Welcome to Gaia! ::

For the moment, Karathor ignored the spirit's words of protest. The spirit was delegated to the entirety of this area, it said nothing about being trapped inside the spring. After all, why would it not be able to venture out across its own territory? Yet, the instant he tried to drag it past the border of the water, he felt it. A barrier, pulling the spirit back inside. The harder he pulled, the more unstable the darkness around him became. A piece of the barrier shattered and flew past his head nearly grazing him, and he knew his attempt was futile. The spirit's protests were not without weight.

Karathor gripped the link holding the spirit inside his cage, shaking furiously in anger before turning and shoving the spirit back to the other end of the spring with a burst of numbing black lightning. With that, he vanished into the darkness, fading away and concealing his essence within the very twilight itself. There he would wait as he began to feel the presence of others approaching. Several of them, two of which who bore tremendous power of light. It made him wary, yet fueled his will to keep pushing toward his ultimate goal. As he waited, he watched, blending in with the swirling darkness around him. His presence was still strong, only more dull, spread over a larger area with no central point. He was among them, hidden in plain sight as they entered the darkness. There he would wait until one of them returned the spirit to its original state. Once the darkness is gone, he will get his body back, even if he has to choke the life out of that light spirit to do so.

Alaci almost jumped when she felt herself being pulled into the Twilight. Alaci felt her body morph into a gray cat, hurting a lot less this time. Once one the other side, Alaci looked up and shook herself, already beginning to adjust to her Twilight form. "Great, I'm a cat again," Alaci thought sarcastically, rolling her now cat-like eyes.

At the last second, Vitia separated herself from the shadows and snuck into Midna's grasp. Vitia frowned as she became a raven once again. When she was on the other side, Vitia looked up at the Twilight covered sky, "I wonder if my gift will still work," Vitia thought, hopping over to a clump of trees. After a few moments, Vitia scowled, "Dang it," She thought irritated. All of the sudden Vitia felt a being in the shadows, it was very faint, but still definitely there.

Closer..... the others were coming closer to this place. They had entered the darkness. He could feel them. He felt the light glowing within two of them in particular, the others but average mortals. Still, despite their light, both of them had been touched by the darkness. All of them, even that small shadow they had followed into the darkness. Its form was alluring, its very essence of darkness contradicting its companions of light.

He could hide no longer. they would come here and sense him. As a shadow, he slithered across the surface of the ground through the dirt path running the length of the village. He swerved right and crawled up the very wall, clinging to the darkness itself as if swimming through it. At the top of the wall, he stood in his altered form, staring down at the travelers as they entered the village from a turn behind the spring.

He watched and studied each of them, but his eyes were automatically glued to the shadow figure who had gained a body in being touched by the darkness. She looked as if she belonged here, the imp-like creature. Fascinating she was to him. All he could do was stare, completely forgetting the two bearers of light following her lead, or the other creatures touched by darkness who had joined them. This shadow.... it was female. He could sense her power, her darkness beckoning to him to swallow him whole and everything he was would follow. For that moment, he felt as if his entire darkness could be eaten by her, and he would leave from this place somewhere he could find peace. However, this was a dream short-lived as he shook off the figure's hypnotic essence. Still, he would watch her. He needed to know more about her. He had to.....

Vitia looked around once more before fluttering into the air. Flying between tree branches, Vitia approached the spring quickly. Landing in one of the trees, Vitia stared at what was below her. She watched the light spirit in the spring curiously. After seeing the dark being leave, Vitia swooped down and landed in front of the spring, Vitia looked around for a while before flying back up into a low branch of a tree.

Alaci shrugged and looked at the others who were now various animals. She tilted her head when she saw a black raven fly off, then shook of the thought and looked up at Zelda expecantantly, as if to say that they should get going.

(Finally, back to one of the best guilds EVER! Sorry it has been so long. My dad was being a jerk.)

As Midna pulled Andarlo through the strange wall he felt like he was going through a thick soup. Once through though, he felt his body twist and contort, but not in an uncomfortable way. Slowly he opened his eyes and saw the unfamiliar twilight. He stood up, shook himself, and looked along his body. He had not really given his new body much thought the first time but now he wanted to remember as much about his journey as possible. Including his otherworldly form. "Wow, this is surely different than my light form." As he looked around he noticed that, other than Zelda, he was the tallest of them all. Which in turn meant that he would attract more attention than the others.

"Excuse me Princess, is it okay for me to sit the bug hunting out and keep watch from the sky?" He questioned.

Zelda considered it as she looked around at the rest of the motley pack of travelers-turned-animals: Alaci, Rayne, Coremean, Link, herself, and Midna- only a fraction of what it had been before. Still... "Of course, Andarlo," she smiled. "That would be really helpful, in fact- you could do an aerial sweep to find general locations of the bugs." She glanced at Link. "I expect a lot of them to be in the village itself... but first we need the Vessel of Light."

Midna rolled her eyes. "Take as long as you want. I'm in no rush to get back into the Realm of Light." She glanced around and did the math. "If there are sixteen, like before, one of you could stay behind again while the rest collect four each..."

(So how do I get in, and where are we?)

Every moment it seemed the darkness was growing stronger, as if those who bore the light within them were pushing it away. It was repulsed by them, being pushed back, like a soft breeze pushing past him as he stood watching them. This place.... it had suddenly become crowded with life all at once not long after he himself had stirred. He didn't even remember exactly how he had gotten to this place, or how long he'd been here. For so long he slept upon the floor of the sea, never once thinking to move from his place. Why did he come to this place?

As the band of travelers ventured into the mouth of the canyon, Karathor looked upon them with anger. If he hadn't stirred when he did, he would still be laying there, his body vulnerable as it waited for them to find it there. This was unacceptable. He could not let himself be seen. He had to escape this place, one way or the other. And he had to do it now.

His key to returning lies in the hands of that shadow.... the imp with the fiery hair he'd spotted far below. It seemed she was the only one not touched by the darkness.... but was naturally a part of it. Somehow she must have found a way to escape this realm, and she was now luring the souls of light into her domain. Such deviance, he could not believe it as he watched them follow her happily and blindly through the darkness. How could she have tricked them so easily? He must have her.... this imp.

As a shadow, he slid back down the wall and back across the dirt road cutting through the town. In a flash he was across the street, burrowing into an abandoned structure. It seemed to be some kind of storage house, the way it was made. No person could call such a place home. Yet, those bugs seemed to have no trouble digging out a few comfortable spots of their own. Like the bugs holding the shards of that spirit's light, Karathor hid himself inside that first building, sinking into the walls themselves as he waited for her.