Halobean and Fern were left on their own to fend against these dark shadow creatures created by Lone and his magical trickery, they slowly felt the folder and painting lose touch with reality as they disappeared. The creatures were only 2ft tall, yet they were agile, one had made its way up onto the ceiling twisting its head in a 360 like it was a child possessed by a demon. Lone insisted they couldn't hurt the two but at this point, who would ever trust him?
When you move to a different time you move to a different perspective, in this case when the wooden door closed this room of to the rest of the sewers, a loud bang could be heard all the way through the castles ground floor; on this floor was Cyrus working with some economic advisers, "Those absolute children, always getting themselves in trouble" they said leaving without an instant. Two other people on this floor were closer to the situation, Sylvester and Itto had gone back to check on the lot it had already been a whole night since they first got led on this easter egg hunt. They rushed straight to the door closed behind them "its closed off how are we going to get down there?" Sylvester's new innocence was hard to handle yet Itto managed to take no issue in it "Give me a second" Itto shouted bracing his arms and charging into the desk, forcefully opening up the secret second floor.
Cyrus was the first to arrive, either through an ability or just implying knowing their way around the castle, they appeared out of nowhere and stood in shock as the fight continued. Fern waved their rapier towards the growing closer monsters and beckoned them, "Care to dance?" The monsters charged forward, Fern dodged, leaving an unsuspecting Halobean to be held victim. The pain was a mixture of a tickle and a cut deep claw dragging into their skin, no blood was seen, however the pain felt real. It felt like it hurt, and it felt like they were about to end their life, she shook them off and ran over to Cyrus, still stood in shock about the chaos ensuing.
Sylvester and Itto were on the second floor, straight away to notice the new sewage pipe opened up, however if it took so long for the group to get there if they needed to be in a rush they couldn't walk. Itto picked Sylvester in his arms and started to run towards the wooden door, one slip up on the sewage caused the two to fall and slam into the door themselves. Fern was midair rapier in hand and plunged down on the creatures heads, two more slices and the creatures disintegrated into dust, Fern picks themself in sync with Sylvester and Itto, "It was that easy?" It was almost like they jinxed them all. The dust laying on the ground piled up making another creature this one was slower than the rest and was about 8ft tall, "He's pretty big aye Fern?" Sylvester clearly did not understand the other meaning of that sentence and meant it as a worry if Fern could be able to beat this creature.
Fern jumped onto a nearby ledge and the creatures attention directed to Itto Cyrus Halobean and most importantly Sylvester, Fern tried to jump Infront of the swing however their ability only had their best interests. Fern unwillingly dodged the attack looking over all their friends about to get hit, it only took a few seconds, but it was as if the world was playing in slow motion. It was Itto who parried the attack, "What in the world is going on? Cyrus stood behind the fight shielding the injured Halobean and Sylvester, "Fern is fighting the big shadow gremlin!" Sylvester replied with ease. Fern fell to the ground in a barrel roll saving themself just in time for it to not hurt, Itto's sword swung through the creatures arm but after time it continued to grow back, "Physical damage can't hurt it were going to need something else" he shouted to Fern continuously parrying the monster. Ferns eyes widened as the thought struck them, they jumped above lighting a match as they held in the air and through it towards the altar in the back of the room, the room regained its light as flames contained themself on that one rectangle. Fern spun too the creature and released a final plunge attack as it fell to the ground. They walked over to a confused Cyrus standing in shock eyes 40 meters wide trembling like a rollercoaster, behind them a crouched down Sylvester and Itto tending to Halobean, "She has no signs of wounds none internally either" Itto continued to check up on her as Cyrus heightened there voice to Fern "Care to explain what the fuck was that and when did it happen?" Fern drifted their eyes to Sylvester and Halobean, "They were shadow creatures, spawned from the dust of Harths bitchy boyfriend. Stephen was Lone in disguise, and it was horrible, I tried to get him, but he wasn't truly there he did what those creatures did and continued to come back in various forms and-" The shake Fern had in their voice was one to match an earthquake, as they locked eyes with Sylvester it stopped almost suddenly.
"Sylvester may I talk to you" Fern lent him a hand to help get up, they took him to the other side of the room in eyeline of the rest but not hearing distance, "This is going to be hard to hear but, Lone- he is trying to kill you" Fern thought to keep Lones true identity and how this place was supposedly his a secret, they had no evidence it had vanished out of thin air, "Thats not very nice" his brain was like that of a 10 year old, no one knew how much memories had got taken away from him, he remembered Harth and there time together. He was still angered by what Lone was attempting, however he had something much more prioritized on his mind, "I'm leaving to find Harth" Sylvester announced to the whole group. Fern was tasked with keep Sylvester safe, they would never like to disappoint Harth, "LONE HAS HARTH" nothing was ever said to confirm this yet it seemed to slip out of Ferns mouth in a fit of anxiety, "And if your left alone, he kill you" Fern breath felt like a weight in there throat. "If that's the case I'll go to see Lone instead" he was not going to back down, "Don't you see Sylvester? We can't lose you! Harth can't lose you." The pain in Ferns voice lowered, "If you're going, we're going too." Fern looked her way around the room trying to notice any volunteers. Itto shook his head and picked up Halobean, "She's injured I have to take her to the infirmary" he gave a sorry look to Fern and walked past back up to the ground floor. "How about you, your majesty?" They sighed with a longing look in their eyes, "Yes I will come" Cyrus agreed. Sylvester now finally put back with a smile on his face, "So where is this person Lone anyway?" Cyrus and Sylvester made eye contact with a guilty Fern, "Well you see, we don't quite know" Sylvester and Cyrus frowned in disappointment.
