Theora rubbed her eyes, even though they didn’t feel as tired for once.

This all didn’t make a lot of sense. She’d been swallowed by a Shade — a Shade that Isobel and the others were well-equipped to find. If she’d been here for over a month — years, even — they should have found it by now. They had probably gotten aware of Theora’s disappearance almost immediately, if any of them had paid attention to the party screen.

In fact, it should be even easier to find her in this case, for this was likely a baby Shade. Experienced Shades didn’t eat people, not only because it wasn’t healthy, but also because Shades that ate people typically didn’t survive for long, since some heroes had no qualms killing monsters, even those that weren’t malicious. Shades that ate people were usually quested out of existence before too long. In addition, older Shades should be able to spit out things they devour.

Theora sighed.

It seems that waiting to be rescued had been the wrong call. That said, what else could she possibly do?

She dragged herself up, and looked around the clearance. Five larger willow trees lined its fringes, together with brushes. However… it wasn’t simply a normal forest. There were mistakes in how the shadows were handled, not all plants seemed to be made in three dimensions. Some looked like mere paper-cutouts, and the dark inside the forest appeared to just be a panorama picture. However, there did seem to be some exits weaved into the rough shape of the forest edge.

“I’ll try to get us out,” Theora said. “Are any other people trapped here?”

“I don’t think so,” the man answered, wiping a pearl of sweat from his forehead. “I’m… alone. Well, was alone, until you popped up…”

Theora slowly staggered a few steps, legs a little wobbly from not having been used in over a month. The lemon green grass pricked lightly against her bare feet.

“I’ll take a look around,” she murmured, and made to the closest exit. The man nodded and accompanied her, his backpack rattling a few soft sounds. It seemed pretty full.

That ‘exit’ was merely a small recess in the forest edge, a little path in-between brushes and trees, although it quickly darkened to complete blackness. Walking into it felt rather strange; immediately, the world faded to black. Shivers washed over her, and instead of finding herself in a dark forest, they immediately appeared in a new, bright scenery.

They stood on a large rock overseeing a forest stretching until the horizon, with a beautiful sky full of light blue clouds above. Both the forest and the sky were poorly painted pictures, although the colours were very pretty.

“Huh,” Theora hummed. “The Shade put in a lot of effort.”

“It did,” the man responded with a gulp in his soft, high, insecure voice. “Most of this is new. New, as in, appeared in the last few weeks.”

So, this might be what the Shade had used the power for that it had sapped from her. It had likely gained dozens of Levels. In other words, it was rather strong now. So, why was it still keeping them in? It should be powerful enough to spit them out… In fact, making this kind of scenery seemed unlikely for a Shade. Almost as if…

“So, you’re going to get us out…?” the man asked with an unsure curl in his voice, fidgeting around with his hands folded in front of his chest.

“Yes. What’s your name?”

“Harrik,” he answered, biting his lip. “Harrik, yes. How… are you going to get us out?”

“I don’t know yet. I would need to investigate this space first,” Theora replied, looking around. “This… Isn’t what the inside of a Shade is supposed to look like.”

“No? What is it supposed to… look like?”

“Chaos. This is too… Friendly. Too inhabitable. I think the Shade is making it easier for us to exist here.”

“Why would it do that…?”

“I don’t know.”

He sighed. It almost sounded like a sigh of relief, curiously enough. Theora found his blue eyes, and immediately, they widened a bit.

“Are you scared of me?”

“What?” He swallowed. “No! I don’t even know who you are! I guess it sucks that you got stuck here too… Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous.”

For a second, Theora just gazed at him. Why was he nervous?

“In any case,” he added, “It only looks friendly for humans at first glance. The area changes often, and quickly, and there are… parasites.”

“Parasites,” Theora repeated.

“I can’t completely get rid of them,” Harrik said. “Only damage them so they leave me alone for a while. We still have another few hours, judging from when they last attacked.”

Shades having parasites was not unheard of. Likely Afterthoughts that accidentally got gobbled up, who were now feeding on the data swallowed by the Shade as well. “I see. Did you defend me?”

He looked flustered for a second, taking a hand from the front of his chest to graze through his hair. “Couldn’t just leave you to them… I can’t do anything to the… Shade… But the parasites… They are another deal.”

Theora nodded. It made sense; fighting the Shade inside itself was probably similar to fighting a Demon inside their Domain. Although the difference was likely much less drastic.

Theora took a few glances around as they walked through the other parts of the little Shade universe. Some meandering forest paths, another smaller clearance, an abandoned hut that was too destroyed to live in, with rocks and wood lying around. It seemed rather thematic.

