Lens Cap || Slenderverse Reader Insert || SpiritPasta-Verse

Chapter Nine; Ursa Major

CW; swearing, blood, violence, cannibalism/gore mentions,

Nancy, with bandages hurriedly twisted against the wound on her arm that were seeping red, glanced at the heavily wooded pathway, bearing a neutral expression at the gravel and dirt that led to a multitude of destinations, two of which being the desired places of arrival. Two figures stood nearby of varying heights. They both had brownish hair, yet the shorter's was long and the taller's was short. L, the shorter one, had a yellow turtleneck sweater and black pants with tennis shoes, wielding a shovel as a self-defense weapon. The taller, M, wore a black hoodie with dark blue jeans and black converse, holding a dark blue notebook and a flashlight with several colorful glitter-gel pens in his pockets.

   They appeared almost human, but the distinguishing feature that proved them to be what was most likely a humanly-sentient Shadoid was their skin. Their skin was pitch black void and their facial features were nothing but a few white, glowing lines that resembled a crude children's drawing. They had no nose, no eyelashes, no lips, no irises, no scleras. Just a couple lines for their pupils and eyebrows and a few lines for their mouths.

  "...So where did you say you were headed again, Ms.Woodgate?" M asked, scribbling entries into their notebook.

  "Going to cut into the park and then beeline for the Lake, because according to a certain being, that lake should get me to where I want to go."

 "The Mirror Lake, you mean?" L piped up, "we actually passed that not too long before we found you!"

 "Yeah, the Mirror Lake is what he said, I think," Nancy replied with a small nod, hand idly tugging at the crudely put together bandaging, "I'm going to make a stop at the park, though. There's something there I might want to find, I think. I'm looking for hopefully a sort of symbol, perhaps. Or whatever's there he seemed so adamant about recommending me to avoid."

 "If you're headed to the park, I suggest trying to find the Star Arrangement," M said in a tone that implied their message to be cryptic and mysterious, "I've heard stories among things in the regular Ever-Acre Wood that talk of an anomaly that could assist in your endeavors of...taking out an entity."

  Nancy perked up at the word 'anomaly' and L quickly stammered out, "M! You know we shouldn't go around giving out children's tales as advice!"

   Now having her interest piqued, Nancy slowly spoke, "...tell me more about this...Star Arrangement."

[...]

   You glanced at the microwave clock. 8:34 PM is what it read. You were standing in the hall by the door, waiting for Hive to return. Now that you had eaten a full meal, which you were very glad that the beeperson was hospitable enough to do for someone who was brought in without outside permission, you felt a lot less pain in your stomach and you felt a little less exhausted. You were still extremely tired due to the two sets of torture you'd just sat through, but you hoped that nothing worse would occur. As you gave that thought a very vibrant moment of thinking, you soon found yourself knocking on the wood of the nearby chair. You weren't that superstitious of a person, but you felt that if getting jinxed was real, you did not want it to happen, especially in your current situation.

  "We must have you and Marnie depart quickly," Hive suddenly appeared, making you jolt and spin around to face him, "apologies for the startle. The moon is bright tonight and will be receding within the next few hours. Covering ground at night will be safer."

  "Ah, alright. Thank you for...helping me and my friends out."

  "It's no issue. The timeline will benefit greatly from your prevail," the winged entity gave a short nod in your direction before continuing, "once you're deep enough in the Ever-Acre Wood, you will find the Star Arrangement. It will be a large help in your attempts for the Reset."