The Sunlapse (A Light in the Mist AU/rewrite)

II

Song of the Chapter
Earth - Old Black

Bristlefrost stood with him, the last shard of sunlight in this moonless dusk, at the peak of the darkness where a cold crowd of thoughtless malice stood beneath with the ravenousness of striking them. Even the trees, which stood around the two with contorted boughs that reached for a divinity that would never come, watched them with a deadly hunger. All that would be tasted here was the demonic essence which loomed silent among the blackest mist, where the only omens that would be unveiled were the prophecies of merciless doom.

A wave of dreadful woe swept over her. She'd been so close, a step away from a morning security beside Rootspring, but this crowd of wretched, feral shadows which only lived to slay those who walked near them had stopped them. The disgusting ocean took Bristlefrost away, capturing her beneath the surface, where only stark despair would dwell.

Ashfur, their leader who walked with a soul poisoned by evil, leaped up to sit above them on a tired bough. He was a mere silhouette, an ebony vapour with a gaze that glimmered with passion for torture. He flicked his ear, and immediately the feral crowd of harlequins corrupted to do his sadistic bidding was set free and an infernal blast of doom was sent for her and Rootspring.

"Come on! Up here!" She hissed, grabbing the smaller tom and bringing him up onto one of the black tree's frail bodies. A wave of fear swept over her, knotting her heart in its black infection. With a high-pitched whimper of terror, Rootspring began bounding up the tree after her, and with hot blood trickling from her claws from the struggle she dragged herself up to the dark summit.

She held tight onto a twisted bough, forced to let her body fall airy onto the week branch, attempting her best to keep her nimble, trembling paws at spirit's weight so that their fragile souls would not be flayed of life. Miles beneath, the black slayers, in a merciless crowd, clawed at the disfigured foot of the gnarled body. 

Just then, a naked silhouette was unveiled from the shrouded distance. A shadow glided upon the branches, revealing itself from the mist to be Shadowsight. The branch shivered beneath him, with hefty foot and sturdy build, but he still managed to hold on.

"Shadowsight!" Rootspring cheered, overjoyed as he moved forward so quickly the twisted limb they hid on nearly broke away. Shadowsight walked with more caution, but still seemed overwhelmed with the joy to see his companion.

"Finally! We're all together," Bristlefrost gasped, worn down and decrepit from the voyage. She found it so sweet how in this bleak world, cold and starless in eternal dusk, where the sky was a mere sea of gloom and the only fruit was black thorns laced with poison, they could still find delight within each other.

But the plight still entrapped them, and the foul doom was still an infection within them all. The shrieking cackles from the dead-eyed harlequins still tore through the dark air, in a cacophony as they all clawed at the trunk in an aggressive battle to climb to the dark summit where the three had been secured.

Bristlefrost leaped forth from the bough, caught in a frenzied flight as she soared in the dark plight, catching by a scarce step the next branch. She held on, staring back at the twisted arm in which the dark one sat not distant from her. Perhaps, if she were to attack Ashfur and steal him of focus, his grip on the thoughtless souls would loosen and the demonic crowd would be freed of their slavery.

She crouched, pulsing with an animalistic lust to slay this beast, an ocean of violence flooding her mind. Bristlefrost's gaze fixed on the shadow-garmented tom, seeking the perfect moment to strike. She let go and released herself into a frenzied flight as she soared wildly in a wretched plummet towards the infernal necromancer.

His gaze flicked towards her, and Bristlefrost forced herself to believe that her freedom from demise would stop him from being able to puppeteer her. She crashed into him, knocking him from the branch and into the tainted wings of the possessed air. They plunged into the sea of mud, and Bristlefrost found herself caught in a deadly tussle, slowly flaying Ashfur with violent rage.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to release his control, the harlequins' cacophony still flooding through the wood. She let go of the pale ghost, who flew away from her furious grip and into the black mist, before Rootspring and Shadowsight, Snowtuft now with them, sprinted out from behind the dark cloak and sped towards her.

"If StarClan weren't such idiots, I'd have ripped off a bear's claw and shoved it into your chest by now," Bristlefrost hissed under her breath, hellish rage still burning her from within.

"Why'd you attack him? He could've killed you!" Shadowsight spat, but their argument was short-lived as another mad lamentation of the dead arose, and the demonic crowd bounded for them in wretched sadism. With horror renewed, the four lurched through the woeful labyrinth, dooming dread poisoning the dusk fog that enrobed the savagely, rude forest.

They managed to hide in a corner of the darkest hue, attempting to shroud themselves to avoid a vicious attack. They couldn't see the infected souls now, but their lamentations still thundered through the abyss, awakening on the cursed mists. In front of them was a black river, and Bristlefrost realized with shock that the liquid was blood, rolling across the rocks.

"Get in, they won't be able to find us," Snowtuft panted. "We can't drown, here in the Dark Forest."

"What!?" Rootspring exclaimed, as Bristlefrost leaned in to whisper her speculation of the mysterious soul to Shadowsight.

"Are you sure we can trust him? He seems...suspicious," she whispered, unsheathing her claws in preparation for another battle of corrupted wrath.

"He's saved our life before, I don't see why he'd want to kill us. And I know for a fact that he's not being controlled," Shadowsight replied. "Plus, the river is quite narrow, so if it turns out to be dangerous it won't be too hard to get out."

"Fine...I hope you're right," Bristlefrost replied, and with a dreary sigh of unwillingness she stepped forth into the black waves of the gory flood.