Life was a lot easier now that everything was alive again. With the sounds of the forest and the animals moving around, it brought some peace to her mind knowing that silence only meant that the monsters were back. Although it has been many moons since she came across the horrors of the world, she will never forget the piercing acidic eyes of the ones she fears. Shaking her head, Rowan pushes the thoughts to the back of her mind.
No more dwelling on the past and what's out there! Only looking forward from now on! I mean it had been many Lunar cycles before she even ran into one the first time, what are the odds she will run into it again anytime soon?
Before she could go on, the breeze suddenly changed direction. With only a short pause in her steps, Rowan turns and begins to follow the current. Having been moving for a while now, Rowan can tell that this has been happening more often, that being a change in direction; more and more the last few days the trees have been telling her to change the way she was moving so often it almost seemed like she was moving in circles.
As she walks it almost seems like the forest is thinning, as though she is somehow reaching the end. But that is ridiculous, because everyone knows the forest does not have an ending. Just as she thought that the trees thin out as a steep hill comes into view. With a soft sigh and muttering under her breath Rowan begins to trek up the hill. "Stupid hills." Rowan grumbles with faux anger. "Why can't I get a break!?" With a loud sigh Rowan crests the hill only to gasp at the sight.
The sight she came upon at the top of the ridge was startling to say the least. It was rows upon rows of HUGE…. things. Thoroughly confused Rowan stands still. It took a minute but eventually she noticed something exit one of the things, and it suddenly hit her! They are large burrows…. Built on top of the ground? That didn't seem very safe. The whole area looks exceedingly strange, barely any trees lived in and around the burrows. How did they protect themselves from predators? The arrangement looks like it's inviting them into your herd to eat you!
Her curiosity got the better of her again. Once the idea of sneaking down there and seeing what kind of animals live in giant burrows, she almost couldn't stop herself from flying down the hill. As Rowan takes her first steps closer she begins to fold the light around herself once more. With her cloak fully covering her she slowly makes her way down the cliffside; although the animals back in her home groove were accustomed to her presence, Rowan was fully aware that most animals have never seen one of her kind before. Though animals are never aggressive with her, and most animals recognize her as a part of the forest; they tend to become very nervous around her or in the case of predators, very curious or very territorial. At least until they become familiarized with her being in the woods.
As she reached the bottom of the bluff, Rowan made a cautious scan of the area. This being the first time she was so far away from any form of forest, it made her heart beat just that much faster than what the monster hike up and down a craig did to her. Looking at the closest hovel, Rowan crouches down and slowly makes her way closer. She noticed around it there was a tall barrier made of wood surrounding the hutch. Considering this, Rowan thinks they might have some idea as how to protect themselves anyway. As she climbs over the wall, she also sees large holes in the side of the burrow. All previous thoughts of these creatures knowing how to fend off predators goes away with the wind. How can they expect their young to survive through the winter!? It's completely see through!
Shaking her head, Rowan decides that she will have to help these poor animals learn to make a proper home in the ground, or at least with no holes in the sides. Continuing forward she looks inside of the hovel and sees tons of stuff everywhere! Frowning, Rowan wonders, Why do they have so much junk lying around the hovel? Won't it get in the way of the family that lives there? Before she can question anything further, a noise comes from the other side of the space she was looking into. Head darting towards the noise, Rowan cannot hold in a strangled noise of surprise as a figure walks into the room.
A figure that looks just like her. Okay while not just like her but the features are similar. Same body shape, walks on 2 hind legs and has long dark hair just like herself! The only real difference is the complexion of this one is very light and she is rather tanned. More than a little confused Rowan studies the other girl, it seems like the junk all around the den has a purpose as the girl inside has been picking up and placing things down all around the room. Then she appears to be eating…? Oh, I get it. Its foodstuffs. Rowan thinks to herself. Why they don't just forage for fresh stuff is beyond her, but Rowan decides to settle in and follow this one for a while. Just to see more about this weird herd.
It had been a couple moon cycles since Rowan started following the girl around, it turns out her name was Angela and she lived with her sire and dam; and it seemed like they were all absolutely crazy! They all wore these removable skins that covered themselves up, Rowan was actually curious about those so she snuck into Angela's room and grabbed a top part and a bottom part, The top part being black with short arm holes and small brown bottom parts. They helped with the chill that permeated the air. In Rowans opinion it was the only smart thing about the animals that lived here.
