Avalash’em took the lead the moment he joined the party. This didn’t sit well with Niruk, but the huge heraldic was intimidating. He left absolutely no room for disagreeing or for simple feedback.

Fetch nibbled on Niruk’s rump, trying to show her support at his distress. He smiled at her tiredly, feeling a spark of warmth at the other courser. Fetch was way cooler than Ava, no matter how much the old courser tried to hold himself above all the others.

“An arena…!” Ava’s voice started, before it cut off suddenly. Niruk and Fetch whipped their heads to look, but the heraldic seemed to still be talking, walking forward into the open space.

“Silence spell! Oh no”, Touko gasped, walking into Fetch as the ether courser stopped in her tracks. Niruk looked between the two coursers and Avalash'em that didn't seem to notice that he wasn’t being followed as closely anymore.

“C’mon, we can’t split up. It has to only be a small area with the effect”, Niruk insisted, nudging the other two to follow Ava. The trio followed after the white courser, ears popping as they passed the invisible wall.

Niruk tried to speak, and he could hear his own voice. But Touko and Fetch shook their heads, opening their own mouths to speak. No sound came out. You could only hear yourself.

Avalash’em had stopped. He still hadn’t looked back, and was instead staring straight at something on the other side of the arena. 

A ghostly, shadowy figure was approaching them. In the silence of only hearing his own breathing, Niruk realized he could hear the creature’s footsteps. They seemed to echo on the marbled flooring, as if it was a hundred hooves hitting the ground at the same time. 

Touko pulled out her dagger, long mulish ears pinned back fiercely. Fetch also had a tight, focused expression on her face, taking a defensive stance. 

Avalash’em had his ears facing forward, and even though Niruk couldn’t see his face, he could guess that the old courser had a manic look to him. His tail was held high, and he seemed to be begging for the creature to make its first move. Try me.

Suddenly, the creature lurched forward. Niruk, Fetch and Touko moved simultaneously, sprinting the distance between them in seconds. Ava reared back and smashed his hooves down with full force, ripping apart the incorporeal form momentarily. 

Niruk dashed through the figure, and it seemed to dissipate where it touched his forehead. Touko similarly tried to dig her dagger into the shadows, and it whinnied a long scream in reaction. 

Fetch approached with a calmer demeanor, focused on something she saw in it. Niruk could see her mouth moving, and he thought he could see her forming the words: “the heart is in the face”. 

Fetch bumped Avalash’em to the side and reared, nailing her hoof straight into the middle of the figure’s see through skull.