"But there was this picture, of Harth! And there was a beach" Fern scraped through their mind and seemed to remember something that wasn't actually there, "There was a hut" Fern picked up the dust that the painting had faded to, "On the mountain" they showed the dust to the two. "Harth looks pretty." Sylvester weirdly said as if the painting has slipped back into his reality, "Sylvester there's nothing there" Cyrus checked up on him, he replied with an innocent smile of a spider shivering Fern and Cyrus. "About this hut, there's no such place?" Cyrus has started to lead Fern and Sylvester outside, "Yes it has, I remember it!" Fern insisted she remembered such a hut existing, the rich sun blinded them as they finally had made it to the top of the stairs linking the two floors of the library, "It's the next day already?" Fern asked, "Actually it's been two." Cyrus reply had scared Fern, was Lone really that good at making you lose track of reality? Even with his power the question seemed absurd, but this was just raw magic and manipulation. The conversation gone on until they reached the drawbridge of the castle, the nearby sea made the wind cold, colder than Fern was used to in their home land, Fern continued insist such a hut existed and low and behold it did. While it concerned Cyrus, Sylvester was already running to the village gates with Fern chasing behind him. Outside of the castle town was bright and vibrant, it made the trash filled streets look heir-grey, the pathway was neatly cut separating the paths to the beach, mountains and other countries and villages.
It took a while to get to the top of the mountain, it was already the evening but here they stood finally Infront of this huts door, it appeared with straw wood and leaves as if it was set up by a new tourist looking to tour Baylou. Knock one, a ringing sound in their ears echoed through their mind. Knock two, it stopped and instead a sound of a lock being unlocked was replaced. Knock three, and the door was open. The man who answered had a similar appearance to the one of Lones, the same sandy hair, the same grinning smug yet his clothes were much poorer and actually looked like they were from the lower class. Before Fern could even tell the man why they were here the three were already sitting on a cold blistering wooden bench in this mans dingy house. Fern was chilled, "Please do not do that again, who are you?" without manners they cut straight to the point aiming to grab their rapier at the nearest opportunity studying this man's face. "I am Lone-" the man got cut of as Fern grabbed their rapier and threatened it at his neck, "LONE ITS YOU, SYLVESTER GET BACK!" the man lowered the rapier down with a calm expression on his face, "I am Lones brother" he calmed the group down. This would explain his appearance, so Fern did not question, "Please do not inform me you are aligned with your sad excuse for a brother" they still held their sword tight, "Heavens no! I would never work with that traitor" he seemed to hold a grudge against Lone such as the rest.
"Sadly, I may not help you with what you need, I advise you leave now." he stood up to meet Ferns height, "nor can I tell you anything about what role he plays" this wording about roles implied as if the world was some stage and all the men and women were merely players. Fern did not let his wording trick them and continued to question, "He wants to end my friend here's life, and he abuses our friend who we have suspicion to believe is somewhere here with you" it was the first time anyone had said out loud the suspicion that Lone would do that to Harth, they had act like it was true, like they new for certain this is what was happening behind the scenes and it put a laugh on the man's face. He walked around the group slowly, he was a shark surrounding their prey waiting to attack, "I can't really say Lone ever talked to us before, ever since he betrayed us" he refused to make eye contact, "But ever since he met that girl, he was obsessed with her and would do anything for her, including never speaking to us again" he was bitter about his brothers betrayal. He had one final laugh before standing still staring at all of them with a hypnotizing look, "Sorry my friend but its unfortunately not possible to interrupt what harths doing, she is out of my brothers grasp and no harm has come to her." he leaned over the table with his brother's signature smirk, "4 days she said? Didn't she? That leaves thirty-eight hours left." Fern and Sylvester both clearly unsatisfied continued to pester the mage, "Thirty-eight hours, if she doesn't come back go ahead and find her, but I heavily advise doing it any time before that" his voice turned toa stern whisper and jumped back up, "my job here is done". With in a blink of an eye they were in front of the castle gates looking back at the hut, it was never there not in real life or their memories.
Fern cautiously took Sylvester up to his room writing in their journal as they gone upstairs, "Please, make sure Sylvester is not left alone"
Fern asked Itto, "Don't worry, I promise"