Kai followed. She didn't understand yet. But she knew she would soon.

The wind came faster and faster as Gandal just!led fro!m tree to tree, he heard twigs crack beneath his feet and the whoosh of air that picked up.

"Gandal. When are you going to tell me what's going on?" she said racing after him.

'I can sense something.' Gandal said quietly, finally slowing his pace.

"What can you sense?" she said tiredly. She was getting tired of the being misinformed.

'Darkness -- more than usual,' he called to Kai, smiling grimly.

"Like how much more?" he said, hoping that it wasn't just him....

"The normal amount is around 9,000 klicks. That means three tentacles, five claws and the body. But if there is more, then we are in serious trouble," she called back to him.

"wait, what?" He couldnt understand these "klick" things... did they measure a shadow's power? amd how did they get these measurements exactly?
"so how many clicks does this one have?"

"Good question. How many klicks does this one have?" She watched Gandal closely.

Gandal was about to answer when a shrill scream pierced through the short silence.

"Okay.. What was that?" she asked. "Gandal? I've never heard that one before. How can it not have appeard before now?"

Gandal stuttered for words as the fog started to part; at first revealing black -- lots of it. As the fog unraveled a large octupus-like monster was revealed and in its mouth was human.

"Okay. What?!" She stared at the shadow. She had never seen anything like that one before. "Think it was looking for us again?" she asked Gandal.

The teen whipped out his weapon. Better to be ready than to be caught off guard and killed.
"So do we fight or run away?"

'Just stay calm.' Gandal said quietly, jumping slowly, his speed gradually decreasing. The monster revealed sets of tentacles, slapping at nearby trees.

"You expect me to be calm about this?!" She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Gandal ignored her, he paused his jumping.

"We should really do something about that...." he muttered, catching up to them. It was weird, how one villager would be rather worried about the beast while the other simply wouldn't really care... and they seemed to be really close...

"So what's your plan Gandal? What are we going to do about this?" Kai stopped jumping and landed in a crouch on a tree branch.

"We need to attempt to sneak past the beast." Gandal said in a hushed tone. His hands shook as more tentacles slapped at nearby trees, the ground shaking violently.

"No. We have to fight it. We can't just cower from them. If it is us they are after, it is us they will get."

"And how exactly do you know that it's after you? You can't read it's mind or something like that, right?"

Gosh, he hoped that the answer was no....

"No. I can't. From what I know, no-one can reason with a shadow. But I know we can't let them walk all over us." She snarled slightly. She had always been disgusted by shadows. She was scared of them when she was younger, but now they repulsed her.

Gandal scowled, "This thing is too-" Before he could finishe his sentance, a large black tentacle swiped at him, lifting him from the tree and towards the fowl beast.