[PRP]{Ziya&Hymn} Even in the Darkest Forests

[tepidtea]

The Whi Forest seemed to loom all around him, cries of birds sounded as they settled in to what could be a stormy night. What had started as a simple journey into the forest now left him disorientated. Pressing his back against the trunk of the nearest tree and clenched his eyes shut. Maybe coming into the dense forest on his own wasn't such a good idea. He had no map, no compass, only a bottle of water, backpack and jacket; he really wasn't prepared. The thought never occurred to him that he'd get so turned around and forget which way led out. On top of that he distinctly got the feeling that he was being watched. Something just seemed to be creeping slowly up his spine, giving him the heebie jeebies.

Breathing in deeply in and out, he could feel the crackle in the air as the storm seemed to be quickly moving in. He was on edge as there was the chance that it would be an electrical storm, which always took such a toll on his body. As much as he had control over his abilities, when a electrical storm cropped up he had a very hard time containing it. It was so bad that at points he'd feel pained from the excess current his body seemed to absorb.

At this pace he'd have to find some sort of shelter as once it got dark there was no way he'd be able to find his way out of the forest. He had heard of the mist that formed during the darkest hours and made it almost impossible to trek and navigate. Spending the night out in the forest without any food, shelter or blankets wasn't exactly a good time in his opinion.  

[Kanove]

Shelter. That's all the dust thought he would need to hide from the whispering storm. His body sat like a rock on an old rotting log as he shifted around and thought carefully about where he needed to head. Above his fingers a fake light flickered in the growing darkness. Although the flames weren't real they cast light on to the trees, which helped in his search. He knew there would be nothing on any of the hills to help him out, so his only choice was to search lower in hopes that those caves wouldn't flood out during storms.

Pulling a page of ingredients from his notebook he warranted that the items on the list held major importance of his mind, but for now his safety was his primary concern.

After searching all day he had only managed to find one Lunar Flower Root which put a heavy burden on his spirit. Normally he could find and scoop up items like there was nothing too it, but the creeping storms had scared many of the nearly-living plants into hibernation.

Standing up the dust rose with weariness and held his hand slightly out in front of him. He only guessed he was alone in the creeping darkness. Perhaps if he were to try and find the exit, however, the Whi Forest didn't allow people to leave at night. Much of the entrance was blocked off by sleeping ivy that only spread in the sunlight.

With a groan he pushed his way through a thicket of leaves and down a rotting trail before he froze. In the distance a figure was bent over against a tree. The outfit looked vaguely familiar and although no signals rang in his head, he had the distinct feeling it was another dust.

Out here, alone, at night, they were hunting grounds for demons. Being far enough away from the city gave the monsters free reign to take advantage of many dustlings weakness, nightfall.

Nearing the figure in a cautioned haste the dust held out the light floating above his fingers before he froze."Ziya?" he whispered hoping he was loud enough to have caught the other dusts attention.

Approaching him the siren made his light glow brighter and immediately dug into his rucksack."Here, take this, you look starved." he ordered with his hands outstretched. He had brought along enough food for three days time in the forest, and between them he could stretch that much if they couldn't figure out how to get home tomorrow. "What are you doing out here Ziya?"he asked as a rolling thunder sounded in the sky.

It was too dark to see without light now.  

[tepidtea]

Just as a feeling of panic was going to settle its way into his chest, his name was called. This jolted him out of his thoughts, his body jumping. His eyes quickly shot open and he noticed a faintly familiar body come towards him. Gray hues flickered for a moment in the light of the others flashlight and he pressed his back still against the tree. He was slowly going into a high tension mode.

“Hymn? I … could ask you the same thing...” Ziya murmured softly and blinked at the food offered to him. His breathing was a little ragged as he stared at the others offer and swallowed roughly.

