Something in the darkness

Remm and Hanna finally caught up with Cael. ''You two took your time to get here, did something happen?'' Cael asked.

''Immediately after you entered the Dark World, you disappeared from the sight. Cadets started to freak out and over half of them decided to not enter. I don't blame them, this place is pure darkness... It's almost like the darkness is a living being.'' Remm answered.

''This place is weird indeed, i could not even see your lights from the distance. Only when you were in contact with my light source i was able to see you two. Light from white candles seems to have 2 meters radius, we better stick close to each other or we might get lost'' Cael explained to both of them.

They were cautiously walking along the path holding lanterns high up. The path they were walking along was surrounded by forest which they could only see partially. Something in the forest was already following them as they could hear the sound of branches snapping in half, something big was following them.

''That thing is following us way too close, it sounds like that being is right next to us!'' Cael said while flailing around the lantern from side to side to see if he could scare it to go away.

''Stop, if you flail your lantern like that, the melted wax could extinguish your candle.'' Hanna told Cael while holding his hand still.

''Hanna is right, these things are provoking us to make mistakes which could cause our candles to be extinguished. We are safe as long we are surrounded by light.'' Remm said.

Cael was disappointed in himself, how could he do such a mistake so early on the trip.

After they understood how tricky the beings in darkness are, they continued moving along the path while the sounds around them multiplied, more and more beings were following them.

This made them even more cautious about their surroundings, so they hurdled closer to each other to make sure they were surrounded by light. Not long when they started to hear the restlessness of the beings in the forest as they started to fight among themselves, screams and growls got louder.

They did not pay any attention to happenings what was happening around them, they only focused on to the path right in front of them. The growls got even more violent and suddenly something flies from the forest towards the group. Large 3 meter tall humanoid figure with red eyes and black fur, dog like snout and pointy horns on head were laying in front of them.

Everyone stopped moving and were baffled after seeing such a horrible creature right in front of them. Cael hold the lantern even closer to the being and the being started to burn, fur on it's skin burnt immediately, skin started to disfigure and a sound of splash came after that. Only the bones of that being were left while gooey innards of that being started to vaporize in contact of light.

''Oh man that was nasty, did you guys see what just happened? That thing turned into bones in mere seconds.'' Cael was saying with a disgust on his face.

Hanna looked like she was in a shock, while Remm had his attention towards the direction where the being was sent flying. ''I don't like this at all, that could have ended badly for us if it had hit us'' Remm said.

''I agree, i don't think it is safe for us to stay on this path anymore... The 1% that ever makes trough here, i'm starting to have a little better understanding why. This path is a death trap.'' Cael said with serious expression on his face.

''We barely started our journey and we almost died already.'' Hanna muttered in fear.

Remm told Hanna to snap out of it ''We surely are gonna die if we are going to stick to the path.''.

Hanna regained some courage and the three of them decided to leave the path and walk the rest of the trip trough forest. The further away they went from the path, the less beings were following them. It was harder to walk in forest without a path to follow.

They regularly checked the compass to see that they were indeed heading north so they would be not walking in circles. They kept moving without taking any rest, they were not sure if it was the night or day.

After many hours of walking, they stumbled upon a small open area which was large enough for them to rest at. Everyone was exhausted from all that walking. They set their lanterns in triangle shaped formation and sat to the middle.

''Oh man i'm exhausted, good thing we found this open area, because i was about to fall in sleep any moment now.'' Cael said while yawning and laying down using his backpack as a pillow.

''I don't think we should get that relaxed just yet'' Hanna tried to explain to Cael who already was in deep sleep. ''It's okay, i will take the first watch, you two take some sleep.'' Remm assured.

Hanna laid down and was also quickly in deep sleep. Remm was staring in the darkness listening if there was something lurking in the darkness, however he heard nothing. He was a little bit relieved that all the noises from earlier were gone.

Cael started to speak in his sleep, saying something ''I'm meltiiiing, i'm meltiiiing....''. This made Remm laugh a little bit, how can one be so serious in one moment but total goofy in another.

''Who am i kidding, i'm as sleepy as they are...'' Remm said and grabbed the red candle from his backpack. He lit the red candle and replaced it with a white candle, so the whole area in 10 meter radius was illuminated. After that he also fell in deep sleep the moment he placed his head on his backpack.