The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 18

Sudden Battle

The Next Sune Cycle

"Marsh." Not right now.

"Listen to me." Just let me rest, Morning Flower.

"I need you to take care of Chase and Latif." ... Mother?

"I'll miss you all..." Wait.

"Mother?!"

"Mom!"

"Come on, you need to go."

"No! I can't leave her!"

"Let her rest."

"NO!"

The lynx shot up from his spot in the leaf pile, his fur drenched with sweat, his eyes burning. Panting, he wiped one of his eyes and looked at his fingers. Wet. Had he been crying in his sleep?

"Could you not make such a racket? I'm trying to sleep," Favi grumpily muttered, rolling away from the male.

"Y-yeah, sorry."

He then took deep, slow breaths. Then, he put his face into his palms.

"Marsh."

The lynx looked up into green eyes, looking up at Morning Flower as she looked down at him. Her eyes were strangely filled with concern.

"Follow me, we can go gather some things in the forest nearby. It's only dawn."

Marsh gazed at her for a while before nodding.

Then he rubbed his eyes and stood from his position, carefully stepping over the others before his paws touched the cold ground of the cave.

A shiver went up his spine and he flicked his paws, feeling like he had been drenched in water and just now getting out into the open. Ugh, he hated that kind of feeling. After stretching, he walked up to the yellow marked ophoris, who was staring out into the dark sky. Not as dark as midnight, but just a few rays of light above it. Marsh stared ahead, looking toward the forest in the distance before looking up at the ophoris at his side.

"Should we get moving?"

"Yes."

The female stood up and made her way down the slope of the entrance to her cave, the long-eared lynx quickly following behind. They walked through the barren brush before reaching the cool of the trees. Marsh stuck around close to the ophoris' legs, shaking nervously. That dream... it freaked him out. He remembered having similar ones, but he hadn't had one in a while. Neither did he have such a bad dream, and why didn't he see the events happening?

"Marsh?"

Instantly grateful to do something to get the dream off his mind, the lynx perked up.

"I thought I saw something in that small crevice there," Morning Flower lowered her head and looked into a tree hole. "Could you look in there and grab what it might be?"

The male gave a nod and walked over to where the ophoris' muzzle was pointing. Staring at the spot, he noticed a small crevice in the roots.

"So what am I grabbing?" He asked.

"A small herb, it should be sprouting there."

The lynx frowned a little before going on his hands and knees to look in the crevice. Indeed there was a green root sprouting out, multiple smaller ones growing as well.