Submission (#4332) Approved

Yes! I'd love to give the ap to ELN-2117. I can't seem to add the ap to the elnin in the submission- would a mod be able to do that?

Words: 1497
Elycite coins: 8 (6 + 2 for reaching 900 words)

Regional Affinity: [Silveil]
Elnin: [ELN-2117]

(My writing is so rusty I'm sorry ><)

“No one ever goes outside of Silveil City!” 

Myth groaned. “You said you wanted to go out and do something fun for Feyhallow! Don’t get cold feet on me now, Shiloh.”

The two kittoms walked through the forests of Silveil, and the twinkling lights of the city faded as they ventured deeper into the woods. Shiloh dragged his paws, but Myth happily skipped forward, adorned with several small satchels, stopping occasionally to admire the glowing blue mushrooms that dotted the trailside.

“Okay, but I’m heading straight back home if I see anything slightly…spooky. Besides, Ori is probably going to be looking for us.” He peeped up.

“Don’t worry about her. I stuffed our beds and blankets with pillows, so she’ll think we’re still asleep.” Myth smirked.

“You what?” Shiloh gasped. “Now if we get lost or..” he gulped. “...eaten, she won’t know until we’re long gone!”

Myth stopped to pick the glowing mushrooms growing beside them. They basked the area in a brilliant, rich blue light. It gave the forest a mysterious, dreamy vibe that was perfect for their Feyhallow adventure. “Don’t worry about it.” she hollered from ahead, waving a twisting blue mushroom in her paws. “We’ve got these to light our way, so we won’t get lost.”

Shiloh grumbled something that Myth couldn’t hear, but she didn’t care. What she cared about was their adventure to find something spooky in the woods. Ori had always been hesitant to share what she had experienced that one fateful night in the depths of the woods. She heard whispers of sacrifices and a monstrous creature - the Hallow Witch. She simply had to see it!

As they walked farther and farther down the trail, a canopy of twisting tree branches obscured the night sky. No longer did they have the light of Silveil’s radiant stars to guide their way; now, the neon light of the mushrooms was their only way to see what lurked ahead. 

A shadow darted across the trail several yards ahead of them. 

“Aah!” Shiloh yelped, jumping a few paces back. 

Myth squinted her eyes, but the darkness ahead of them was too complete. “I’m going to check it out”

“N-no! Don’t leave me alone! If I’m getting eaten, then you are too!” The little yellow kittom rushed ahead to catch up with his friend. 

The two kittoms tip-toed forward carefully. Myth wasn’t going to kid herself - she was scared. But she couldn’t show it in front of Shiloh. She had to be brave! As they approached the tree they saw the shadow dart to, they stopped. Myth puffed out her chest as much as she could, and she peeked around the dark purple trunk. 

“Hello? Helloooo?” She called out.

Shiloh lightly batted her ear. “Shh! Do you want to be something’s snack?! Are you nuts?”

“Show yourself! I know who you are. You’re the Hallow Witch, aren’t you?!” Myth yelled, ignoring Shiloh’s pleas to stop. “Come out!”

Shilo’s brows furrowed. “Who- what?”

The woods were quiet as the two kittoms stared intently into the woods off the trail. It was quiet, and Myth squinted as she looked into the bushes. Her heart pounded wildly as she focused her eyes into the darkness. She held her breath.

Nothing.

She sighed. “Nothing is going to eat us. There isn’t anything here after all.”

A glowing yellow creature burst out of the bush. The kittoms rolled over, shrieking with fear. 

“We’re gonna die! Oh my-” Shiloh squeaked, and then he shoved Myth in front of him. “Oh scary Feyhallow creature, I humbly offer you this sacrifice!”

“Hey!” Myth screamed. “...Hey?”

The creature that stood before them was a small yellow creature with big fuzzy ears and long whiskers. It glowed a bright yellow, and its big eyes showed no hint of malice. It was a harmless creature native to Silveil’s forest.

“It’s just a dumb little mouse-creature-thing.” Shiloh sighed. “I can’t believe we got scared over this.”

“H-hey. I wasn’t scared at all.”

The both of them took a moment to catch their bearings.

