Submission (#6573) Approved

Nothing felt real anymore. It was like Niyari had entered a dream and was waiting in the surreal landscape, was waiting to wake up and face the morning. They weren't ready for this. Niyari wasn't as prepared or brave as their husband Lune, the weren't ready to face the dangers of the overwild. Niyari was great with tricks and deception but how could you trick something that played with your vision and your perception? Niyari was good at figuring out a pattern but this destroyed everything that they had learned so far. It was hard to go away from the shimmer in the air and turn back from the boundary but Niyari really didn't have the right equipment to deal with this. They should really leave this to the professionals and just concentrate on their own mission.

But despite these resolutions something went wrong. Something that Niyari couldn't prepare for. They had made another camp to spend the night at, getting their rough but warm blanket out of their bag to have some protection against the cold night air. But the occurences of the last days kept playing inside of Niyaris head and after a few hours of tossing and turning around they gave up on sleeping for now. Maybe walking around for a bit would make them tired enough to finally fall asleep. Even a few hours of sleep were better than just laying there with their ow thoughts. Niyari stretched themselves before lifting the blanket up and hopping down from the tree they had used as this nights resting place. Niyari looked up at the sky to try and figure out how many hours of the nigt were still left before the sun came up but it was hard to even find the moon between all the trees and clouds. The night sky didn't even look blue or black, it looked dark grey with clouds covering all the stars. It felt weird to look up and not be comforted by the same sky as always. No matter where Niyari went in their missions and adventures, at least they could always look up and find comfort in the same constellations, being bale to place themselves into this world in correlation to the stars shining above. Right now there was nothing to comfort Niyari though, no stars to guide the way, no light to bring some hope into this grey night.
Niyari looked at the fire they had made and restocked the kindling and sticks while making sure that the stones made a good barrier so that the flames would stay confined into this circle and wouldn't catch on to any of the nearby grass. Niyari warmed themself up near the fire and sighed loudly. They really wanted to lay down again and try to get some sleep but the uneasy feeling sindie of them didn't get weaker, it was still bringing a sense of restlessness and worry. Going away from the warmth during the night was against everything Niyari had learned in their years but they still felt the tingling in their legs to go for a walk to hopefully feel tired enough to get some sleep. Niyari was fighting with themself, their experience being like a warning light inside of their head. But so far there hadn't been any dangerous animals in Bellmoril, so... It shoudln't be too bad to be in the forest at night, right? Especially if Niyari did their best to stay near the camp and never leave the light from the camp fire out of their sight. They took a knife - just in case - and then stretched again before starting to walk. Niyari would just walk in a circle around the camp and that wuld hopefully be enough for their body to register that it was exhausted and needed some rest.

Niyari was still glancing towards the fire pit, being careful not to get lost in the forest and still being aware of their bearings and their relations towards the camp. But sometimes a particular big tree trunk would block out the light and it felt like sinking, it felt like walking into quick sand with time slowing down and paws feeling heavier to lift from the ground until Niyari finally managed to get into a rhythm. At this point it wasn't even sure if the walking helped to become tired or if it did the opposite and making Niyari more awake than before.

The light from the campfire became a distant glow and Niyari blinked slower and slower. They were really tried... How long were they walking around the camp place? It was time to get back and sleep now. Niyari yawned and shut their eyey while doing so. When they shook themseld and opened their eyes again they had to blink a few times before glancing around. The glow from the fire had to be on the right side. But... why wasn't it there? Instead of a orange light coming through the trees there was... something else... The light of glowing mushrooms that Niyari knew from Silveil. It was... strange. Niyari shook their head and blinked again, but the blue light didn't fade. Niyari looked around but couldn't make out the campfire glow anymore. There were the orange-red trees of Bellmoril but between them where the glowing trees that Niyari knew from Silvei. What was happening here? Niyaris heart beat strong, worry and anxiety making them feel awake and alive. This wasn't a dream. But how did Niyari end up here? Didn't they just walk in a circle? They turned around. Shimmering. Some light colors in the air that didn't seem to come from anything, just... existing. Did Niyari pass a barrier in their tired state? How would they come back?