "That way. You think this darkness is something she did? It IS kind of...Vampirey." She had a point, but I just shrugged.

"Not sure." I said worriedly. "Could b- wait what was that?" Something had flashed past. Something FAST. I froze. Wait, could this be more Night Pride? But I hadn't seen anything like that. Then again, I hadn't really seen them in the temple either.

There was a rustle behind me, and I spun around, seeing another flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Benny laughed uneasily. "Anyone else feeling like we're in the last twenty minutes of a bad horror movie? When the last of the characters get killed off."

Abel snorted. "Please. No one as cool as me gets killed in horror movies." He paused. "Though, you would probably be the first one down. Quirky comic relief. They always die first." His vicious grin was all teeth as he aimed at my best friend, who looked even more disturbed.

Benny made an uneasy noise and Celine, cleared her throat. "Mr. Castleton, please do not TERRORIZE my boyfriend. It's petty."

"She's right." I said solemnly. "That's my job. Get your own verbal punching bag."

I seamlessly dodged a random rock Benny snatched up and threw at me, but I grinned as it deflated the tension. At least for a minute. Then we all lapsed into silence. Abel, however, seemed...ill at ease after the exchange. "I don't pick on easy targets." He said finally. "And the kid isn't one to shake in his boots."

Callie nodded, eyes narrowing. "It's the dark. It's...doing something. Something bad. I can feel it scratching at the back of my head like nails on a chalkboard. Scritch. Scritch. Scitch." She twitched with each word, and I felt her uneasiness grow as the dark seemed to condense even more.

I cursed. "Shit. This is some kind of fear feedback loop. It makes us freaked out, which makes it darker and less passable." I saw another flash of movement and whirled, missing the source completely. Then my Danger Sense went off hard and I hurled myself to the side. Looking back, I saw a massive black cat congeal from the dark right where I'd been. But it vanished a second later.

Shooting to my feet, I scowled and triggered my Moonlit Night, concealing us all in fog. Night Pride. Why were they outside? Had another of the conduits gotten out? Was Bethany fighting the thing right now? Using Eye of Revelation, I approached my team, grabbing them and linking arms as we went. "Alright guys, cool it. We're safe in the fog."

"Oh yeah." Drawled Benny. "Because nothing terrible ever happened to anyone in impassable fog." At the pointed silence he just shrugged. "What? I'm not freaking out because of the dark anymore, but walking around in nothingness is unsettling."

Jessie nodded. "I hate to agree with him, but he's right. This is almost as creepy. What happened?"

"What do you mean you hate to agree with me?" Said Benny indignantly. "Fuck you. I'm right about a ton of stuff. See if I let you date my sister now."

"Alright children, enough." I said with an eyeroll. "Don't make me send you to your rooms without dinner. I got attacked by what I THINK was a Night Pride. What is the singular for the Night Pride? Is it just Night Pride? Because that might get confusing, but are they just called cats individually or..."

"Honey." Interjected Callie. "I love the curiosity, but cat killing idioms aside, I don't think now is the time. You saved our asses with the fog, but we can't just stay in here." She held up a hand. "For one, the stealth is fucking with the compass. Thing is just spinning in circles now."

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I cursed. "That's bad. Do you remember the direction it was in before? Maybe we can move in fits and starts. Walk a while in that direction then stop and drop the fog for a second?"

She nodded, pointing into the fog. I could see easily since it was my fog and the dark underneath couldn't occlude my Eye of Revelation, so I started leading us that way. Once we'd walked a few miles I stopped and looked around. "Alright." I said slowly. "Dropping the fog. Everyone be careful." Letting the skill fade, I held up the compass...which stopped spinning and then started to shift quickly but steadily from off to my left to my front.

I felt my Danger Sense, but before the cat that materialized out of the dark could hit me, a gleeful voice squealed. "KITTY!" And a fucking BLUR of blue satin and black hair smashed into the thing mid lunge and carried it clear out of sight. I looked down, and almost burst out laughing as I saw the compass needle had followed the blur right past me.

Sighing, I climbed to my feet, calling to the others. "I found Bethy!" I listened to the thrashing and slamming through the trees, until our vampire friend came jauntily skipping back into the small clearing we'd stopped in, dragging a particularly large and scary looking panther made of solid darkness by the tail. Which was bullshit, that wasn't even supposed to be possible.

