Nick, What Happened to You?
Outside the place where the children were taken was a vast expanse of forest. Darius didn't know how long he was knocked out along the ride to the cave and then to the auction site, but he could surely see that the night had already set in. When he stood with Nicholai while seeing the children getting checked, he could see everything from the lighting of the building behind them.
Right now, however, he could only use the faint light of the moon to barely catch up on Nicholai's image. They were running across the forest, and unlike the last time, Nicholai was not moving the trees to get out of the way. Darius was suddenly getting weighed down by some kind of fatigue coming from the release of the spell, but he pushed through, lest he would lose Nicholai.
If he did, he would be left all alone in this dark forest.