The Obelisk

-Chapter 84-

“You ready?”

A whole night passed and Nyx still hadn’t returned, leaving Forest and the others wondering where she could have gone. It rained the whole time, sending smells of wet grass and dew through the caves as Forest slept. They were then woken up rather early, while it was still sprinkling and the sun was just beginning to rise. Moonbeam went looking for Nyx as soon as they were awake, leaving them to train with a thin Shadowmane named Shiver.

Forest blinked and looked up, realizing the someone had said something. “What?”

“For battle training!” Shiver said dramatically, flinging his tail up. “I’m super excited. I’ve never fought other creatures before! I assume all of your techniques are different,” he added, nodding to the four.

Forest made a face. “I don’t think I have… techniques,” he said.

Shiver laughed. “Oh, we all do! You just need a chance to get your claws on something; then we’ll see.”

“I wish Nyx were here, though,” The young Shadowmanes smile dimmed. “She’s a great fighter, better than most. She’s kicked me and Orbits butts too many times to count!” He stepped forward. “So who wants to go first?”

“I do!” Rust jumped forward.

“Cool,” Shiver said, firming his stance. “Let’s do it. Try to attack me.”

Rust hesitating, flexing his talons. “Come on,” Shiver said, grinning.

Right as he said it, Rust was bolting forward, attempting to jump onto him, but Shiver quickly slipped out of the way. He took one paw and struck Rust on the side of the head, throwing him sideways. Rust crashed face first into the dirt.

“Oof,” Spark hissed quietly.

“Typical,” Shiver observed, but not unkindly as Rust pulled himself up. “Try something creative.”

Rust growled quietly as Shiver pulled a defensive pose, and leapt again.

They trained for the rest of the day, one after the other taking turns to fight with Shiver. Eventually he had them try attacking each other, and it went that way for a while, the sun slowly inching acrossed the sky above them. Forest didn’t do terrible, as far as he could tell. He did rather well as escaping sticky situations, especially when the others had him pinned. And the others were great too, apart from Crimson, who acted like the training was boring and she could fight everyone at once if she wanted to.

And Moonbeam came back every once and a while, but Nyx was never with her. The four would pause to run and ask her if she’d found anything, but she always said no and stormed off.

And then the sun was setting, and Shiver had fun with them for a bit as he walked them back to their cave. He thanked them and said he looked forward to seeing them again, and whisked away to the Main Caves.

Forest sighed and dragged himself onto his ledge, plopping down onto the cold, comforting stone. Rust sat down and huddled close to Crimson, and her tail pushed him away. Forest turned his head and felt his talons move towards his sack—Yep, still there, he could see the runes light pulsing lightly from inside the dyed fibers. He closed his eyes and quickly fell into sleep, where he dreamed of thunder and wind and burning wings for the rest of the night.