Creeping Shadows (Gran-chan/Invite)

Hrm….What strange yet dedicated creatures. They didn’t seem like the best at seeing and yet they seemed pretty dedicated to staying guard. Just what were they hiding or protecting? Was it the source of the glow? Did the glow control them or…was this something else? Strange..very strange, but something that only perked the shadow’s interest more as she peeked around the corner and saw that the coast was relatively clear. The guard was definitely looking the other way. So she should prob--…

Arianna silenced her thoughts as she listened. She could hear movement and what sounded like footsteps coming into the area she had planned to run through. Well, that wasn’t good. She couldn't have someone finding her now could she? Plan B.

Pulling back into the room she was in before, she would look at her other options. There were two other openings in the room. One went to the north and the other to east. Hrmm….She would debate between the two before going to the one to north. Being as quiet as she could she would make her way towards the first opening and carefully crawl into the shadows, moving forward carefully as she saw an open area, but thankfully no humans. She would move to the next opening and peek into the large room here. It appeared this one was devoid of humans too. Heh. Was she guessing right? Or was this just luck? Probably the latter knowing how the world worked. Despite not getting caught yet, Arianna would move onward to the area at the north of this new room pausing once more in the shadows as she peeked around the corner into the hallway. From what she could see there was a person to the east of her and not too far down the other way was a person to the west too. She could’ve just run out there and tried her luck, but being uncertain which way the guy in the corner to the east was going, she chose to pull back into the opening and wait once more for a chance.

Movement:

The shadow would stayed hidden within the darkness as she listened. It appeared that the guard to the east was moving and from the sounds of the footsteps it sounded like said guard was going away from her. Good. Counting a few seconds within her head, she would peek around the corner to make sure the coast was clear before moving out into the hallway and quietly moving towards the west. She wouldn’t go far as her senses picked out the human to the west. The strange sensation of someone watching her would settle upon the shadow causing her to quietly lower herself to the ground to make sure she stayed in shadows.

She was in the open, but as long as she was patient, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught. So keeping quiet, she would listen to the area making sure the patrol to the east hadn’t returned and starting coming her way.

Movement:

The darkness was a comforting friend that kept the child that belonged to it hidden. There were guards all around, but for the moment none had spotted her. A good thing indeed considering the child like shadow would not only be disappointed, but also quite scared if she was caught. How would a child explain why she was in this strange section of the sewer? And what if said captors didn’t listen? What if they tortured her or killed her instead? Then what use would she be to the world that needed much guidance in this chaotic time? Sure, she had left her plans in the hands of another, but in said person’s current state they would only be able to do so much without enlisting the aid of others aligned with her father….and that was at the point of being hopeless. There were more hero-wanna-bes than true workers in the world. Disgusting. Getting her plan off the ground was indeed a hard thing, but she would keep working until something gave or broke in this strange world.

That little note aside, this place was too curious to give up on anyway. Humans or perhaps something else protecting a place tucked away under liquid human waste and tainted water? She had to admit this was indeed a good hiding spot for anything. After all, no one outside of herself seemed to have bothered getting into the sewage system, so it made the child wonder how it was this group or whatever they were had managed to stay undetected. If they were human would they not need to exit out of the place for food and rest?…or were these beings of the sewer? And if so how long had they been hiding out here? Was she the first to stumble upon this? Hmm… the list of questions grew bigger and bigger; however, without answers the child would put this on hold as she refocused on her task.

The guard to the east seemed to have walked off somewhere else and now the feeling of being watched coming from the west disappeared, so maybe that guard was looking away. Alright then.

Getting up slightly, the child like shadow would seemingly glide across the damp and slick floors, her shoes barely making any sound as she made her way to the T in the strange hall. Slipping around the corner, she would head down the hall taking note that the strange glow from earlier was getting brighter and brighter. She would pause to listen to the world around her not too far from what looked like an entrance to another room and from that room that glow came. Becoming quite excited, the shadow would make sure the coast was clear before going after her discovery.

Movement:

(Ah. Sorry. Sorry. I will remember.)

