After a long hiatus, the story is finally continuing ^^
This story is meant to be read in conjunction with the other parts, as the perspectives of Ion, Zephyr and Flint will come together to create one full story, Ion's in meant to be read first, followed by Zephyr's then Flint's to get the complete picture, so if you have not read Ion's yet, I strongly recommend doing so before reading this part ^^
~ It was the beginning of another weekend, something Zephyr always looked forward to, as he would go out adventuring with his two best friends. Trying to get ready for the day ahead, Zephyr was getting annoyed with his sister Zuri holding up the bathroom as he was in a hurry to get to the city square before Ion would get there. Banging on the door, Zephyr called out to Zuri to hurry up, only for his parents, coming to see what the early commotion was all about to pull him to the side and tell him he would have to wait his turn, Zuri got there before him, he would just have to wait. With his parents going back downstairs, Zephyr started fidgeting his hands as Zuri was still taking her sweet time, finally after what seamed like an eternity the door to the bathroom opened and before Zuri could tell her younger brother he could go in, Zepher darted inside and slammed the door behind him, much to the annoyance of Zuri. After doing what he needed to do, Zephyr rushed out of the bathroom, back to his room where after getting dressed in his gear, he grabbed his trusty scythe and headed downstairs. He called out to his parents in the kitchen that he was heading out and quickly left the house, he was running late, Ion would probably be at the town square before him, hopefully he had not made Ion wait too long. Zephyr got the the city square as fast as he could and he was right, Ion had gotten there before him, the young fox seeing the impatience with his friend when he arrived, though he look happy to finally see him. Zephyr apologized for being late after he could sense Ion's annoyance, as the two boys set off to the city gate. Crossing the threshold, they entered the outer lands, continuing down the road and arriving at their other friend Flint's tribe's grounds. Getting closer to the small tribal village, Flint surprised them by jumping down from a small patch of trees, quietly sneaking up behind them, catching them off guard and giving them a small scare. Flint just laughed at Ion's and Zephyr's reactions, before the two boys playfully chased him, trying to get a bit of revenge but Flint was just to dexterous. Giving up, Ion and Zephyr called out a truce with Flint, with Zephyr giving him a playful punch on the shoulder when he got close and Ion coming up behind him and pulling him to the ground. Seeing their truce was a lie, Ion and Flint had a playful little tussle before Flint gave in and called defeat. Satisfied with their revenge, the three boys now headed out into the woods to finally start their adventure.
Heading in, the three boys decided to go in a different direction then they normally would, as they had not explored this part of the forest yet and they were eager to cover new grounds. They have been told not to go that way, but exploring the same old area was starting to get boring and with the three of them together, outfitted they way they were, they thought there would be no issue. This lead them on a path up and around a tall ridge in the forest, where the trees looked very dense below, kind of unsettling, as they nicknamed that part the dark forest. Not wanting to go down there, the three of them decided to continue up the ridge, the path was getting smaller and the ground was crumbling a bit but they decided to solder on. The came to a part where the path became so narrow, that they had to cross it one at a time, the ground looked a bit unstable, but they were confident they could get across. Flint went first, getting across rater easily, Ion was going to go next but Zephyr was a bit apprehensive about going last, so Ion let him go ahead of him, where he would follow not far behind. Zephyr took it slow, from his body language, you could tell he was not overly comfortable in crossing, but didn't want to let his friends down. He got to the mid point, where his confidence boosted a bit but after he took his next step, part of the ground gave way, causing him to slide down the ridge but thinking quickly he reached out his hand, being able to grab a part of the ledge that was still in tact. Ion rushed over to help from one side, with Flint rushing over form the other, with Ion getting there first, grabbing Zephyr's hand with his own, as he tried to pull him up. But the ground fully gave way, causing Ion and Zephyr to slide down the ledge, Zephyr tried to keep an eye on Ion but he started to go in a different direction, tumbling over where he could not tell what was going on around him. As Zephyr continued to fall, he could feel small pains in his body from hitting a couple of protruding rocks on the ledge, before he felt a sudden larger pain in his head causing him to black out entirely.
