Spirit Animals: The Third Devourer War

Vision

Conor walked through the enchanted forest once again. It was still as dark and cold as it was in reality. He knew that this was just a vision, because he'd had it more than once. He would make his way to a small wooden hut where he would find old bones and herbs stacked on shelves. An old set of table and chairs were placed at one end of the hut, and a small bed on the other. In the middle, furthest away from the door was a black cauldron that bubbled and boiled.

The cauldron reminded Conor of witches, but then he remembered that witches did not really exist.

Or did they?

He stepped back outside, but was on Nightshade Island instead. He had never been to the cursed island, only Rollan and Meilin came here to collect the black conch many months ago. He looked behind him, seeing that the hut had vanished. Thick fog surrounded him and made it hard for him to see.

Conor heard a noise from the water. It sounded like a splash, but he already knew what it was. A large, monstrous saltwater crocodile emerged from the black ocean, pulling itself onto the shore closer to him. This crocodile was much larger than Shane's, and he figured it must have been Feliandor's. However, both Shane and Feliandor were dead, so Conor couldn't figure out what his vision meant.

He was about to summon Briggan, before realising the tattoo had vanished. As the crocodile lunged at Conor, he jumped to the side and ran up the beach away from the creature. The black sand under him gave way, and he fell through the ground. Screaming in fear for his life, he landed on cold snow, uninjured.

A large, snow-white castle stood in front of him, and to the right of it stood a midnight-black castle that seemed to be on Nightshade Island. In this vision, Arctica and Nightshade Island were next to each other. Conor shook his head, unable to figure out the symbolism and meaning. He looked at where Briggan's tattoo usually was again, and it still didn't appear.

Why?

Conor blinked his green eyes before turning around, preparing himself. He already knew what was behind him, but the same image still took his breath away. Entire armies stood next to each other behind him. King Feliandor sat on top of a large horse in front of the Conquerors. King, or Shane, stood in front of the Redcloaks with his sabre drawn. There were two others that Conor didn't really know what they were or where they came from. There was an army led by a female warrior, they all wore white cloaks and the other army wore black cloaks, except their faces were covered with black masks. He could see the leader's eyes clearly though. One of their eyes was a familiar brown, and the other yellow like Gerathon's. Both of the unfamiliar armies all rode horses, those with white cloaks rode white horses while those who wore black were mounted with black horses.

Conor shivered. He looked back to the army wearing white cloaks and Briggan was standing next to the female leader.

Briggan?

Conor tried to talk to the wolf, but Briggan remained next to the woman, and he was unable to speak. A brilliant flash of light appeared in front of Conor, and a large scythe filled his vision before another dark cloaked figure stood in front of him. It was the former Greencloak named Barlow, except his eyes were red and he looked like some sort of grim reaper. A long black cloak swirled around behind him in the wind.

"Conor," Barlow said. "War is coming. Be prepared."

War? Another one...?

Conor took a step back, staring in shock at Barlow. He felt himself fall backwards before waking up. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead and he slowly sat up from his bed.

Except he wasn't in a bed. He was on the floor with his cloak wrapped around him. Conor had been sleepwalking around the castle again. That's when he had realised that he didn't leave Briggan in dormant state before he fell asleep. He sighed in regret, but at the same time he was exhausted.