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

III

Song of the Chapter:
Dark Tranquility - Shadow Duet

All Shadowsight could perceive was darkened crimson as he was drowned in the waves of rolling blood, banks eluding before he could reach them. He suffocated, no air to bring peace to him as he was encased in the thick depths of this poisoned drink. He boiled in the stream, form melted by walls of the reddest liquids, until finally the dripping arms let go from their wretched embrace and he dropped out into a tainted breeze, left broken on the line of sleep as he rested on dark shores.

Fear still sickened him of the band of corrupted souls ever since not a moon ago when he'd first entered this hellish labyrinth, who walked the savage wilderness, once with life and hope in their mind and heart that was now reduced to only vicious death from Ashfur's disease. He'd seen real harlequins, the cursed souls with ebony eyes and a form enwrapped in putrid poison, but those spirits were condemned to this tainted realm in vengeance for their foolish wrath and malice. That troop had never done any violence, but were cursed to do so, and now their gloomy  abode was woods of eternal dread, the forest of endless dusk.

His eyes peeled open as he rose from the dark. The four were now in an empty cavern, completely enwrapped in pure, unlit blackness. The other three were mere silhouettes against the robe of shadows, the only light being the dreary, ebony clouds of mist floating from the scarlet rivers behind.

"We should be safe in here," Snowtuft gasped. The tallest of the shadows, a mere cloud upon the silent blackness that haunted the cavern, stood over a something which laid as though dead on the ground. Shadowsight wondered if Rootspring had fallen into a swoon, a deep concern sickening his heart.

"Is anyone hurt?" Shadowsight asked. The faint contour on the ground arose for a moment before dropping again, cracked and beaten like porcelain painted in the darkest hue.

"Rootspring's just...wounded," Bristlefrost explained. "I don't think he's too badly hurt. At least, I hope so."

Just as Shadowsight's terror was finally seeping from his breast, of both the accursed troop that they'd battled and of his companion's wounds, a whimper drifted from Snowtuft and foul dread was beginning to settle upon them again, before a flash of lightning shattered the bitter silence.

Pure horror, it's tainted flame once unlit but now renewed, swept through Shadowsight as Snowtuft turned around, the robe of shadow enwrapping them now timid and falling unto the vermillion flame that shot forth from Snowtuft's eyes. He opened his jaws, clearly thieved of his thoughts' essence and dead under the curse which transformed him into a harlequin stark of morality.

"I-" Shadowsight gasped, voice weak under the terror which choked him. Bristlefrost stood in an intimidating stance, teeth bared in vicious courage like that of a wild beast, while Rootspring broke out into a high shriek of terror and swiftly fled for the blood river, his head bashing against the rocks above the gap. "I think Ashfur took over his mind!"

Bristlefrost immediately leaped on him, stunning Snowtuft and immediately beginning to slowly flay him, and the two were then caught in a tussle of wrathful violence. Shadowsight turned to Rootspring, pressing against him as he slowly rose on shivering paws. "You okay, buddy?" He asked the wounded tomcat.

The light of compassion in Shadowsight's heart was quick to be thieved of, though. As Snowtuft, vile spirit, swiftly captured him as his grip plunged Shadowsight into wretched plight. Snowtuft did not rip, nor claw, he simply bit down on Shadowsight's flesh, but it brought a surge of tainted venom blackening his blood. 

The poison now lived inside him, and just as Bristlefrost bounded towards Snowtuft again to bring him away, vapour in the darkest hue veiled Shadowsight's sight like smoke. Cursed sleep took him under, the searing pain from the bite which throbbed like fire ceasing. Now, Shadowsight's soul was dead, and the foul spirit of a dreadful beast lived within what was left. He arose to stare at the cave, catching a crowd of cats masked in blasphemy.

Sillhouettes, malicious  contours naked of light! The perverted shadows, believing themself to be spirits of love, when they were no more than serpents. His thoughts were tormented by the portal of good and evil. These souls were innocent, deserving of no death, and yet still somehow they were violent beasts who needed to be slain for the ceasing of the supreme deadliness.

He turned, and among the smoky atmosphere sat a being of pure light and virtue. It was truly untainted, and its glorious presence immediately told him that he was to slay these beasts. Quickly he turned, and began to leap for the cursed shadows in an empty attempt to battle them, overtaken by this impetuous wrath. Just then, a gaunt silhouette leaped from the labyrinth of ash, and struck him in fierce fury. Agony surged through him as the silhouette tore him, skin by flesh, bone by organ, and quickly his sight gave away to the sleep's laughter and he fell upon the earth, as though dead.

Shadowsight's senses returned, and he awoke within a starless atmosphere. Dark trees, cloaked in mist stood around him, their black branches bare. Bristlefrost, Snowtuft and Rootspring sat beside him, vermillion blood seeping from the wounds marking their flesh, which was turned ebony in the everlasting, frosty dusk.

"I feel like a bent tree right now," he mumbled. Shadowsight's mind sharpened, and a deep sorrow swept over him as he realized that he must've hurt them when he was cursed in his demonic state. Dark woe hollowed his breast, until he was almost ready to plunge back into that nightmarish swoon, but it was interrupted when sharp lamentations of the thoughtless spirits struck his ear, and a flock of accursed silhouettes enclosed on them. 

"Come on! Go in, now!" Bristlefrost whispered to Rootspring, and immediately the ginger tom began to swiftly dash through the woods of gloom. With surprise, Shadowsight realized that the still waters of the moonpool laid there. The only portal from this forest, savagely and rude. Just then, Ashfur, the perverted serpent stepped from the poisonous thorns.

"You do realize that I purposefully froze the moonpool, right?" The vile soul taunted. "So, if you try to jump in, I can just-"

"Shut up and shove your ice magic under your tail, you dirt-eater!" Rootspring hissed, darting for the pool. A wave of dread swept over Shadowsight, his eyes nearly retiring as he was choked by the wretched fear. Rootspring leaped for the waters, which lamented out in a shatter as he struck them just before the meek pond turned to crystal like the lakes in leaf-bare. The feeling of darkness swept over Shadowsight and pulled him under, and upon the blackened earth he plummeted back into his death-like swoon, oppressed by sleep, as Rootspring plunged into the now ice-masked waters, his fate unknown, and the silhouettes began to charge for them.