Light started to enter his eyes again after who knows how long, as Zephyr could feel a small headache but other then that he could not feel anything broken. Getting to his feet, he could not see Ion or Flint anywhere around him as the area was fairly dark, dense forest all around him, he had fallen into the dark forest. Not knowing what to do, whether to stay put or not, he could see the ridge way above him where he fell, the cliff was too steep to climb back up, not to mention Zephyr felt he didn't have the skill to do so even if it was. Knowing Ion, Zephyr felt he would not be one to stay put and would come looking for him, it would be best if he would just stay where he was, last he knew Flint was still up on the ridge and maybe could see where they both fell, one of them would find him eventually. Sitting up against a tree, Zephyr looked around to get a full view of his surroundings, it was quiet, except for the small gusts of wind that whistled through the trees, it was strange since he could not feel any breeze as the wind seamed to be emanating from him, creating somewhat of a barrier. Zephyr didn't understand it, after seeing Ion be able to shoot out lightning that one time they were in danger, he could feel he could do the same, but with wind, Ion had said there were dormant powers inside of them all and his parents from a young age continuously said they were the descendants of the Windfox so maybe this was all part of that, Ion's powers seamed to come out when he was in danger, Zephyr thought was it the same for him? That thought sacred him a bit, if the powers came to front when the person was in danger, was he himself currently in danger? Sure the fall could have startled him but the feeling was uneasy, taking another look around, something caught his eye, some sort of blue liquid on some of the trees in front of him, glistening in the few specks of light that came form above. Then suddenly, a loud bang could be heard in the distance that jolted Zephyr to his feet, it came from the direction where the mysterious liquid covered the trees. Thinking for a second, Zephyr knew what that sound was, he had herd it many times before on stormy days, it was the sound of thunder, which means lightning had struck somewhere but with it being a clear day, there would only be one explanation, Ion would had conjured that lightning, which would me he was in danger, Zephyr could no longer stay put, Ion might be just ahead and in need of help, he would have to venture into the slimy woods.
The area became darker has he headed in, the blue slime getting thicker and thicker the further Zephyr went in. Looking around, Zephyr could now see the slime running faster down the trees, as the blue substance encircled him, with gelatinous blobs forming out of it, eyes of dark voids mad at his presence, mouths of dripping slime growling in anger. Zephyr readied his scythe and in one foul swoop, sliced through all the slimes around him, the sticky substance exploding everywhere, including clinging to the blade of his reaper. This only seamed to temporarily hinder the slimes, as the blue liquid would just flow back to the sever point and the slime would reform it's gelatinous body. The slash though would immobilized them as they were reforming, Zephyr could use that to his advantage as he thought it would be best to cut the slimes down as best he could and just run forward hoping to out pace them, Ion should be up ahead, he was good at figuring out how to defeat aggressive creatures and it would be easier with two of them. Zephyr continued on, slicing trough any slime that was in his path, out pacing them as they reformed, it was sort of fun, a thrill Zephyr had not felt before as slashing through these creatures made his adrenaline pump, his eyes widened as he honed in on his targets, it was such a rush. But things started to turn when the slimes seamed to get bigger and bigger the more he cut down, something was off. The slimes now took more slashes before they would explode but now instead of reforming their gelatinous form from the cut, the ooze would instead be absorbed by a nearby slime, adding the severed's liquid to it's own, creating bigger and bigger slimes. There was no escape now as very large slimes surrounded Zephyr, once again wind started emanating from his body, as ripples could be seen in the ooze but had little effect, Zephyr's power was not strong enough yet, he would have to rely on his scythe skills. Taking a deep breath, Zephyr swung out at the slime in front of him, but his scythe got stuck in the gelatinous body, as the scythe was ripped from his hands as it was absorbed deep into it's body. The slimes now towering over him, Zephyr braced himself as the large slimes around him molded together around his body, absorbing him in full. Zephyr tried to call out for help but to no avail, the slime's liquid started to fill his throat as he felt like he was drowning, he felt hopeless as his eyes felt heavy. He didn't want to die but his body would not longer listen to him, Zephyr was trapped inside the body of the slime, drowning in it's interior, there was no more he could do. Then suddenly his body felt tingly, like the liquid around him was electrified, Zephyr could swear he felt hands grabbing him but he could not hold on any longer, his mind went blank as so did everything around him..... ~
