Autumn Lights Quest

"Oh boy, if this was a story it would definitely be one of those that start with 'it was a dark and stormy night', wouldn't it? Well, it's not that stormy in here, but this darkness definitely feels a bit... Ominous..? No no, oppressing would be a better word. Or maybe..." Just Poe, a meek little Esk, babbled as he walked in the middle of the forest. A peculiar feeling of something calling him had lured him away from his boundary and into the swampy treeline that surrounded it. He was a little bit nervous, which is why he kept talking to himself; he felt like it soothed his nerves. But even it wasn't quite enough to keep him calm when suddenly a bunch of faint floating lights appeared all around him.

"Oh! Ah! What-what-what are these things? Where did you all come from? Do-do you want something from me? Are you---"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FORESSSST?!" If the lights had already been enough to spook him, the fierce voice that soon echoed through the woods made poor Poe shriek in terror and drop to the ground. The owner of the voice was another Esk, Cat's Curse, who soon stepped into the open from the bushes and started marching furiously towards the trembling Esk.

"AAAH! I-I-I haven't done anything! Absolutely nothing! I-I just came to examine what was going on!" Poe peeped with high-pitched voice. When it still wasn't enough to make the angry Trespasser stop, he covered his face with his paws and begged, "Please don't hurt me! Please, the forest did this on its own!" At the last possible moment, just before the Esk's sharp claws would've literally stepped on the poor cowering creature, Curse finally stopped. Who knows if it was the sacred law of Esk not being able to harm another Esk or if the Trespasser was just satisfied with what it had heard (Poe was absolutely not going to find out), but after a few moments of staring daggers into the smaller creature Curse turned its head towards the floating orbs of light.

"I don't like thessse. I want them gone", it declared with lower volume but still just as much venom in its voice as previously.

"May-may-maybe... You need to see where they lead you, then? I, uh, om, can maybe perhaps possibly help you with it..?" Poe shyly suggested while peeking cautiously behind his toes. The larger Esk didn't reply, but as it didn't lash out either, Poe assumed it wasn't vehemently against the idea. That’s why when it started stomping to the direction he had suggested Poe sprung back to his legs and followed it from a respective distance away.

"The name, name's Just Poe, by the way. What's yours? I mean you don't have to tell if you don't want to, I'm just curious and would love to hear it." The Esk that was leading the way didn't answer immediately, but to Poe's genuine surprise, eventually it did.

"Curssse."

"Wow. Um, that... That-that is honestly extremely fitting."

The two Esk disappeared into the forest without ever noticing that they hadn't been the only ones lured in by the mysterious lights. Xilladenanessfeali, a truly ancient Esk, had been following their doings but eventually decided against dragging their huge body from a nearby stream into the woods. After all the youngsters here did seem to have the situation already perfectly under control!

---

After following the flickering lights for a while, Poe and Curse came across a small clearing in the middle of the woods. Curse just strode past the space without sparing it a single thought, but something in it made Poe stop in his tracks. He looked around trying to figure out what it was, but he couldn't find anything else than things you'd normally see in a forest anyway. But even so the peculiar feeling persisted, so the Esk had no choice but to speak up.

"Um, hey... Don't you think there is something a tiiiny bit weird about this clearing?" he shyly chimed, but to no avail: Curse continued walking like it hadn't even heard Poe's words.

"Oh. I mean... It's fine, I-I can stay here and investigate! I'll catch up to you in a minute", he hastily continued when Curse was already disappearing into the forest.

After being left alone Poe started to examine the place a bit closer. Once again he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, but soon enough his doings were anyway cut short by a rustling sound.

"Curse..?" Poe asked, but the other Esk was nowhere to be seen. Thanks to the eeriness of the situation it was no wonder that when he turned his gaze back towards the ground, a truly terrified shriek escaped from his mind through telepathy.

"EEEEEAAAAAAAAHH! WH-WHAT ON EARTH?!" A big bunch of mushrooms had seemingly appeared out of thin air all around him! It was indeed rather frightening, but after the initial shock had faded, Poe also realized that the things were just that: mushrooms, and nothing more threatening.

"He-hey, I actually think I remember what this is! It's a fairy ring, right?" he pondered and poked one of the mushrooms with his paw. To his relief it didn't do anything, just stood there like a normal mushroom that hadn't just grown in a blink of an eye would.

"And now that I think about it, isn't there supposed to be something buried in the middle of the ring? But what was it again? A treasure, maybe? No, hmm, that's not it... Was it, ah, uh..."

"Oh. Oh no."

"It couldn't be, could it?"

"A... Dead body?" Suddenly Poe felt like he had examined the clearing quite enough already, so without looking back he dashed onwards into the woods.

"Cuuuurse! Wait for me!"