They all stay in their hovels until just after the sun rises and then they all go to this large building and sit around inside and listen to an elder talk all day about confusing things that make her head spin; instead of being out in the forest learning real survival skills against the dangers of the evil ones and predators or how to forage for their food! That was another thing, they don't even know how to talk to the trees, and that is probably the most horrifying part for Rowan.
Rowan has actually come up with a theory, the reason they are all so pale is because they don't listen to the nature spirits anymore, they stay in their boxes and ignore their guardians; so the trees decided to mark them as defectors and drain them of their forest colors! It made perfect sense to Rowan, and it explained why they didn't seem worried about any predators, they just didn't know about them. Coming to this conclusion just doubles Rowans resolve to help these poor souls at least figure out how to run and hide from anything that might wish them harm; it's one of the first skills you learn from the trees after all.
With this in mind she decides to start out small, with the girl that she has been following for the last few days. Gathering some more light in her hands, Rowan starts to mold it into a fox; a relatively small predator. An easy first try for anyone. Now with both herself and the fox mirage, she follows the girl as she walks to the boring box hovel. Urging the fox onto the path in front of Angela, the girl seems to stop and starts making some odd cooing noises. Angela crouches down and starts cooing even louder at the faux fox. Of all the reactions she could have had, this was not on she expected from the girl. It was not an reaction she expected from anyone.
More than a little exasperated with the situation Rowan makes the fox get aggressive, and start snarling at Angela. The coos stop and Angela stands up stiffly, putting her hand up in front of her body, she starts to back away while lowly talking out loud to the fox;
"Sorry little guy. Didn't mean to make you so upset, I'm just going to back up real slow and you're going to stay there; Okay?" she pleads in a soft voice.
Rowan scoffs; That's not going to stop anything that really wants a bite out of you she mentally adds.
Having the fox lung towards Angela, Rowan tries to hold back a small chuckle as Angela stumbles back with a small shriek. Angela rights herself as fast as she can and runs in a large circle around the fox and off towards the boring day hovel. Rowan watching the back of the running girl can no longer hold in her laughter, losing her hold on both her cloak and the fox illusion, she doubles over howling.
"D-did you see her face!? Oh m-m-my goodness!" Rowan stutters out between laughs.
Taking a few minutes to calm down, Rowan takes a final deep breath before letting in out and saying out loud to herself, "Oh we have to do that again." All thoughts of 'helping' the people of this herd to learn some valuable life skill have flown out of her head, all she wants now is to have someone scream like that again; it was seriously too funny!
After half-heartedly looking for the girl, Angela, Rowan gives up and just wanders around the burrows looking for someone else to 'teach'. While she walks she notices that the herd has a rather large territory, taking a rather long time to walk from one end to the other. It still boggles her mind about how a group so hopeless in survival has managed to survive this long. It just didn't add up. Oh well, at least they are really fun to scare. Their reactions are just so funny! Rowan thinks to herself with a small chuckle under her breath.
It was really very amusing, every creature she came upon was scared of every illusion she conjured. At one point Rowan made a small mouse and had it scurry up to a woman walking down the street; and to her pleasant surprise it was the best reaction she got all day. The woman started jumping around squealing nonstop in short high pitched bursts. It was almost unbelievable; how could someone be scared of a harmless mouse? They could be annoying but they can't hurt you. So suffice to say Rowan was having the most fun she has had in awhile.
After a short amount of time walking along the road, she finds a stocky man standing outside one of the small dens. She had noticed this one around, mainly because his den was small and it moved around alot and it also had the pretty, shiny lights on top! Studying him for a moment, she noticed he was a slightly darker color than the Angela girl and the screaming lady. So of course this means that he must be a much tougher opponent than the females!
Rowan studies him for a moment; she is going to need something big, something scary to get this man. Her toughest opponent to date, her arch rival! Thinking upon it for a moment longer, a plan begins to form. A bear will have this man screaming for mercy! In order for Rowan to create an illusion of the size that she wants, she creates it around herself. The same way that she creates her cloak but instead of reflecting her surroundings, she builds up a massive grizzly bear around herself. Slowly she shuffles up behind the man, only when she is fairly close by does she have the bear let out a fierce roar as she waves its hands above her head.
Now if only Rowan spent more time listening to what Angela was learning in school instead of messing around with the people in town, she might have known that not everyone in town is helpless and unable to defend themselves. It was this lack of judgment that allowed her guard to relax as Rowan revels in the horrified look on the man's face. Laughing until a sharp crack can be heard throughout the burrows, and a sharp cold heat burns through Rowans side. Gasping she presses her hands to her stomach and feels the warm, tacky liquid leaking through her skin.