Still, lots of errors and mistakes. Like an inept copy of what the original was supposed to look like. The smells were slightly wrong, putrid and too sweet at the same time. The shadows made weird turns, and many plants, especially the smaller ones, were flat. Images only. Maybe an [Illusion] type Skill.

There was always a clear path or exit somewhere, a lot of which eventually circled back to the clearing she’d woken up in. The dark shadows cast by the vegetation to the sides of paths and exits seemed to strongly discourage deviating into the unknown. Still, Theora approached the edge of the forest after a while.

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking,” Theora murmured. Here, the grass felt like rubber under her feet, the willow leaves rustled in the wind.

In the wind that didn’t actually exist. Theora had also never seen a forest of willows before. Didn’t they grow close to water? There was none to be seen or heard. She pushed aside some of the low hanging leaf patches to approach the darkness further. Deep shadows swallowed all branches, twigs and leaves. Brushes and makeshift insects flew through the air in cycling paths lacking deviation.

“Hey, don’t to—”

Too late. Theora gently placed her fingers on the shadow, and it exploded.

Like earlier in her bed, she was wrapped in the Shade’s body as it erupted forth from the wall. She took two steps back and gently touched the fabric-like sizzling body of blackness. Then, it jumped off her, and the world changed.

The creature sat in the middle of a bright, green clearing surrounded by black shadows. Harrik stood behind Theora, both of them clad in darkness, for they were outside the circle brightened by the clearing.

The creature hissed and screamed like a scared animal.

“You touched it,” Harrik stammered.

Theora gently paced forward. “Hey there, little Shade,” she said. “You ate me, didn’t you?”

The creature retreated, but not enough to make up for the distance. After a few steps, Theora was close enough, and held her hand out towards the two red eyes.

However, she didn’t close all the distance. Just a hand width away, she halted, making the offer.

The creature stared for a while, and one, two, three blinks passed, its eyes alternating in widening back to their maximum size after shrinking to buttons. Then, the fabric-like shadows formed a little protrusion of folds, carrying with it the creature’s eyes and mouth, and like a head, it advanced, reaching out to Theora’s hand to pet itself on it.

“There, there,” Theora murmured.

“H-how?” Harrik whined, still standing at the same spot as before.

“It’s not too strange,” Theora said. “It swallowed me after I offered help. I figured it might have been a coincidence at first, but… Now I think it wants me here, to get you out.”

“To get me out,” he repeated, sounding somewhat scared.

“Yes. What led me here is a System quest asking to investigate your disappearance.”

While the creature was nuzzling itself against her hand and slowly wrapping other parts around Theora, she turned to look back at him, and found his face gone pale.

“Disappearance,” he muttered.

“Are you unhappy about that?”

“N-no — I just. I didn’t expect that.”

“How long have you been here?”

He took a self-calming breath. “About… seven years,” he said. “I was travelling together with my sister, and got stuck inside the Shade. I… didn’t expect anyone to come for me after all this time.”

“I see.” Theora pulled her hand away from the creature, gave a last pet on its head, and said to it, “I’ll take care of everything. We will soon be gone.”

With that, it disappeared back into the darkness and the world shifted back to the willow forest from before.

“S-So, what’s your class?” Harrik asked, scratching his beard. “Do you have Skills that could get us out?”

“I’m a [Stargazer]. I don’t have any Skills like that. Well, I suppose I could tear a hole into the Shade and—”

“No!” he shouted, but then caught himself, scratching his head embarrassed. “Sorry. I just… Let’s not harm the Shade?”

Theora looked at Harrik. “Seven years. The creature must have eaten food, for you to live this long?”

“Ah, yes. Sometimes. I’m… I’m an [Artificer]. Pretty high Level too, so I was able to find some solutions.”

Did [Artificers] have access to food-producing Skills? Well, maybe he’d been able to create a magical item that could create or multiply food.

That said, something about that statement struck her as odd.

“High-Level,” she repeated. “What Level?”

“Um. 214,” he said.

… Yes, very odd.

Theora nodded. “I know some people with that Class. Have you been to Hallmark?”

He immediately cheered up, and smiled. “Yes! Born and raised.”

Theora smiled back. “I see. Then, I have good news. You can rest assured, the plague is over.”

He raised his eyebrows. “… Plague?”

Theora stared into his curious eyes.

Alright.

None of this made any sense.

Theora sat down, crossing her legs, staring up at Harrik with an empty gaze.

“Please,” she said, “Share with me the things you’re trying to keep secret.”