act16mini

I'll have to remember that one... I don't remember who decided to give me a name last time, but after waking from my nap I find that I've completely forgotten it all! I swear it was just a moment or two ago.

Ah, forget it, sleep's more important, got to hurry... Say, little one.

Why did you come looking for me?

You... saved me.

Did I?

A sound that's been echoing from deep in my mind, an immense shadow, a light.

It was a miracle. You saved my life, along with many others.

I remember your light.

I've always thought it was something right out of a legend, that the thing that saved us was some giant, friendly beast who lived out in the wilderness.

But I checked so many animal almanacs, and none of them ever mentioned a creature large enough to cast the shadow in my memory, or one that could talk to people.

All I know is, you are definitely not a hallucination.

I just felt that I had to come and find you.

I'm sorry, little one, but I'll have to stop you there.

As you can see, I have no way of moving my body. Even when those little sandbeasts were jumping about in my nostrils, with their horrendously noxious stench, I had no means of removing them.

I am trapped in darkness, bound for decades, perhaps centuries...

So how, I ask, could I have saved you and the other little ones, as according to you?

But, if not you, then who?

Maybe there's another Feranmut out here in the wilderness?

I regret to tell you, little one, that there are no more of my kin about here. What little I know of these wildlands, that much I am sure of.

Take heart, little one. Do not be so down. If it truly vexes you, perhaps you will feel better if you closed your eyes and took a little nap?

Ah, perhaps not, for closing your eyes means being in the dark, and you have a look about you that says that you fear it... Alright, I admit I'm not used to consoling people.

Well, that's enough out of you, I'm feeling sleepy again! You'd best be on your way now, and make sure to take those smelly little things with you!

In the blink of an eye, the sandbeasts beside her are in uproar, coming together to create their bizarre sound once more.

Ahead of Ray stands a muddled darkness, so dark that she is unable to tell which way the sandbeasts are carrying her.

All she feels is that she's getting further and further from the light.

Suddenly, from the cavern that quickly fades into the distance, the Feranmut's voice rings out once more.

Don't mind me, little one. I might not be able to move my body, but that doesn't mean I can't budge a bit.

Since you took so much effort to come all this way, I have one more question for you.

If I am the Feranmut, if I am the light you were seeking...

The roiling sound of landslides washes over her and the earth trembles, as if shaken awake by the jab of a pitsinker's crossbow bolt.

Considering how far you've had to come to get here, what exactly were you hoping I would help you with?