His whole body flinched when the thunder sounded, his body's natural current slowly building. Soon the patter of rain started, falling down very gently from the sky. This was only the beginning, it was sure to get worse in a few moments. Remembering what was offered to him, he gently took the food from the other, being extremely cautious as to not touch the others skin. Any direct contact could very well be disastrous; the memory of what had happened to Cada still in the back of his mind.

“I came out for a walk... you know clear my head but I got turned around...” Ziya replied, his voice a little softer then he had intended. Soon yellow and black locks stuck to his forehead as the rain grew steady and the thunder made another boom in the distance. Turning the apple over in his hand, watching the water droplets collect of its calming green skin, he couldn't stomach eating it just yet.

“Do you know a way out?” He asked, looking somewhat desperate to get out of the rain and the stupid forest. Something a bout it didn't feel all that safe and with the thunder storm approaching it made him even more desperate to get out. No one knew how he struggled with his electrical ability, not even his guardian. Ziya knew Cada had seen how badly it reacted but now it was much worse then it had been before. The pain hadn't started at that point. Now mostly when it got too intense he went out into the back and worked on his many projects, using the equipment and tools as an outlet for his excess electrical current.  

[Kanove]

Hymn thought to himself for a moment. He hesitated only a moment before he reached out his hand. He could see by the static shimmering off the other's skin that it was dangerous to touch him, but for this to work he had to make contact for at least a second."This won't get us out for long, only as long as I have energy." he instructed as he pushed his hand against the current. Using his magic he attempted to keep the static from reaching up the streams of water.

Lightening could be deadly enough without a conductor. Hymn's body was the perfect one too. Sighing he felt the shock but ignored it as an illusion wrapped around them. It was the forest, only a bit brighter than it was in real life. However, it wasn't raining. Pulling his had away from the other he looked at the swelling red skin on his palm and only covered it up.

"This will only last a few minutes. Do you know of anywhere?"he beckoned, "The only place I know of is a cave further down where a small ridge meets a hill."He attempted to keep the other from eying his hand, knowing that it would bother him. Withdrawing it under his garb he ignored the pain and only winced when it made contact with something.

They had to get moving. The illusion was already shifting to reveal pieces of real life. For now they had the protection from rain and sound, but not the vision of the roaring forest. Sighing he attempted to lift Ziya on to his feet and navigate with him through a few thickets of vines until he froze at a river edge.

"It's flooded... there's no way to cross." he whispered, defeated. That was the only way he knew to any chance of shelter. They would either have to find a way out or find another place to hide. At this rate, they wouldn't in time.  

[tepidtea]

Ziya's eyes flew open w hen the silver haired dust reached his hand out towards him. Touching him right now would be horribly painful for the other, he'd seen what had happened to his guardian that one time when he was a child. But now it would be much worse since he was older now and had more power behind his abilities at the moment. Just as he was about to shout at him, the world changed and distorted for a moment as soon as Hymn touched him.

Looking around wildly, he had forgotten Hymn was able to do this. It had been a very long time since the last he'd been witness to the others ability. It was amazing what he could do, though he could imagine how much strain it would put on him as well. Staggering when the other tugged him to get moving, he tried to think over what he had seen before he had come to this point of the forest.

Hope was fading fast as his eyes saw the flooded river bed, the way across washed out. Looking around as the illusion started to fade in and out, he looked around to see what he could do. Clenching his hands, he came up with an idea. He knew a way across.

“Give me a second!” he said softly, pulling away from the other with some difficulty. He picked a large old looking tree with the thickest trunk and eyed how tall it was. This was risky but he looked back over at Hymn to make sure he was out of harms way. Looking back to the tree, he rubbed his hands together till they started to crackle and spark. The light from it seemed to intensify when he quickened his pace, the crackling and electric energy high. Soon he pressed his hands against the tree and soon there was a bright flash followed by a rather loud crack.