“Wait. Did you say ‘Hallow Witch’? That’s just some silly fairy tale, right? What spooky adventure did you try to take me on? That stuff’s not real.” Shiloh huffed. “I admit the little creature got me, but I’m not gonna be afraid of any dumb fairy tale.”

Myth pouted angrily. “No, it is real!” She fumbled around in her satchel and pulled out a heavy, old tome. It was ragged - it had clearly been read many times. Its corners were frayed and worn, and the title, “Old Eyre Folktales”, was nearly rubbed off. Myth flipped to a page depicting a tall, ghostly witch. The name ‘the Hallow Witch’ was circled in red ink. “The witch is real, I swear!”

Shiloh groaned and put a paw on his face. “Myth - that’s a children’s fairytale book.”

“No,” she said. “It must be real. I found it in Ori’s collection. I think Ori ran into the Hallow Witch. They say the Hallow Witch appears in the Feyhallow season, and when she comes, it’s usually on a dark night, and a creepy mist surrounds her! I swear it’s true. I’ve heard Ori whisper about it, and and and- have you ever seen her pomu?” she stammered.

Shiloh shook his head. “Well, no but-” he paused. “But…”

“What?” Myth said angrily. She looked around to see an eerie fog rolling through the forest. The light from the bioluminescent mushrooms were swallowed by the mist, and the forest began to dim even more. The air was chilly, and not even a cricket or bird could be heard. The two kittoms froze.

Tendrils of fog curled around the kittoms’ paws. It almost seemed to becken them deeper into the woods where there was no light, no sound, and no warmth. A shiver ran down both of their spines as they heard a twig snap somewhere from within the fog behind them. 

“Run.” Myth whispered urgently. “Run!”

She tumbled into Shiloh, who scrambled to his feet. They burst through the mist and raced down the trail as fast as they could, following the light of the mushrooms as they went. Myth looked back to see the mist creeping forward, and it was enough to make her tiny paws move even faster than they already were. Shiloh shrieked as he ran, his paws pounding hard on the soft grassy path. 

The light of Silveil city began to glow in the distance. They had made it out of the woods! The two kittoms raced to the city gates as fast as they could. And there, standing irritated before the gates, was Ori. The sight of their angry mentor didn’t seem to phase the kittoms, though - they immediately ran to her in an uproar.

“We saw the mist-”

“A twig cracked! It was there watching us-”

“I swear I saw some eyes-”

Ori’s eyes darted from kittom to kittom as she tried to make sense of their jumbled words. “Woah, woah. Slow down! Shiloh, you first.”

“We went on a Feyhallow adventure into the woods and-” he blurted out.

“You what?! You have no idea how dangerous the woods are for kittoms! The forecast tonight was heavy fog! Do you know how easy it is to get lost in Silveil’s woods with such little light?”

The two kittoms were dumbfounded. “It was going…to get foggy tonight?”

Ori slapped a paw on her face in frustration. “Silveil gets foggy in the woods at night this time of year. And you two wanted to go on a Feyhallow adventure?”

Both Myth and Shiloh mumbled their apologies for a such a ridiculous idea. “We’re really sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m just glad you two didn’t get lost. The woods are no place for kittoms. Come now, let’s go home.”

The three of them made their way through the gates of the city quietly. Myth was glad they hadn’t seen anything truly scary, although the fog was a terribly funny coincidence. Myth had hyped herself up to see the Hallow Witch, but in truth, her obsession with such bedtime stories had probably spooked her more than anything she saw - or thought she saw. 

By the time they got back to their home, Myth and Shiloh were exhausted. The running they had done had worn out their paws, and a good nap was needed. Shiloh tucked himself in bed, but not before lighting the lamp by their bedside. Myth was tired too, and she hopped into bed with only the dim light of Shiloh’s lamp and the light of the stars to give her peace of mind. 

“Goodnight.” Shiloh yawned.

“Goodnight.” Myth replied. Then she paused. “Hey Shiloh, it was just foggy tonight, wasn’t it?”

“It was. You heard Ori, right? It was in the forecast. That’s all we saw.”

“You’re probably right. It was just foggy out.” She whispered as she watched a ghostly fog creep into the city from her bedroom window. “It was surely fog and nothing else.”