AMBER'S POINT OF VIEW

They walked in silence, the backpack rising and falling against Amber's back, the only noise in the silent darkness. Amber's a little suspicious, there's absolutely no natural sounds. Almost every night crickets are chirping, owls are hooting, the wind is howling, and so much more, but it's completely silent.

Maybe it's quiet because it's so late.

It being late doesn't stop animals from making their natural sounds.

It does in this part of the forest...

That's exactly what we should be worried about.

Amber's mind quickly starts wondering to her fantasy dream. She always wondered what her world would be like if she were just a mortal. A human. Her life wouldn't be as exciting, but she still yearns for that life nonetheless. A safer lifestyle. She accepts the fact that that'll never happen, that it is far beyond her reach.

"Why is it so quiet?" Knight asked, the sound of his voice made her jump. Now that she thinks about it, even the sound of them walking, breathing, and beating hearts was overcome by the silence, she didn't even know that was possible.

"You're right it is too quiet. For a moment, I forgot you were even here. I don't hear either of our footsteps...It's strange." Amber mused. She can't see him, but she could only assume he's nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I transformed to my mid-stage... unintentionally, I think it was because of the anxiety of it being too quiet, I mean there's no sounds. Even your backpack, which I barely hear is nothing compared to this silence." He pauses. Amber still feels alone, but at least his voice is a reassurance that he's here.

As if reading her mind, he catches up to her so he's right next to her. She feels his presence more presently, which comforts her a little bit more.

She tranforms to mid-stage so she could see him clearly. He's looking forward, forcing his eyes to stay open. He looks tired and nervous all at once. The bags under his eyes and his anxious facial expression can testify to that.

He suddenly looks at her, staring intensely into her eyes. She stares back, but it doesn't calm her racing heart. It's something about his stare that scares her: he looks curious about something.

Please don't have my eyes show any hints red, please don't...

You already know it is, let's just hope the orange makes it blend in.

"If I wasn't in mid-stage, I would have forgotten you were here too." He mused, looking straight ahead again.

She couldn't help, but think what her eyes must look like to him. In the dead of night, he could see the red in her eyes a lot more clearly. That may just blow her cover completely if he catches on. Maybe he'll think it's just a really really dark orange.

Amber starts looking at her surroundings. There's not a bird, owl, or even bug in the trees, nothing but clouds in the sky, and no movement. Not even the tree leaves are swaying with the little wind present. She looks up to see the trees stretch towards the sky, the leaves dark as night itself.

She looks at Knight and couldn't help, but think how dark he looks, as if he were a mere shadow.

She immediately knows where they are.

"Snap, Knight take out your dagger." Amber said barely above a whisper. He looks over at her confused, and she force herself to calm down, but it's not working. "Do it." She demanded her voice only slightly louder. She tries to keep her voice as low as possible.

"What's wrong?" Knight asked, pointing his dagger out in front of him in a self-defense stance.

"We're in the Black Forest..."

"The what now?" Knight asked with a even more flabbergasted look on his face. Amber restrains herself from screaming in frustration, rolling her eyes instead.

The Black Forest is just one of the most important, dangerous forests living in all of Faire...in the world!

We're in deep, deep trouble.

"We're in the Black Forest, that's why when you look at the sky, there's not a open spot, there's all clouds. That's why the leaves on the trees look black because they are. That's why there's no creatures out making a sound or even moving because none live here. That's why when you look at yourself, you're a silhouette, a shadow, because in a sense, you are. Many, many creatures that is dark and evil lurks here. Hence the name Black Forest." Amber said harshly and rushed. She didn't mean too, but the tone in her voice just came without thinking.

She mentally counts to ten, trying to calm herself down before she regrets doing something she doesn't want to do, such as transforming to her wolf form.

Amber notices that Knight doesn't seemed too fazed, but is uncomfortable all the same. Amber would be too if she was in his shoes, but it bothers her how little he knows about Faire when he lived here his whole life.

He didn't know which way his house was, he didn't know anything about the Black Forest, he just showed up out of no where at school not knowing much then either, and probably much more she can't even think of right now, or much more he didn't tell her.

The unknown is only known for the secrets they hold, and Knight is a closed book, just as dark as his secrets he carries. He's the unknown itself.

But he also is Amber's only hope to learning the basics to how to fight and defend herself. She's tired of having to use her water powers and transforming to her wolf form, it's about time she learns how to defend herself using other means. That "other" means she doesn't know, but she can't wait to find out.

Amber stops in her tracks as she senses someone, or something following them. She quickly turns around narrowing her eyes at the unseen challenger.

