Trees stretch in all directions, their bows shaking in an unseen wind, and their leaves making a silent whispering sound. The path before you stretches for a little while longer, before thinning and ultimately ending among the trees. Even the trees begin to thin, their branches becoming more gnarled and scarce the further you walk. You had never been to this part of the Forest, and now you can see why. It seems as if the forest itself were slowly dying in these parts, a place where not many would choose to live.

You stop and look about you, wondering why the trees would begin to become so... unearthly is the only word that comes to mind. Your hand rests upon the closest tree, and your eyes slowly trace it up and down. The bark is peeling back in many places, revealing a gray layer beneath. The trees are stunted, as if they stopped growing any higher. Very few leaves are decorating the tree, and many of them are a mottled mix of green and brown.

You glance upwards, wanting to see the position of the sun in the sky. But you quickly realize that the sun is no longer there, and the sky is instead a dark gray. You hadn't realized while walking how dark it had gotten since the path started back in the central clearing. And now, that your mind is upon examining the area about you, you realize how cold it is, and you pull your cloak tighter about your body.

Not wanting to start heading back just yet, your feet continue to follow the thinning path. It is not long before you reach the end, forcing you to find your own way through the scattered trees. But since the trees are so widely spread, you have no trouble making your way through. Below you the ground seems to be getting harder, and you can even in some areas where the ground is cracked. The ground almost reminds you of the desert land, but it would never get hot enough for the ground to be turned to look like this. Perhaps it has something to do with the cold, which seems to be seeping into your skin despite the clothing you wear.

You look up at the sky again while walking through the dieing forest. You can see no moon, no stars, nothing in the dark expanse above you. As you look about the darkened sky, your foot is caught upon an upturned root and you fall onto your hands and knees. The impact against the hard ground causes a jolt to resound through your body, but you pay it no heed when you feel another pain. Your hands are affected the most, and you gasp as you pull them away. The ground here is so cold that the mere touch begins to hurt as if you had held it under ice water for hours. You quickly stand, your knees stiff and cold. But the pain soon fades away.

"What is this place," you ask, but no answer comes out of the darkness surrounding you. Your question echoes softly, barely audible, through the surrounding trees and blackness. Brushing your hands off, you continue walking towards the unknown destination that awaits before you.

There are less and less trees the further you go, and the ones that are growing here seem worse off than the ones before. Eventually you reach an area where there are no more trees. You stop, and look ahead, wondering where you are now. Before you is a even darker expanse, so black that it seems alive and moving. The darkness seems to stretch on forever into the distance, and nothing can be seen through it. A cold seems to emanate from the place before you, your cloak no longer able to keep you warm. You will not be able to stand the cold for long, but you head forwards anyways.

There are less and less trees the further you go, and the ones that are growing here seem worse off than the ones before. Eventually you reach an area where there are no more trees. You stop, and look ahead, wondering where you are now. Before you is a even darker expanse, so black that it seems alive and moving. The darkness seems to stretch on forever into the distance, and nothing can be seen through it. A cold seems to emanate from the place before you, your cloak no longer able to keep you warm. You will not be able to stand the cold for long, but you head for.

Within a few feet, you longer are able to see the ground below you. Your look over your shoulder, and are not surprised that you can no longer see the trees behind you. The darkness is everywhere, cloaking everything. You shrug your shoulders and continue on, taking slower steps than before.

Eventually you can hear faint sounds in the distance. The further you walk, the louder the sound gets, which seems to echo throughout the unseen area. The sound seems familiar, almost like the breaking of glass. The sound is sporatic, coming from all directions in front of you. You take a step, and as your foot touches the ground, you hear the noise directly beneath you. Confused, you stop, trying to sort out the meanings to the sound.

You listen closely, trying to study the sounds around you. You pick out another sound, an undercurrent to the snapping noise. It takes you a while, but you soon realize that it is water, the quick rushing sounds of a moving river. A river was probably close by, and perhaps the snapping noise had something to do with the rushing water. You take another step, and you hear the cracking sound once again beneath you.

"What the..." You shift your feet, and look down, a fruitless effort in this kind of world. But the cracking sounds continue beneath your feet, growing louder each time. The ground begins to shake, and you find yourself sinking. Panicked, you try to turn around, trying to get away from the falling area. But you are not quick enough, and you feel yourself fall into icy cold water. The current begins to take you away, and you desperately try to gain the surface once again. But when you try to go back up, you find ice in your way. You pound against the unfaltering surface, trying to free yourself from the watery depths. But darkness, much like that of the upper world, begins to take you over, and your strength begins to falter. Something strong begins to pull you, but you are unable to pull away from it. Darkness closes in, and your fight over.

~~~

"I think its waking up," a voice says through the darkness, bringing you slowly back to the awaking world.

"You may be right," another voice says, this one lighter than the other one.

"Oh, joy," a third voice says, a bit of sarcasm evident in its tone. With the help of the voices, you slowly begin to take control of your body. It seems a lot more sore than it should be, every muscle and joint aching with a fierce pain. But soon it begins to dull, and you are able to move your limbs a bit experimentally. Eventually, satisfied with a few minor movements of your limbs, you open your eyes to see where you are and who is talking.

Standing over you is a strange sight, a human-like figure and what looks like two dragons. Panicking a bit, you sit up straight, jumping to conclusions as to why two dragons would be hovering over you.

"Easy there!" The human above you has a strange accent, his voice smooth and cold at the same time. He holds up his hands in a sign of peace, and sits back on his feet. The two dragons move a little ways off, giving you and the human space which to talk. "We fished you out of the water," the human continues, as he motions to himself and to the two dragons.

"And I must say, you looked pretty funny," the dragon on the right says with humor in his tone.

"Yeah, like a wet rat!" The other dragon nudges the other, and they share a glance. They both begin to laugh, and you notice that the human is barely holding in laughter himself. You feel slightly left out, but shrug it off. You are in there home after all.

You look closer at the two dragons, inspecting them for the first time. The dragon on the right was pure black, while the one the left was all the colors of winter. They both shared similiarities as to build, probably the same kind of dragon.

"This is Tsukeru," the human motions to the one on the right. "And the other is Kentou. They're both Silver Valley Dragons." You nod your head, and shiver as you look at the area around you. A small fire is laid out next to you, apparently only for your benefit. It doesn't chase much of the darkness away, but you can see an icy river next to you, its surface mainly covered in ice.

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