Monthly Quests 2020

Rabbit had run into the forest thinking that she was still in the magical place that Puck had run through with her, but now that she was there it was VERY different. The forest felt cold, unwelcoming. The trees creaked and moaned like spirits of the dead, it was much darker as if the forest itself was swallowing the light before it could hit the ground. Crimson light occasionally peeked through the darkness which shrouded the spots in blood-colored light. The cremello mare ad slowed her pace to almost a crawl as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness. Her large ears swiveled to hear sounds all around her, she could swear she could hear talking, strangled choking. Every hair on her body stood on end as she carefully stepped over fallen trees and roots that had been ripped from the earth. Rabbit's large ears could hear shuffling, hooves dragging through dirt. She tripped, she couldn't see the root sticking out of the ground had it been there before? She was sure it hadn't and the panic of the forest being alive set her on edge. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard she was sure it would burst free. Rabbit felt tht taking on this journey was a mistake and that she wasn't strong enough to complete it. Would Aether be disappointed in her? She lay stock-still on her knees, listening to the shuffling getting louder until a feminine voice called out to her "Are you alright?" A nose pressed against her side and helped her to up. Rabbit was breathing so hard she thought she might collapse, she looked into the bluest ocean eyes she had ever seen and for a moment forgot her fears. "It's not safe for a mortal to be here, these woods are haunted by the dead," Rabbit gulped and nodded as she looked at the mysterious bay mare. "My name is Owl, I will help you get out of here...but you must tell me what you're doing here." Rabbit thought for a moment, what was she doing here? Why had she agreed to this? She looked at Owl and sighed "I was following the red star, Regale and Puck have gotten me this far and now i'm alone in this strange place," The cremello mare felt the tears pricking her eyes as she looked up at the other mare. She was sniffling and she could just feel the lump in her throat growing bigger. "Shhh," Owl soothed, her voice was like a whisper of wings. "I will help you out of this place, come on,"  They bay mare nudged Rabbit along the path, patient as the steppe mare stumbled along and blinked away tears.  The rest light streamed in between the dead branches, lighting the fog that crawled over the ground as a mist of blood that clung to everything. It swirled around Rabbit's legs and made her stomach flip, she looked over at Owl. Her pink eyes were caught by a pair of shining red eyes in the tree across from where they were walking, her breath caught in her throat. The eyes had her transfixed in its stare like it was staring down a delicious morsel that it was about to snatch up. It was as if Owl could sense it and looked over at the eyes "Don't be scared... it's only my owl," she said with a smile.

The owl fluttered over to its mistress and sat on her withers, it let out a deep "hooo" as it stared at Rabbit intently. Rabbit's large ears swiveled back as the owl stared at her but offered a sheepish smile. "I..I see," The two mares walked together through the gloom, the owl kept its eyes locked on Rabbit though, she tried to ignore it but she could feel its eyes boring into her. Did it want to eat her? Or was it just very...uh...small brained? "How did you get this far? You seem to be so far from home...surely it's not this star," Owl said as she looked at Rabbit through hooded eyes. Rabbit nodded though and moved her attention from the owl to Owl herself "Oh..yes, well I found Aether and Regale in the mountains. He bid me to find the source of the star. Ragel and I went so far and then he left me with... Puck? and some lionesses. We hunted in a weird glowing forest and they sent me here..." Owl nodded through the whole story before she stopped and looked at Rabbit. "You've had quite the journey then but your journey may not end at the star," Rabbit was confused as she looked at Owl. "What do you mean?" Owl simply shrugged her shoulders but the look she was giving Rabbit was much more of a warning than it was just a gesture. "The gods have.... ways with things like this... they call on you mortals to do their bidding for them. You're expendable really," Rabbit laid her ears back, she knew Owl wasn't wrong... but she also wasn't completely right. Rabbit felt that since Aether had created them, they did owe him some loyalty for it. That's when it hit Rabbit that Owl kept referring to her as 'you mortals'. She furrowed her brow and looked at the other mare who gave her only the sweetest of smiles in return. Something... was definitely not right here. More rustling though, now there was also yapping, frightened yapping. Rabbit's ears shot up as she watched a silver and fawn-colored animal running through the forest, behind it and chasing it down was what she assumed to be hannibal's ghouls. Her heart broke for it and she looked at Owl. "We have to help it, would you mind?" Owl sighed heavily before nodding, the two of them carefully chased the ghouls, bringing their attention onto the two mares and while Rabbit kept following the living animal, she didn't know what Owl had done to the ghouls. The living thing had cornered itself in a hollow tree, the closer Rabbit got she could see now it was tiny fox kit. Her heart broke as she wondered where its mother was.. and if the ghouls had killed her. The kit was trembling as it looked at the large cremello mare with wide silver-colored eyes. Rabbit looked at Owl who was surprisingly clean, "What should we do... I don't want to leave it here to die," Owl nodded and thought for a moment before she looked at the fox. "Why don't you take it with you then?" Rabbit chewed her bottom lip for a moment before she reached out her muzzle to the kit. "What do you say little one? Do you want to leave this place with me?" The kit didn't really say anything but allowed Rabbit to pick it up by the scruff and carry it. They walked on in silence for a while before Owl told her they were nearing the edge of the wood, the trees were already thinning slightly for what she could see.

It was minutes more before they stood, looking through the trees out onto an open and empty plain, there wasn't a smell of smoke in the air so Rabbit assumed it was not the charred battlefield that some spoke of, and by the looks she assumed it was more or less lush, even though dead from winter. Owl followed them to the edge of the forest, her owl having left her withers to sit in a scraggly looking dead tree. Rabbit set the fox kit down on the ground and looked back at the bay mare. She was wearing a grin that scared her. It wasn't sweet...but it wasn't wicked either. Something was just so...off. Rabbit put it aside as just a side effect of the red star. The fox kit was not happy having to wait as it wanted to be as far away from the dead wood as it could get. She wasn't sure if it was trying to warn or only thinking of safety. "Thank you for helping us out of the forest... I don't think either of us would have made it out without your help," Rabbit said to Owl as she nudged the fox kit along the path, trying to excuse them from Owl as quickly as she could. The red eyed owl stared at then, so intently Rabbit was sure it would swoop on them and steal the fox kit for a snack. Owl laughed and eyed Rabbit with a glint in her eye. "Oh dear, I think we will meet again here one day. I'll see you when you return, then you can decide if my help is worth it," Her owl 'hooo'd ' again, this one deeper and sounding almost distorted and this was enough for Rabbit to pick up the kit and run as fast as her legs could carry her all the while she could hear Owl's laugh echoing through the woods.