---

Curse continued to follow the annoying lights through the forest. Eventually a deep blanket of fog obscured the path, but the Esk didn't waste its time and energy stressing about it: the lights were after all still there, so it just kept going towards the direction they were pointing at. The path led to the foot of a hedge maze that made Curse hiss out of annoyance. For the first time in a long while it stopped to assess the situation before stomping onwards: it had absolutely no desire to wander around in some stupid maze! But it truly seemed like there was no way around it, as weird as that sounds, and the lights went anyway straight into the labyrinth.

"I hate thisss", Curse mumbled when it stepped inside. But then another idea popped into its head: the walls were indeed just hedges instead of something truly impervious! So thinking it had finally figured the puzzle out it slashed the closest bush with its claws. That was a big mistake, as the action immediately evoked the most unpleasant feeling in the Esk and forced it to pull its paw out. This time a mere hiss wasn't enough and Curse let out an angry growl while it stared daggers into the hexed hedge.

After boiling in its rage for a few more moments Curse resigned itself to its fate and started making its way through the maze the way it was meant to be done. Though after every corner it made sure to test if the magic was weaker there by scratching the bushes again and again, from here and there. It never worked, but it sure made the job of tracking the Trespasser easy for Poe, who followed Curse into the labyrinth a moment later.

---

Poe didn't enjoy mazes at all. He was already afraid of getting lost and forgetting his way home, so being in an environment that was made to confuse your sense of direction really made him feel uncomfortable. If Curse hadn't tried to tear its way through every other bush and therefore left clear marks for the other Esk to follow, he wouldn't likely have dared to even venture inside in the first place. All this in mind it was no wonder that finally getting out of the hedge maze made Poe breath out a deep sigh of relief.

"Ah, I'm out! I made it", he mumbled to himself. However he didn't have a lot of time for celebrations, as almost instantly his eyes were met with yet another peculiar sight.

"Huh... What is this thing?" Poe continued and stepped in front of some sort of stony structure.

"Is it... An altar? But why would it be here? And what are these things doing now?" The last question was pointed towards the floating light orbs that slowly gathered around the shrine. When they had formed a loose circle over it, the vein-like carvings in the stone started to glow and a low hum echoed from somewhere within the structure.

"O-oh my!" Poe gasped, being only mildly terrified of what he saw. The light kept getting brighter and the sound getting deeper, until everything stopped as suddenly as it had started. All that was left was a shabby, almost unnoticeable item on the altar: an old, worn down notebook. Seeing it made Poe feel almost dizzy out of excitement and he immediately crouched to take a closer look.

"Is this... Could it be... Mine?" Poe had lost nearly all of his memories during his transformation, so seeing something that made him feel like he almost remembered something important was downright overwhelming. He had no idea what the book contained or how exactly had it been important for him, but he was certain there was something special about it. So, after giving the light orbs one cautious glance, Poe hastily grabbed the notebook and ran onwards before something would try to stop him or take the item away from him. It didn't matter that he had no idea what it was; he would have all the time in the world to examine it when he would get back to the safety of his own boundary. All he needed to do now was to catch Curse and do whatever it was that the orbs wanted them to do.

---

Unlike Poe, Curse had strode past the shrine without sparing it a single thought. It wanted to desperately complete this stupid mission and be done with it as soon as possible! That's why the Trespasser didn't slow down even when it walked into an ominous part of the forest where all of the trees seemed to have died, many of them having dried where they had once grown. And as peculiar as that all was, it wasn't even the weirdest part: someone or something had also carved crude faces into their bark and lit the carvings up with magical light.

"You don't ssscare me", Curse hissed to the trees. Its daring attitude wasn't just baseless boasting either, as the Esk in fact couldn't care less about such childish tricks. The same couldn't apparently be said about Poe, as after Curse had already stomped past the dreadful display, it could hear the other Esk's terrified screams echoing from the dried forest.

"Coward", the Trespasser spat and sped up in order to get further away from its annoying companion.

---

Having to delve into the forest full of horrifying faces was way too much for Poe's nerves. The only reason he made it through was that he had no idea if he could even get back home by returning to the beginning, so the only doable option was to just brace himself, squeeze his eyes shut and run for it. Even so the Esk was shaking violently after he got so far away from the spooky trees that he couldn't even see their ominous glow anymore.

"Oh, oh oh oh... How I wish this would end already", he whimpered miserably when his legs gave in and he fell to the ground.

"There can't be much left at this point, right? If only Curse would slow down a little so I could catch up to them..." he continued, but unfortunately it seemed like the Trespasser was still heading straight to wherever the lights were leading it.

After calming down a bit Poe noticed that several lights had gathered together just a little bit further away. Last time he had seen anything like this they had given him the notebook, so after a weary sigh the Esk rose back to his feet and decided to have a look. It turned out there were no books or altars this time around, but something just as peculiar anyway.

"Huh. I, hmm, I think this almost looks like some sort of game. Am I right?" Poe asked from the lights that did some happy hops in the air as an answer.

"I guess I am. Do you want me to play it with you?" The lights awarded his guess with even more delighted hopping.

