Whisper

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

116 hours remaining

(Amalric's POV)

We had entered a black forest. It was clear that years ago there was a horrible forest fire here. The trees were all black or white or both. Ash littered the ground. I bent down and picked up a handful, letting it seep through my fingers back onto the ground.

The branch stripped, bone white trees glowered at us as we made our way through this dead forest.

We stirred up small clouds of gray as we walked. The ashes lingered in the air, following us, like souls struggling to escape. Amaria tugged at my sleeve.

"Amalric, look!" She shouted, pointing to a shape that stood out plainly in this dank, gray place.

There, between a dead tree and a spiny, leafless bus, was a small green shoot of an infant tree. I smiled.

There is yet hope of this forest being regrown.

The forest slowly melted back to green and the path shot upward, getting steeper and steeper.

We climbed uphill and entered a darker, denser forest. There was an eerie feeling about this place.

A small white Pokémon appeared from behind a tree. The fire on its head shone purple light around the area. It chirruped and waved its stub of an arm, motioning for us to follow. I stood, rooted in my spot. That Pokémon was a Litwick.

Litwick, I recited in my head, is a candle Pokémon. While shining a light and pretending to be a guide, it leeches off the life force of any who follow it. Litwick shines a light that absorbs the life energy of people and Pokémon, which becomes the fuel that it burns.

The Litwick smiled adorably, but I caught the gleam of evil in its yellow eyes.

Purrloin growled and her fur puffed to twice her size. I picked her up and continued on the path. Several feet later I realized Ria wasn't with me.

I returned to where the Litwick was just in time to see Amaria's purple hair disappear into a shadow. Panic shot through my veins.

"Amaria, no!" I dashed after her, holding a wriggling Purrloin tightly against my chest. I soon caught up to my sister. I grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"Sis, stop!" With an un-human strength she yanked away and kept walking, deeper, into the shadows. I stood in front of her and braced myself. Ria lifted her head and I went limp with horror. Her eyes where cloudy and had turned a muted yellow.

The Litwick was there suddenly, standing in front of a wavy, dull purple and black, swirling vortex.

My first mistake was that I looked it directly in the eyes. I gasped from the sharp pain I felt in what I only realize now as my soul. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's like I could feel the Litwick burning my soul, my life energy.

My second mistake was that I didn't look away immediately. It felt exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, and I didn't know which emotion I should have held onto. My brain got foggy and the pain deep inside of me grew worse.

I felt my body slowly move toward the portal that I assumed led to the underworld.

I had taken Dad's shoes off a while back because 1) they didn't fit right and 2) I was more used to being bare-foot.

This small fact saved our lives.

Pain shot up through my leg as a thorn dug into my foot. This outside pain was enough to let me regain control of my body.

During my possession I had let go of Purrloin, who was now cowering behind me.

I pointed at the Litwick who was concentrated on Amaria and hadn't even noticed that I'd shaken it. Ria was dangerously close to the portal now.

"Purrloin, if you want to save Ria's life then use Shadow Ball on that Litwick, but whatever you do, don't look into its eyes!"

Purrloin faltered just for a second before rage slit her pupils.

She stalked out in front of her enemy and growled ferociously, bared her fangs. She stood to her hind legs and a small, dark orb began to grow between her paws.

"PuuuurrrrrRRRR." She said with increasing volume till the dark, glowing orb in her paws grew to its maximum size.

She cracked a fanged grin and released the orb.

The Litwick disappeared in a dark smoke cloud, as did the Portal.

Amaria's head snapped up and whipped around.

"Ria!" She followed the sound of my voice and caught my eye. Pure joy scrwled itself across her face as she ran behind me. Purrloin hooked onto my shoulder and I grabbed Amaria's hand. We turned tail and ran.

We ran back to the light, back on the path and through the forest. We ran, non-stop for 25 minutes straight. We would have gone longer but just as we broke from the tree line into a dazzling meadow my dizzied, oxygen-less head shut down and the last thing I saw was the bright green grass rushing up to meet me.