Set Out Camp!

Revenge of the Umbras

Max, Neil, Ered and Preston had one goal in mind : find every missing camper as soon as possible.

Although, Max was having doubts; he thought that an Umbra had already escaped someone's body, since everyone was in contact with magic, and they had already left two hours ago.

Preston kept wiping his eyes with his hands. Neil and Max were looking around everywhere. Ered used her phone to take pictures of the forest.

— Seriously, Ered? complained Max. Can you do something useful?

— Sorry, it's just really cool around here.

She wasn't wrong. The deeper they went in the forest, the less sunlight came through the leaves, which made the woods show its own natural glow.

Max heard footsteps coming from behind. Neil turned back, as well as Preston, and saw Harrison and Nerris, all covered in mud. Harrison explained to them that Nurf released an Umbra right after they left, and Dolph had difficulty fighting it, since he wasn't so familiar with his magic.

— The Umbra left somewhere in the forest... exhaled Harrison.

— Why did you leave Dolph alone? asked Neil.

— The Umbra got scared of Dolph for some reason. It left, and someone needed to watch out for Nurf, since he fainted. We went on the lookout for you guys!

— Preston unleashed an Umbra... stated Ered.

— I'm fine, honestly, confirmed Preston. Let's just go back to see Nurf and Dolph and eliminate the aura before it attacks anyone else.

The campers all ran a bit deeper in the woods, expecting to find Nurf and Dolph easily. Suddenly, five minutes became ten, and then twenty. No sign of them whatsoever.

— It would be so much easier if we could have a different point of view! The trees are blocking basically everything! argued Neil, frustrated.

Max stopped running and thought of something. It was dangerous, but it would be the easiest way to find the missing campers. He summoned his shadow bird.

— I could try to ride it, suggested Max.

— Don't, Max! worried Harrison. You're not trained enough for that! If you lose concentration, your magic bird will start to disappear. It's too risky!

— Calm down, it'll be fine. If I fall down or something, you or Neil can catch me.

— We can't. Your momentum would be way too fast for us to catch you on time, explained Neil.

— Okay, fuck it. I don't give a shit anymore. I'll just do it.

Max jumped on the bird, and it flew away with difficulty. The wind was strong, and Max had difficulty holding on. ''If I could just reach the top of the tree, I could sit on a branch and observe easily''

The bird was starting to deform, as Max started to concentrate less on his magic. He approached a rather big branch on a pine tree, and tried to sit on it. Suddenly, the bird disappeared, and Max held the branch with one arm, sweat dripping on his face. He attempted to summon it back, but he was too stressed out for him to focus. ''This is fine! I just need to think of something... who am I kidding? All I can do is control shadow! But the bird can hold solid objects... what if I decide to do something different?''

Max closed his eyes. He was about to do something even riskier this time. He let go of the branch. The cynical camper was falling quickly, and right before he hit a smaller tree, he used his magic to make a shadow lead. It attached to the branch, and made Max swing higher up, and he finally summoned the bird, that caught him with ease, and flew even higher towards the tree branch. He jumped on it with success.