"Something may be following us." Amber whispered, making sure only he hears her.

"If no living thing lives here, who could follow us?" Knight asked loudly. not snarky, but curious and bold. Amber just sees it as stupidity.

If their opponent is hiding, their opponenet is now fully aware of where they are and that they know about them. "Be quiet," Amber hissed. Trying to calm down her racing heart.

Knight stops talking and stands there listening just as intensely as Amber is, but they don't hear a single thing. Amber knows what she felt, and she knows something's out there.

Amber decided to walk back towards the place she felt a presence, but just as she was about to, a pair of gray eyes peered down at her.

As quick as it came, the glowing gray eyes disappeared. "I guess it disappeared..."

"Nothing that fast in this forest disappears. Run." She runs forward but stops after few seconds when she didn't sense Knight being right next to her. She looks back at him to be greeted with an intense stare.

Before she could react, he runs and pushes her off to the side just as a giant paw came to view. It was mere seconds from striking Amber. "What the...what was that?"

Knight seems to wait for a while, waiting for her to say more, but she doesn't. "I don't know, but I just saved you from being killed by an unseen opponent, a 'thank you' would be nice you know," Knight said, but not pushy, just with a slight hint of disbelief. The rest was pure amusement.

"I wouldn't go that far. Getting injured sure, but killed..."

"Really Amber, really?" He asked looking up at the still unseen opponent, but they know it's some sort of animal. So far it hasn't made a second move, just peers down at them with those gray eyes.

"Sorry, I'm new to this partner...helping each other out thing." Amber said staring right back at those gray eyes. The conversation she's having with Knight is almost far from her mind right now.

Why won't it attack us?

"Clearly." Knight said amused. She looked over at him just in time to see him roll his eyes at her.

Really Knight, really?

Unexpectedly, our opponent makes a appearance stepping in front of them. A snow tiger with a height of thirty feet glares down at them.

"Um...my neck hurts just looking up at that thing." Knight said astonished. Amber did what she thought she could never do in a situation like this: she laughed.

She laughed so hard that both the creature and Knight looked baffled, and she didn't even know a tiger could have such a look.

An ear screeching roar breaks through the air. Amber's laughter immediately dies down and Knight steps in front, his dagger in front of him in a defensive stance.

Amber moves so she's right next to him, not behind him. "What are you doing..."

"This dagger is the only weapon we got." Knight responded as if it were obvious. Yeah, she got that part, just not the logic behind it.

"Are you kidding me?" She questioned, but Knight didn't move a muscle, and neither did the tiger. It's glares continue, but no act of striking, yet.

"Great, it could use the dagger to pick it's teeth with when it's done with us." Amber whispered harshly, no sign of amusement.

"Fine, what do you suggest we do?" Knight shot back using the same tone.

"All we could do at the moment is run." She leans closer to him, so she could whisper even softer. She doesn't know what it is, but somehow she knows the tiger can understand them.

No tiger is that big, what if it's not a tiger at all...

Yeah, because that makes perfect sense.

What I mean is, what if it's a shapeshifter? That would explain why it was just staring at us during our discussions...because it's a vampire who can understand us.

There hasn't been a shapeshifter in centuries, there's definitely none living today...

How would you know? Just because your a vampire doesn't mean you would know if a shapeshifter is alive or not.

I would know more than a werewolf.

I don't even know why we're arguing about this, we're the same person.

You started it...

Why couldn't we be two separate beings?! It's hard to fight your enemy when their inside of you.

Well that makes two of us.

Snapping back to reality, she grabs the dagger from Knight's iron grip and runs up to the tiger stabbing it's front right paw. She takes a step back, the tiger roaring into her ear.

She stumbles, falling down in front of the tiger. Her ears ringing, her head spinning, and her heart racing. Knight crouches down, saying words she couldn't make out.

She closes her eyes wishing with all her might, she could hear what he's saying, or that she could at least get up, but she just stays their frozen. The ringing just getting louder and louder.

Come on Amber, we need to run!

Eyes still closed, she forces herself up into a sitting stance, grimacing as she does so. Opening her eyes, she nods at whatever Knight is saying, though she still can't hear a thing. Knight grabs her hand bringing her up so she could stand.

She closes her eyes again trying to calm the headache that's building. She lets go of Knight's hand, and starts running for her life, ignoring all the pain she's feeling. She let's fear and adrenalin lead the way as they hear the tiger roars behind them.

After several minutes running as fast as she could, she looks behind her to see the tiger still in pain, roaring louder and louder by the minute, but not coming after them. Somehow the dagger had an affect on it.

