Broken Symmetry (NTB Book 2) (A Socksfor1 AU)

Capture

(DUSK POV)

I sat at the top of the tall tree and watched as the red moon (I think Akik said it was called Nedorous) rose in the sky, bathing the forest in a ghostly red light. It was pretty cool, but everything about it made me think if Vizor. I sighed. Why can't I just be free from his torture?

I stood up and glided down from the top of the tree, landing neatly on the ground. The days were way shorter here than on Earth, and I didn't get as much time to explore as I had wanted. I could stay out a little longer, but I didn't want anybody worrying about me.

But of course, everyone's busy with their own stuff right now, so maybe no one will notice.

I continued through the woods until I came across a cliff. The cliff overlooked what looked like the ocean, only more light purple instead of blue. The water glittered like amethyst in the moonlight. In the far, far distance was a large island. I couldn't exactly make out any details other than that. I contemplated flying over there, but it looked really far, and I probably wouldn't make it.

Suddenly, I thought I heard whispering behind me.

"Hello... Dusk...."

The voice echoed around me, bouncing in my skull.

"Your days shall be numbered...."

I looked around for the source of the voice. It didn't feel like it was in my head, so I assumed it wasn't Vizor, for he's the only one to ever do that to me. As I turned, I thought I saw the flicker of some kind of gray and orange apparition, before it disappeared and the voice stopped.

"Weird..." I muttered to myself.

"Dusk!"

I looked up to see Joocie flying towards me. He glided down and landed in front of me.

"There you are, come on, we've been looking for you!" he said.

"Sorry," I said, "Guess I got distracted."

"Here, let's get back to the others," Joocie said. He beckoned me to follow, and we both flew off.

After a few minutes of flying, Joocie and I landed in a grouping of trees, where everyone else stood waiting. Moon was there too, although Dayan was nowhere to be found. Oompa gave me a death glare as I landed. He's been a bit more, well, "hostile" is probably the best word for it, towards me lately. Of course, he never liked me before, but that hate seems to have grown in the past few days.

Akik turned when he heard me land and sighed. "There you are, Dusk. Where've you been?"

"Exploring," I said sheepishly.

"You're fine, just please try to get back by nighttime, there's bad stuff in the woods when it's dark out," Akik said.

I flapped my wings apologetically. "Sorry."

"Now that we're all here," Akik said, "I just wanted to say that, if we're gonna help Blaza, we're gonna have to go find Luci."

"Where would we even start?" Meme said, "Don't know if you've noticed, but this planet's pretty big."

"I don't know," Akik said, "But we've gotta find her, or-"

Akik was cut off when suddenly a pitch black darkness enclosed the entire clearing. I could hardly see a thing, and the only thing illuminating anything was Akik's glowing eyes. Even that was hardly visible.

"What's happening!?" Nadwe called out from somewhere behind me.

"I don't know, it shouldn't get this dark so fast!" Joocie said, somewhere to my left.