Once the flash faded the large tree swayed then fell over with a loud boom over the river making a makeshift bridge. Ziya stood where he had been before but dropped to his knees after, looking even more tired then before. However for now he was in less pain since he was able to release some of his excess current. Breathing heavily, he grabbed the still smoldering truck of the tree and dragged himself up slowly. The tree was thick enough that they could run over it as long as Hymn could keep the illusion up so the trunk would remain dry.

“Our way across.....” Ziya breathed softly, looking over at his friend with a lopsided grin.  

[Kanove]

The dust watched with cautious eyes and moved out of the way only to avoid a flying rock thrown his way."I can only keep this up for a few minutes, so you first." he nodded and tugged the other up from his resting place. He wasn't giving in to the other sitting around to regain his break, they didn't have time.

The weather above them was forcing its way through the barrier and with Hymn concentrated on intensifying it, he couldn't risk being distracted. Using what little extra energy he possessed the dust intensified the illusion, clearing up the skies for just a few minutes more.

By the time the cloud rolled with anger Ziya was across the log and it was his turn. Hymn had never been a huge fan of bridges, much less one which could be washed away by the roaring threads of water. Taking a breath he lifted his body on to the log and stared at it with caution.

He wasn't looking forward to it.

With another breath though he darted across the log, nearly slipping and falling in. However he made it just before the pressure of the water cracked the log and sent it hurling down the flooded banks.

"That was close," he admitted as his feet touched the muddy ground. With a sigh of relief Hymn looked at the other and nodded."We have about half a minute before it breaks, the sky is cracking." he pushed the other along as he said it, unwilling to stop anymore.

Again they were met with another obstacle as they raced into a clearing.  

[tepidtea]

Letting to the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding go, he gave his friend a tired smile once he was safely across. As the log cracked and was swept away in the rushing water, he stumbled out of his thoughts when pushed to start hurrying along. Ziya could tell by the others pace that they really needed to hurry and stopping wasn't an option. So the lightening teen pushed himself along, feeling very weary. However there wasn't much of a choice as they needed to get somewhere safe.

As they reached the clearing, it seemed safety was something that was going to be almost impossible to obtain. In the clearing there was a small gathering of beings he'd never seen before. They seemed like tiny little nightmares with sharp claws and teeth. They hadn't seemed to notice them yet, though it would only be a matter of moments till they were spotted. Grabbing a hold of Hymn's arm, he pulled him to a stand still, his breath ragged. Since his current had been spent only moments ago, he was safe to touch the other till it built back up again.

“What.. are those?” He asked, traces of panic starting to rise. In the back of his mind, something was telling him that these were something he should know about. However it was as if a veil was just covering the memory, obscuring it from his regular trail of thought. He tried to move past the veil but something was stopping him and he was left in the dark. However he had a feeling that Hymn would know, he was much older then him and seemed to have a vast knowledge in things, or that's the impression he got.  

[Kanove]

Hymn eyed the topic of Ziya's conversation a little skeptically before he withdrew in the moist grass silently. Urging the other on to another path the dust pulled Ziya behind him, keeping the mysterious creatures within eyesight. The two dusts stumbled as quietly as they could around and out of the clearing again. By the time the fuss has passed through the both of them, they were a distance from whatever creature Hymn had pulled them away from.

Hymn heard the ocean rolling in the distance, and the sound of a gentle breeze sneaking in from the ocean. The Whi Forest was known for it's traps and trails full of dangerous holes or creatures. Eying the trail they were on with suspiscion the siren dropped the other's arm and relaxed. The air around them was calmer, but the storm continued to roll above them. Hymn would only be able to maintain tricking the other for a moment longer.

His energy was running thin. If those creatures, whatever they were, showed up again, it would mean danger for the two of them. Hymn knew as long as he was around, he couldn't let Ziya meet any form of harm.

"Ziya, I think if we could follow the sound of the ocean we might at least be able to get out-"he hesitated and eyed the other. If Ziya believed that no one was able to come or go from the forests, than this effort to keep them moving would be in vain.

The thing they needed was a place to hide, or a way to escape.