Midnight Whispers [1]

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴! 𝘐 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥; 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

"He's an idiot not a navigator." Azrael regrets trusting that overconfident slime. Mere days after leaving Yahvet, Sam led Azrael astray as they were lost in some canyon, in the middle of nowhere.

"Well now what?" Sam uttered with a bit of sadness.

"Are you asking me?!" Azrael nearly raised his voice but quickly controlled himself and calmed down. "Let's look at the map." Pulling out a red rectangular crystal, Azrael projects a detailed map of slime valley. Zooming into areas near Yahvet he finally spots where they might be. "Hey Sam?" Azrael questioned with freezing calmness.

Sam could almost feel the temperature surrounding them lower a few notches. Stuttering Sam mutters, "Yes sir… I mean Azrael?"

Azrael continues questioning, "You happen to notice a few birds perched on the cliff side when we first entered the canyon?"

Sam thinks for a bit and affirms so.

"We can agree that it looks most similar to a crow, correct?"

Once more, Sam affirms so.

"Since you have 'traveled to every town and city that this valley can offer', I bet you can guess where we are?"

Sam ponders for but a minute before he concludes, "Death Crow Canyon?"

Rubbing the bridges of his nose with his fingers Azrael sighed, "God fucking damn it."

Death Crow Canyon is synonymous with the word danger. its rugged and unforgiving terrain, with towering peaks and deep crevices creates an ominous and foreboding atmosphere. At first glance, this place is nothing more than a beautiful wonder. Becoming enamored by the majestic hoodoos that dot the landscape. These towering rock formations, weathered by centuries of wind and erosion, rise like ancient sentinels against the sky.

However, at closer inspection murderous crows perch atop their precarious peaks. Their dark silhouettes contrast against the backdrop of passing clouds. The hoodoos act as both a sanctuary and a vantage point for these menacing creatures, allowing them to survey their domain and keep watch over the valley. As the two ventured deeper into the deathtrap, they noticed an abundance of withered and twisted vegetation. Thorny bushes and gnarled trees cling to life, their branches contorted into sinister shapes, while the ground beneath your feet is covered in a layer of desolate and barren soil.

Azrael examines all that he could in what little time he seemed to have. The very walls themselves seem to harbor a malevolent energy. Formed from the years of blood soaked deeply into the walls. With jagged rock formations jutting out at odd angles, forming a labyrinthine maze. Shadows dance upon the walls, adding to the sense of unease that permeates the air. It is as if the valley itself is alive, watching your every move with its unblinking stone eyes.

Snapping himself out of his reverie he quickly commanded Sam, "Come on, let's go before something happens."

Urging his horse to follow, Sam asks, "Like what?"

In perfect synchronicity, a crow gracefully descends, perching upon a nearby tree, fixating its gaze upon the two figures. As soon as it regains its balance, the crow unleashes a series of raucous caws. Abruptly, from the shadows behind them, an ominously dark horde of crows materializes, malevolently giving chase to the unsuspecting duo.

"Something like that!" Azrael yells and instructs Ragnar to go faster.

Comparable to how the late Finn ran from a terrifying dire wolf, Azrael now seems to be in the same dire straits. "Azrael Silven; The Herald of Annihilation, The Unchained Arbitrator, and The God-Eater himself dies to crows?" Gazing behind, the crows seemed to be getting faster. "Raphael would never let me live this down." Irritated by the mere thought of dying in such a pathetic manner, Azrael swiftly begins to plan an escape route.

At this moment, both Sam and Azrael found themselves positioned in the heart of the canyon, their presence resonating within its depths. Fortunately, the canyon itself is not too far-reaching, only a couple of kilometers away from the exits. However, Azrael faces a conundrum.

If they keep going straight at full speed, they most likely will escape the canyon but there is no guarantee that the swarm of crows will stop chasing them. If they take a detour, they will have to traverse a path filled with hoodoos. That most likely has more crows they would have to deal with. Although, if they manage to escape, they can enter a dense forest that would completely block line of sight from the swarm.

Quickly deciding, Azrael takes the detour and weaves into the terrain, making him harder to hit. Sam replicates Azrael, nearly smashing into a thick spire on the path. Unfortunately, even with the obstruction of natural terrain a portion of the swarm disconnected and plunged down towards the pair. The small cluster of crows soon smashed into a small hoodoo creating a massive dust bowl making it almost impossible to see. Enhancing his vision with mana, Azrael can clearly see through the obstruction and carefully guides Ragnar forward.

Sam, seeing the metaphorical and literal walls closing in, no longer hesitated, abandoning his horse by leaping off it and latching onto Azrael's back. Azrael completely ignored this, however. What he focused on instead was the movements of the crows behind him. The swarm plummeted and picked up the terrified horse. The horse was not even able to utter out a screech as it was devoured alive completely in mere seconds.

"And this is only the smaller portion of the swarm." Azrael thought.

For the crows that feasted on the horse, their bellies bulging and feeling content. Retreated towards the larger swarm. While the rest of the crows picked up the pace hoping to eat their fill as well. Weaving in and out of hoodoo's, Azrael kept a moderate distance between him and the increasingly hungry swarm.

With few close calls, Azrael soon makes his way near the entrance of the forest. At last, the hectic chase was nearing its end. The nearest of the crows swooped down, desperate to grab even a morsel of flesh. Dodging the crows, Azrael threw out a sparkling apricot potion at the swarm.

The ravenous crows seemed hell-bent at consuming him and bashed straight into the bottle. That seemed to be a mistake however, as the moment they did so a massive explosion rocked the area they were in. Smaller hoodoos crumbled, creating an ever-bigger dust bowl.

Propelled by a forceful shockwave, Azrael, Sam, and Ragnar were forcefully expelled from the confines of the canyon, hurtling into the sanctuary of the dense forest.

Colliding with the terrain, their bodies careened and tumbled, inflicting upon Azrael's skin an array of abrasions and bruises. In a comparable condition, Ragnar stared at Azrael with abject distain. Peering back at Ragnar he shrugged, groaned, and slowly got up. "I'll admit, not my best idea."

"You got that right." Ragnar's voice sounded in his head. Shaking his fur to get rid of any remaining dust on him. Ragnar observed the place where they landed. "Where's the blob?"

"Hell if I know. Sam! Where are you?" Calling out, Azrael begins searching.

"I'm up… here." Sam weakly uttered, sprawled atop a branch resembling a draped linen sheet, flattened to the shape of a pancake.

"You need help?"

"No… Just give me a few minutes."

While waiting for Sam to recover he took out a few pills and handed them to Ragnar. Consuming them, the scratches and bruises quickly mended over. After a stretch of time, Sam hopped off the branch landing next to Azrael.

Sam questions, "What now?"

Opening the map once more, Azrael scouts where they can go. "I'm too weak right now. I need to get stronger before we can even face the abomination. So let's take the scenic route to its last known location."

Sam surveyed the map with Azrael, "Great! There's a few towns on that path so we wont have to sleep in the wild."

"Great. Look alive Sam, you look pale."

They forge ahead, venturing deeper into the depths of the forest, each step fueling their desire to leave it once and for all.