the shadow-birds
Once again you choose to continue on despite the forest’s tricks, be it out of caution, mistrust, or something else. The voices fade into the background behind you, dampened by the fog, and once again you are alone in the woods. For a while, it feels as though the air is thick and heavy, hard to push on through; the fog drapes you in a coat of dew, weighing you down. No matter how hard you strain, the light remains stubbornly fixed ahead of you, never closer, never further. The forest grows deathly quiet beneath all that fog.
Perhaps you don’t notice it beginning to lessen at first, the chains of mist shackling your legs loosening their grip. But slowly, slowly, the fog begins to fall away bit by bit, ribbons of white rising into the sky. And in their place, you can see the eyes staring at you.
A dozen shadow-birds block your path, their feathers darker than a moonless light, glossy with stardust. They stare at you in silence, heads tilted to one side, eyes burning white-hot and bright.
When the first one parts its beak and rasps out a challenge to you, your heart nearly stops.
When the second one joins the call, a shiver raises the hair on your spine.
And then the remaining shadow-birds can hold back no longer, and all of them lift their voices together in a screech that echoes throughout the forest. But still they do not budge - they only stand tall as loud, unnatural sentinels, as if perhaps they are waiting for you to make the first move.
To continue the quest, you must reply to this thread with your character's choice. There is no word limit, and you can be as creative with the prompt as you'd like! The mist eventually parts, revealing the trail once more - but Elena is no longer alone. A dozen shadow-birds stand in her path, gazing eerily quietly at her.
Choices: quietly ignore the birds, or scare them away
@
A note: this will be Elena's final choice to make! Choose wisely...