"Hey guys." Bethy practically sang. "Did you see my new kitty? Thanks for distracting him. He ran away after I killed that gross zombie guy." She pouted. "The others all got clear, but this one was too slow. I couldn't pin him down though." She paused. "I think I'll call him Donuts."

"Zom- wait Bethy did you go into an old temple?" My eyes widened. She was a LOT scarier than I had expected. Holy shit. The other conduit had taken, me, Abel, and Gabriel together to put down. Had she killed one all by herself? That was crazy.

She nodded. "I liked the ambiance. Daddy says crypts and temples are good thinking places. He calls it the 'majesty of the profane' but only when he's around other people and is trying to sound pretentious. I think he does it half the time to see if anyone has the guts to laugh at him about it. Nobody ever does though. I got your message by the way. Super cool delivery method. But I'd already killed that old corpse by the time it showed up."

That was probably more than I should safely know about the trolling habits of the strongest S-ranker in the world. But it was nice to know the message delivery worked properly. Not that I'd doubted my power, but I wasn't sure how immediate the delivery might be. Or how overtly noticeable. For all I knew the thing might have dropped a scroll into their pockets or something.

I stared at the manifested shadow cat that didn't seem to be following the rules of its own existence and pointed at it tentatively. "I...I think it might be suffocating."

She looked back at the cat casually before releasing its tail. "Donuts, go to your place." The desperate and terrified shadow panther dove for her shadow, immersing itself in the darkness behind her which looked...deeper than it should. Apparently Vampires COULD mess with darkness.

Acting like she hadn't just completely subverted most of the rules we were given about the Night Pride, Bethy gave us a wide, toothy smile. "So you guys came to pick me up? That's super sweet. I was totally going to head to the mountain myself soon. I gotta find my besties though." She giggled in embarrassment. "I MIGHT have ditched them when I was chasing Donuts, but I'm sure they'll catch up, yeah?"

I somehow doubted Aida and Tracey were so sanguine about being left behind. "Sure, we can wait. Sorry we can't help you find them or anything, but the compass only works on you." Callie held up the device. It was pointing right at Bethy still, which was interesting. I supposed the wish hadn't been that specific, and going with an item meant the effect wouldn't fade, at least not soon.

"Whoa!" Bethy said, eyes going wide. "That's badass. You have a compass that always finds me? That sounds so useful. I bet Aida would totally buy that off you."

Pausing, I considered that. It was Callie's compass, she'd wished for it, but the fact that it still existed was pretty useless to us now. "We can talk about that later." I turned to Callie. "Since apparently Bethy chased away the Night Pride." And let them LOOSE. "Can you check the shadows near us to make sure we're clear of any more unwanted visitors besides..." I paused, grimacing as I forced myself to say the ridiculous name. "Donuts."

Even in a situation like this, it was hard not to smile at the absurdity, and Callie had to fight down a giggle as she nodded, which might have been Bethany's entire point to picking it. My girlfriend closed her eyes, kneeling down, and slid her fingers slightly into the shadows at her feet, just enough to barely breach the surface.

I wasn't sure if there was a connection between how deep she went into the shadows and her range, but I didn't think so. More likely she was dipping a toe to be safe in case she needed to pull out in a hurry. The Night Pride were dark creatures, so it was probably a smart move.

Bethy just giggled. "Let me know if there's any more. I want to get Donuts a friend." I could swear I heard a whimper from her shadow as she said that, but I chalked it up to my imagination.

Callie's eyes snapped open. "Nope. Whatever weird corrupted darkness the things were using is gone, they really did run. I DID, however, find the rest of Bethy's team. Aida and Tracey are ahead of them, charging off after you." She pointed. "They're in that direction."

Shrugging, I looked at the Vampire. "Want to go pick them up before we leave?" She seemed comfortable out here, somehow she'd avoided having her blue velvet dress and long fingerless gloves ruined during the scuffle, and none of the plantlife seemed to dare to get near her.

Nodding happily, she turned in the direction Callie had pointed and raced off. I sighed, looking at my girlfriend with grim amusement. She just shrugged, holding up the still active compass, and we all trekked after her. We didn't bother running, we'd get there eventually. Once we did, we could head for the mountain. In the meantime I decided not to question things that Bethy did. Too much of a headache.