Crystilla shivered as armored hand came to rest on her shoulder. Then spoke a voice from the consuming shadows did in a voice so cold that she could see her breath despite blazing fires. The man said, “Give it to me."  Yellow teeth grinned glinting in the light of the blaze , " Just save me the trouble of capturing you again, and give it to me, he paused, "Am I right, my dear Crystilla?”. The darkness let out chuckle,  a drawn out escaped the lips of the darkness so unpleasantly cold; sent shivers down her spine and froze the very fire that surrounded her. As an effort to escape, she pushed his hand off her shoulder, still holding a bundle tightly in her arms, she ran into the forest, leaving the Darkness and the question lingering in her mind unanswered.

  She dashed through the  Aunliius’ Forest, the silver hood of her cloak and her the elegant scarf she was wearing, snagged on some stray branches, causing her to double over, flat on her face , she hearing distant roars of Anakar, and laughter,  like this was sport to them… Crystilla stopped and pressed herself up against  a tree. A woman ran through the forest past Crystilla. Dirt and golden blood covered the young girls' black and gold dress, which had snagged on a branch, ripped, the girl tripped on a tree root and wimpered, . Her eyes glanced upward as she saw Crystilla from behind a veil; she mouthed the words, “Erao teraes." "Help me.”  The young woman proceeded to crawl on the ground and slid into a hole at the base of a tree. Crystilla knew that help could not come fast enough, even if she was able to send for it. Even though this girl was the fated Oracle Viellena Akate, Crystilla walked toward the girl and stroked her long hair crusted by the sheen of golden blood of the young oracle 

 The surrounding forest was burning hotter.  Crystilla bent down and kissed the girl on the forehead and quietly whispered, “I am so sorry, Oracle, I wish I could help.” Suddenly, Crystilla heard the low grumble of an extremely infuriated creature, as it lumbered crashing through the  brush, and roots, its powerful claws crushing boughs and slashing its blades protruding from its arms, through the thick trees blocking its way. The creature Had its eyes locked onto Crystilla who was still kneeling. Crystilla bolted out of the area, only stopping for a moment to listen, she heard a scream, it was the girl then, silence, except for the pounding of her heart, and the growl of the Ana’ Kari, She saw the beast only for a brief moment. The unconscious girl, who was now bound with rope, was being, dragged away her ankles, pulled by the Ana’ Kari. Crystilla thought, it was probably dragging her off to their leader, Lord Kaeraseid, and to be subject to his increasingly twisted warped mind. 

 Crystilla knew that the worst was far from over, she heard in the distance other creatures scouring the grounds for her. There was the sound of the pounding of talon-like feet, as two Ana’ Kari lumbered with heavy steps through leaves and bushes. , Anakar strayed from the initial pack to search on their own.

Crystilla ran, her long strides taking her farther and farther from the consuming blaze, 

One of her pursuers signaled with a clawed hand to the other to advance. To her left an Anakar launched itself towards the silver Queen, releasing a howl roaring howl from is toothy dragon-like maw, her elfaen ears pricked as a branch snapped. She was not aware other one snuck up behind her. She bent down, avoiding crushing the delicate bundle in her arm, picking up a large stone with her left. She awkwardly spun and smashed the stone in to the skull of the oncoming Ana’ Kari.  She then kicked out, planting her foot squarely into the second creature’s stomach. 

Crystilla took off, running at full speed. Farther, and farther into the forest she ran, in the distance, she thought she could see the last light of Eruna peeking out from the trees again of her. 

She was caught off-guard by the hypnotizing sight of dancing throughout the shifting Aether cloud as it shifted and swirled about itself, she heard of the this phenomena ,among many others, the Aether was a rare and beautiful sight, yet this was not the time nor place to marvel  

 Crystilla pulled the hood over her head shielding her eyes from the light. She tightened the scarf around her face as the winds had picked up,which now stung her body, almost as if the very air was made of thorns. 

 

 Crystilla, determined  to escape did her best to restrain her curious eyed from looking back glanced over her shoulder, not wanting to see which was victorious, she ran  her cowl danled loosly about her neck as she ran  the bundle and held it closely to her breasts. An Ana’ Kari, clumsily, it lumbered toward her with an awkward gait, and was breathing heavily, despite the fact that it was on the verge to breathlessness the creature continued forward , “ “Wait, My queen,” it growled It coughed again, then spatamathyst  blood from its mouth Not wanting to risk anything for a second time, Crystilla dashed into the Aether, The Ana’ Kari reached into the Aether as it began to fade. As Crytilla fell the the last thing she herd were the incoherent hissing of the Ana’kari, everything went black,  the bundle still clutching tightly in her arms managed to be unscathed during the fall. The Aether had dissipated quickly as it had come; a flash of light behind her, leaving a howling Ana’ Kari, its massive head, swinging its massive head side to side, on a thick and powerful snake-like neck, searching for Crystilla, who was nowhere to be seen. With a grunt of disappointment and  the a stub of a forearm, putrid amythist-coloured  blood oozed out of the wound, it wilted plants and scorch marks was all that remained signifying the phenomena had spanned the entire clearing.