She starts slowly down feeling more tired by the second. Knight stops her for a second and says something Amber still couldn't make out. He looks behind them then back at her making hand gestures she doesn't understand.

Exhausted, she goes to sit down, but Knight stops her, taking her backpack off at the same time. She completely forgot that thing was still on her.

He puts on her dark blue backpack, grabs her hand, and starts running. Any given day she would've let go of his hand, but she's so drained that she doesn't even care.

She let's him drag her the whole way until their out of the forest and onto pavement. She decides to take the lead, since he didn't know where he was going last time, and starts dragging him back to his house.

She doesn't even know how she remembers where he lives, seeing how she only been there once, but she remembers all the turns and twisty parts of the road. In no time there at his house.

She stops running once they hit the front lawn and she starts walking can't help, but smile. They finally made it to his house after numerous hours of wandering in the Black Forest, and running for their lives.

"We made it." Knight said, just as relieved as Amber is herself.

"Who knew the adventure we would get ourselves in trying to get to your house." She said slightly more alert. The last time she was here, it didn't go well.

She looks up at the sky to see the thousands of stars shining bright and the moon shining even brighter. It's crazy to think the Black Forest hid all the stars in the sky when they shine so bright any other place.

"I'm sure you're just as tired as I am." Knight starts off leading them to the house. She slowly walks with him.

This is a bad idea, why did I agree to this?

Well, I never agreed to this in the first place...

That's because you don't agree to anything.

Knight opens the door, holding it open for Amber. She takes a deep breath then boldly, with her head held high, she walks through. Instead of being greeted to a dumpster, she's greeted with the cleanest floors she has ever seen. So clean even the wooden floor shows her reflection, which she doesn't entirely like.

She's so dirty, her whole face is caked in mud, and her clothes are full of dirt from the times she laid on the ground, apparently on mud piles. She's a mess, and probably doesn't smell the best either.

"Knight, I have to admit, you cleaned up quite nicely."

"Well, I did tell you I like to keep my things clean and tidy." He shot her a look of I told you so before walking down the hall. She quickly follows.

"Okay, here's my room, which you aren't allowed to ever go in, but I thought I would point it out so you know." He said which she nods.

No worries, I wouldn't want to go in there anyway.

They walk four steps until they reach the next door. Knight opens this one.

The bathroom that has a mirror hanging over the sink, a toilet on the far side, and a shower all the way to the right, away from the sink and toilet. The shower curtains match the curtains hanging over the window and the walls. His house seems to be a dark brown theme, almost black. The tile on the floor is simple white, but is the brightest, cleanest white she has ever seen. No dust anywhere in sight.

This is one of the biggest, nicest bathrooms she has ever seen.

"This is pretty self-explanatory, but yeah, this is the bathroom in the house." He said continuing his walk down the hall. Grudgingly, she follows. What she would give to be in that bathroom right now having the hottest shower of her life, it sounds like dreamland.

They walk a couple more steps and hit the last door of the hall. "It isn't much," he says as he opens the door leaving Amber awestruck. "But I'm sure you can't make it into something more in due time."

"Are you kidding me? It's perfect!" She exclaimed, walking in.

There's only a twin size bed and a night stand with two drawers, but it's more than Amber ever had. Even when she was little, she always had to share a room with her siblings and share everything else in it. This room, is all hers for the three weeks.

"Okay, I'm glad you like it." He said a little bit uncertain about something, but Amber didn't pay too much attention to it. "Anyway, it's late, but you can either crash or shower. I don't care, but make sure you turn off the lights when you're done. I'm gonna stay up for a while, I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Knight starts walking down the hall. "Knight?" She questioned excitedly.

He turns back around to face her. "Yes?"

"I just want to say 'thank you.'" She said smiling brightly up at him.

She's never been this excited since, a really really long time. Yeah, she doesn't even remember when was the last time she was this excited, but for the first time in forever she has a bed to sleep on. Not a bench that barely fits her, sometimes it's so uncomfortable she has to sleep sitting up.

"About time you said 'thank you'."

"A 'you're welcome' would be nice you know." She said remembering him saying those exact words except of "you're welcome" it was "thank you".

"You're welcome," he smiled as he walked down the hallway to the living room.

She restrains herself from jumping on the bed, turns off the light, and slowly walks out. She walks into the bathroom, locks the door, and sets her toothbrush and toothpaste on the opposite side of the sink, away from Knight's things.

She looks up into the mirror and though she's covered in dirt, and her hair has grass sticking up in places, she couldn't help, but have the biggest smile on her face. This is going to be the first time she going to have a hot bath and a bed to sleep on since she ran away.

If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up.