"I'm really tired already, but I'm not sure if I have a choice... So here we go then!" It took him some trial and error to figure out what he was supposed to do, but fortunately the orbs did their best to guide him. In the end it turned out to be a simple game of Tic Tac Toe, even if Poe himself didn't have a name for it, and after a few rounds he managed to win the large orb that acted as his opponent.

"Oh, look, I think I did it", the Esk almost surprisedly yelped, "I won! Does that mean that I can go now?" And lo and behold, the light orbs indeed left their places and formed a familiar looking line meant to lead their visitor onwards. So, a bit happier than before and not nearly as scared anymore, Poe grabbed his notebook and continued his journey.

---

Throughout this whole quest Curse had strode past many sights that were clearly put there to lure it to interact with them. Neither the shrine nor the game had gotten even a curious glance out of it, so if the light orbs were capable of feeling surprised, they certainly did so when the Esk finally stopped in front of some ancient, crumbling ruins. The structure was in really bad shape and it was hard to figure out what it had even been back in the days, but interestingly no moss or vines grew on it nor did any fallen leaves or even dust lay on its surface. There was clearly something ominous about the place, but the vibe was still very different compared to the previous hollow trees with menacing faces: the threat emanating from the ruins was subtle, no more than a tug in the subconsciousness, and that was exactly what was pulling Curse in.

After a few moments Poe finally caught up with the other Esk, who was currently laying almost regally on top of the ruins of some sort of abandoned building. The place had really unnerving energy that made Poe stop some good twenty meters away from it; it was close enough for Curse to notice him, but also far enough that whatever ghosts might've been lurking there weren't going to creep up to him.

"Hey, Curse! Good thing you finally stopped. You, heh, you were going so fast I wasn't sure if I'd ever reach you again", Poe started and tried to sound more carefree than the presence of the ruins made him really feel like.

"It looks like the lights are gathering into some place just behind those trees. See, over there? I'm pretty sure that's the place they've been trying to guide us to. It's not far away at all", he continued eagerly. Curse, who had finally found the one place that it didn't exactly hate wasn't as excited, but it did turn its one eye towards the direction Poe was talking about. Only then did Poe realize the Trespasser's other eye was indeed now covered by small plants, which was a physical sign of the Esk being completely in its own element here.

"But hey, um, uh, if you want you don't need to rush. I'll just, I mean if you don't mind, I-I can go ahead", Poe then suggested, but to his surprise it made Curse rise up, stretch like a cat and jump down from the stone structure. Neither of them said anything about it, but Poe did notice how the other one's newly manifested plants started to immediately fade away.

"Let'sss get thisss done", Curse hissed instead and started to lead the duo's way towards their final destination. Poe felt a pang of guilt for being so hasty, but as he, too, really wanted to get things done, all he could really do was to follow the Trespasser.

---

Soon enough the two Esk reached the gathering place of the light orbs just to make the most frustrating discovery an adventurer can make.

"Wha-- Oh no! We are back at the river. This-this is where we started!" Poe gasped while Curse stared the flowing water with the most murderous expression imaginable.

"This can't be right! But... But then again why would all of these lights be here like this?" Just as Poe had finished talking something happened: the balls started to glow much brighter than before. First it happened slowly, but when the transformation was truly noticeable it gained speed and only a moment later the environment was so bright the two Esk couldn't see a thing anymore. Poe was just about to start screaming when it all stopped even faster than it had started. Sadly the blinded Esk didn't get their sight back quite as rapidly.

"Aaah, oh, what was that?! I can't see!" Poe whimpered.

"BE QUIET! I'm lissstening!" Curse snapped back and indeed made the other Esk shut his (telepathic) mouth. He tried his best to follow the Trespasser's lead and used his hearing while trying to figure out what was going on, but he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. In fact the forest sounded more normal than it had sounded at any point during this weird night.

In time the duo regained their sight and realized what had happened.

"The lights are gone. And-and the forest feels like its usual self, too. These are the only things that remain", Poe noted and watched how faintly glowing lanterns drifted in the stream in front of them. He was right: the magic had left the forest, and everything from trees to grass looked like their usual selves once again. Even though it was clear the Esk had completed their quest just as they had planned to do from the beginning, seeing it all end so abruptly made Poe feel a tiny bit wistful.

"Where do you think these lanterns are going?" he asked from Curse, who just snorted in annoyance.

"You know... I sort of feel like they are asking us to wish for something. What would you like to wish?" Poe continued despite his companion's clear irritation.

"I wisssh to get rid of you!" the Trespasser then retorted and without further goodbyes walked stiffly back into the woods, towards its own boundary. Just like that Poe was left alone to the riverbed.

"Yeah, I get that a lot", he whispered and continued to watch the lanterns go by until they, too, left his company. By that time sun had started to reach the horizon and the peculiar night was nothing but a memory in the minds of those who got to experience its magic.