The area remained quiet and no one seemed to be coming her way. Good. She was almost at her goal anyway, but she wondered, as got up and began to move towards the glow that came from under that door, just what was on the other side? Was it treasure or a monster of some sort? Or maybe something new? Whatever, it was Arianna was excited about seeing what it was regardless of whether it was dangerous or not.

Staying quiet, she got up from her crouched position and moved forward once more. When she was close to the door, she would reach out and push it open quietly entering the bright room beyond and prayed this did not set off alarms have all guards coming her way.  

Movement:

She stepped into the room and immediately covered her eyes as they were assaulted by the brightest light she had ever come across. It was a light that typical shadows would run from but not her. Keeping her arm up as a shield, she tried to peek around the small shield to look at the light, but it was just too bright. What was that and why was it here? The thing was definitely a tear in space and time and yet unlike the ones that led back home, she could not see anything on the other side and it didn’t seem to trying to repel her in any fashion. No it was…it was…

The small girl swayed in her spot slightly as her mind fogged over. She tried to shake the fog away, but it remained making her feel like she was in a room full of clouds she could step on. It was the strangest feeling she had ever experienced and yet…she did not run. Even when she heard those odd sounds coming from the strange hole, she did falter as she took a step forward quite curious about this strange tear. What was its purpose and was it the reason there were guards here? What would it be like to step into that light and see what was on the other side? She…she had to know.

Too intrigue to worry about being disappointed, she would step into the light and attempt to cross over to the other side. What would she find there should she be successful in entering?

She approached intrigued by the tear only to find that tear shifting in form and color. As the whiteness began to twist and turn upon itself, she felt the pull of the strange vacuum created by the strange motions. She wanted to run, but could not. The pull was too great and within a second it was dragging the panicked child across the ground and towards the twisted open maw. Within a matter of seconds the force of the pull snatched her right off her feet and like Alice falling down the rabbit hole Arianna too began to tumble into this strange light that made her world become a distorted mess of colors.

She felt sick and scared, but there was nothing to stop the sensations or the fall. She kept tumbling and then without noticing began to fade. She thought she could see something in that blur of colors, but it all moved so fast that in the end she was not sure what she saw. She simply knew that everything around her was disappearing and now she was becoming one…no was one with the world that absorbed everything she was…..

Darkness.

It surrounded her like a warm blanket that made it hard for her to want to leave its safe embrace, but slowly conscious began to tap cracks into the dark bubble that held her. It would crack the bubble letting in white light and then with a feeling of being flung through empty space, the darkness would shatter into a billion pieces and the light would swallow the form up.
……

Where?....Where was she?

She could feel cold solid ground under her, but something was wrong. She didn’t feel things in a physical sense, but more like in a mental sense. She could “feel and see” the world through a vision so clear it was startling. She knew the  strange golden rift was there and while it was indeed strange, beyond that she could see the energies of people through the walls that surrounded the room she was in. And what was that strange aura that felt like home not too far away? What was this strangeness she felt? This freedom?

Sitting up she would not notice her form covered complete in darkness as she moved.


As she began to get up her form would shift and shutter shifting from human to a tall cat like form.


The shadows would melt away revealing the now awakened Huntress in her true form. While the hows and whys she was awake once more were a blur, the Huntress did not care as she stretched out a bit before pulling herself back into her human form. While she could indeed leave for now, she wanted to do one more thing before fleeing: Find the strange source that felt like home down here. The humans that resided down here were no concern to the shadow. They were simply food at this point. She didn’t expect them to be easy food, but she was no longer as concerned about them as before. So with a new found confidence, she would head towards the west door of the room and pause to use her new found senses to "see" where the guards were and sense where they may be looking.

Actions:

Silence and blackness.

How curious. Was no one beyond the walls anymore? Or had the guards wandered off elsewhere where she could not sense them? She could not tell, but at the same time was not afraid to check things out. With quiet steps she would open the door and step out into the hall beyond. If she was caught she was caught and if not that fine too. Either way she would act appropriately when the time came. Besides she had to go back outside of this room to leave the sewer anyway, so the risk was inevitable.  

Movement: