Shadewylf

28.2 - Darkness

Invisible. Even if he had begun to believe his own guess, the simple confirmation made Toivo jerk to his paws. This was already too much to take in. He needed to move his paws to keep his brain's cogs turning. Otherwise, they would stiffen up, and the thought of being invisible would make the world spin.

"How?" he asked after a moment. His head pointed downward now, following the cave's floor as he paced. That was another benefit of the constant movement - he could avoid meeting Montasir's cold gaze.

His question was only answered by another. "You managed to become invisible by accident, yes?" Claws scraped as Montasir rose. "That takes a lot of power - although I would expect no less from a wolf as special as you." Paws touched stone softly, drawing closer. "What were you thinking about when you did it, Toivo?"

"I was asleep," he said, with a small chuckle. It faded as he remembered. "I was dreaming."

"About?"

"About darkness." He changed course, swerving to patrol the circle's perimeter. "I've dreamed it before. I'm in this dark forest, but... but the darkness is alive. It fights me, hurts me." All at once, he froze, eyes snapping up to meet Montasir's. "Except this time I didn't fight, and it helped me."

"Then you have your answer." Montasir was motionless, only his eyes flicking to follow Toivo as he set off again. "What you experienced in your dream is how you became invisible. Not that it is invisible as such," he added, a flashing glance making Toivo stop again. "Deimos was more accurate. We are all attuned to the shadow, and if we let it, it can hide us from view."

"Like the shadow inside blending with those around us," Toivo breathed.

A nod verified his words, along with an unspoken request. Try it.

Toivo took a deep breath. Surely now he'd done this once, he could do it again. Letting his eyes slide closed, he seached for the darkness of his dreams, seeking to hide away inside it.

The memories leered out at him from the depths of his mind, bringing fragmented flashes of a nightmare he'd tried so desperately to escape. Now, instead of pushing it away, he pulled it closer, luring the darkness to overtake him once more. The claws of his mind reached out, curling around the most recent memory.

But it slipped from his grasp, leaving him with only blurred flashes of dark trails.

Squeezing his eyes more tightly closed, he tried again, fighting away the frustration that came with it. But the dream floated just out of his reach. With his brain awake and heart beating fiercly, he couldn't seem to immerse himself in the land of darkness.

A low growl rumbled in his throat, and he snapped his eyes open, disappointed by his failure. Montasir's eyes locked onto his immediately, chasing away the annoyance with chilling comfort.

"You were trying to reach for your dream?" he said.

Toivo nodded, suddenly doubtful. "Was that wrong?"

"Not necessarily." Montasir lowered himself to the ground. "But it's much less likely to work. When you're dreaming, your mind cannot comprehend that the world you are in is a dream, and so you see the shadows around you as real. Now you are conscious, you know it to be false." His gaze darkened, dimmed with concentration. "Focus instead on the real shadows, the ones right beside you."

In that moment, Montasir faded away, the dark folding around him and enclosing him in a place of blindness. Unlike with Deimos, Toivo had been more ready for this disappearance, but it didn't make it any less strange. He shuddered.

Grey eyes were lit again first, followed by the rest of Montasir. He still sat there, as motionless as always. A nod was his only indication. Try again.