Storm barely slept at all.
Even though Leyocan had assured him that the ghosts could not harm him, he still couldn't relax enough in order to fall asleep.
He watched the ghosts walk around and doing chores around the village as if nothing had happened.
Completely oblivious to the fact that they were all dead and the village long destroyed. Storm shivered and the scales instinctively raised, giving him a ruffled appearance.
At that moment he saw something else. A spirit of a little girl, probably no older than 8, was standing in the center of the village.
What was strange though was the fact that unlike the other ghosts, this girl was clearly elven in nature based on her pointed ears and her more frail body frame.
She had a small crown of flowers resting in her hair and was wearing a small dress. As both she and her clothes were incorporeal in nature, it was impossible to make out the original color of her hair or dress.
While the other ghosts gave no reaction to Storm's presence, this one was staring intently at him as if trying to see through him. His heartbeat increases rapidly in response to this sight.
"Hey, Storm!!!" Called Leyocan from behind him.
Storm practically jumped out of his own skin in response.
Leyocan laughed and shook his head.
"Really, Storm!? A big dragon like you afraid of a few harmless echoes?" Joked Leyocan.
Storm looked back to where the little girl was originally, but she had disappeared.
"Did you see the little girl?" Asked Storm.
He gave a brief description of her to Leyocan who shook his head in response.
"I saw several ghosts, including a few children, but none matching that description. " answered Leyocan.
"She seemed to be watching me!" Said Storm.
"The Echoes can't see you, Storm. You're imagining things!" Reassured Leyocan.
Storm sighed.
"Maybe your right! This place has put me on edge!" Said Storm.
"It has that effect on people! If it's any consolation, I too saw something that frightened me.
Did you know the daughter of the local priest was seeing the boy working at the stables the day before their destruction?
I accidentally walked in on them while they were making out in one of the stalls." Joked Leyocan.
"I just need to go take a walk. Get away from this cursed place for a few minutes!" Said Storm.
Leyocan nodded his head.
All right, just don't travel to far, and whatever you do, DON'T enter the forest!!" Said Leyocan.
Storm walked away from the cursed village and went to go lie down in an open field a short distance away.
He closed his eyes and began to take slow, steady breaths. In response his heartbeat began to return to normal.
He chuckled to himself.
"Letting your imagination run away with me?Leyocan is right! I've got nothing to be afraid of!" Thought Storm.
The moment he opened his eyes again, however, his heartbeat increased again dramatically.
The little girl from earlier was standing right in front of him and looked up into his eyes. There was no doubt in Storm's mind that she could see him. She showed no signs of hostility at all however.
"Y-you can see me, can't you?!"
The spirit nodded her head.
"You're not like the others in the village!?" Asked Storm.
The spirit shook her head.
"Listen, Storm. About earlier. I hope you do..." started Leyocan.
He frozen when he saw the ghost standing in front of Storm. He slowly backed away and began reaching for his weapon as it turned around and looked at him.
"Leyocan!! Don't!!" Said Storm.
"Storm!! That's not an Echo!!" Exclaimed Leyocan
"I know, we were just getting to that part." Replied Storm.
He looked at the ghost in front of him.
"What are you?"
She gave no response.
"Are you a specter?"
She shook her head.
"A Wraith?"
She shook her head again.
Storm decides to change tactics.
"What do you want?"
Suddenly her form flickers before she dissappeared completely.
Storm looked around, trying to find her, before he notices her standing further away in front of one of the wardstones near the border of the dark forest.
"I think she wants us to follow her!"
"You're not seriously considering going ahead with this are you?!!" Exclaimed Leyocan.
Storm gave no response, but started walking towards the wardstone. After a moment's hesitation, Leyocan reluctantly followed.
She stepped aside as he got closer to the stone.
As he was closer now, Storm was able to make out a glowing glyph that was carved into the stone.
The glyph seemed to be losing power however as it was very faded. The Glow from the glyph flickered on occasion and the girl seemed to be flickering with it.
"You're connected to the stone aren't you?"
She nodded her head.
"Something seems to be dampening the magic of the stone? This isn't good news This magic is ancient and tampering with it is extremely dangerous!
People could inadvertently compromise the barrier holding the darkness of the forest at bay.
Storm regretted that he didn't have Mimereus present. If anyone would have been able to figure this out, it would have been him.
The girl suddenly dissappeared again, only to reappear a few feet away beyond the border of the forest.
"It seems she wants to guide us somewhere. " said Storm.
"Storm! This is a very bad idea! You have no idea what that thing is! It could be a dark forest spirit trying to lead you to your death!
It might even be the reason the barrier is losing strength in the first place!" Exclaimed Leyocan.
"I don't believe so! It could have simply ignored us until we moved on. But it actually sought me out and warned us about the stone losing power."
The girl made no further moves and continued to simply wait for Storm to follow her.
'Curiously killed the fox'
"Heard that expression before?!" Warned Leyocan.
Storm shifted into his humanoid dragon form so that he would have an easier time walking through the trees.
"Stay if you want, but I'm going in regardless of what you do."
Without another word, he crossed the threshold into the Dark Forest.
After a moment, Leyocan followed.