you continue walking, until you reach the top of the hill. it's actually a cliff, stopping abruptly in front of a sheer drop. from the cliff rises a trail of floating islands each with one or two trees on it. annamet and dearg leap onto the first one, and it rocks a little, before steadying. shadow goes next, making it rock a lot, and annamet stumbles, grabbing a tree for support. "coming?" dearg asks.

I nod and walk a few steps back and run and attempted to leap to where they are at.

you fall short, arm outstretched, fingers barely brushing the edge. before you can fall, however, shadow leaps. it starts at the very tips of his back feet, they blur, becoming smoke, then the rest of him, smoke traveling from his hind quarters to his face, twisted in a determined snarl. when he reaches you he is a cloud of smoke, grabbing hold of you and propelling you the rest of the way to the island, which rocks dangerously.

you turn back to look at him, seeing the cloud of smoke blowing away in the wind.

I look at shadow, "Thank you Shadow,"

"come on, we don't have time to waste" dearg says, solemnly. "the sun is almost up, this place isn't friendly come day time" annamet nods, already leaping to the next floating island. the rest of the islands are much closer, so close in fact you only have to step to the next.

as you walk, you hear rustling in the brush beside you, no matter which island you step onto. there are eyes in the shadow, large and red, yet when you toss a rock in the shadow, it hits nothing.

I stay behind annamet along the way, "So why is it dangerous during the day?" I ask

dearg and annamet share a glance before annamet mumbles something about "day prowlers" before picking up the pace, leaping from island to island at break neck speed

I attempted to keep up with them.

dearg slows for a moment, waiting up for you while annamet presses on. "don't worry about her" dearg says, catching you watching annamet. "shes fine, just...jumpy. and no fun" dearg adds, rolling her eyes and trying her hair behind her head in a complex knot as she walks.

"Okay," I said to dearg. I continue to keep up with them.