[3rd]

Arin smiled, and waved goodbye to his friend, Soren, as he began to walk home. He'd see him later, they had planned to go out since it was his day off tomorrow. That Arin looked forward to now as he walked down the sidewalk in the dimming light.

It was warm, but a chilly breeze cut through the late summer air, overriding the leftover heat of the sun from hours before. Arin stuck his hands in the pocket of his jacket, keeping his hands from the cold.

Guess fall's on its way soon. That's good, been a pretty hot summer for this far north, Arin thought as a browning leaf from a nearby tree was blown past his face. He didn't really think to savor the last of the warmth - it'd be back, he thought, next spring.

He thought.

A block or two more, and soon Arin stood in front of his home. Nothing special, a small, single-floored house of brick with a little bit of landscaping. He'd have to weed it tomorrow morning, Arin realized with annoyance, seeing the green sprouts creeping through the black rocks over the soil in an attempt to rob the small hedges there of their nutrients.

Pushing the thought from his mind, he began to walk to the door when he stopped and noticed something. Stuck to his door was a yellow sticky note, with neat handwriting he didn't recognize.

8:00 PM. Esprit forest. Make this less difficult for both of us and don't be late.

Arin took the sticky note from its place, looking at it and turning it over. On the back was two simple words:

Come alone.

The note sent a chill down his spine that was not only caused by the cold breeze that had just then swept through the air. The unfamiliarity of the note was enough for Arin to have his suspicions. Who wrote it? Why?

Should he listen?

Arin quickly pulled out his phone to look at the time. 5:39 PM. A good two and a half hours until the time the note described.

Enough time for him to decide his own fate.

-=+=-

The sun had dipped below the horizon as Arin stood looking into the dark wood. The temperature dropped slowly as the sun disappeared, but it was chilly enough that even in his jacket and scarf he shivered slightly. He fidgeted with a ring on his left finger - a black ring with an amber-colored gemstone embedded into it - as he bit his lip.

Curiosity won over, as Arin had convinced himself to come out here in the early night. Why? He was still unsure. The note was obviously suspicious. And weird. The woods? The woods that everyone said were haunted by spirits of the past? A red flag by itself, not to mention it said to come at night, alone. It screamed danger like a flashing siren in a nuclear meltdown.

Yet Arin found himself stepping through the undergrowth, swallowing the fear that caused his hands to tremble and a cold sweat to break across his skin.

It had been dark, but even the rising moonlight was blotted out in the thick leaves above his head. The wind whispered in his ear, the branches of a few dead trees creaking as they weakly held on for dear life to their trunks of origin. He heard shuffling in the bushes, chittering as a squirrel climbed a tree and a rabbit raced right in his path. Arin jumped in surprise, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground as the critter sped to the bush opposite its hiding place.

Arin took a deep breath. In and out, Arin. In and out. It's... it's just a bunny. Just a bunny.

Shaking his shock away, he looked around the area he was now in. He hadn't realized how far he'd gone. How long has it been? Minutes? An hour? He'd lost sight of the lights of Paran behind him, thick brown and black trunks.

That was all he needed for panic to begin gently settling into his brain.

Screw this. Arin stood and pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and opening the phone app. Hopefully someone was awake. But he found the call not going through - he now realized with dismay that there was no signal where he stood.

"Great, just what I needed." Arin said aloud to no one in particular. "Just wonderful."

"Wonderful indeed."

Arin cried out in surprise at the voice. His heart yanked in his chest with a start, and he turned to face the voice with shock clear in his expression. Standing behind him was a man, maybe Arin's age or older - he couldn't really tell, it was far too dark to make out anything. The only thing he could really see was the gleam of his blue eyes in the dim silver light.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you?" The man said with a chuckle. "I apologize. My name's Richard. Glad you could make it out here."

He held out a black-sleeved hand. Arin glanced between his hand and his face before timidly returning the gesture. "...Arin."

"I know."

Arin looked around, wary, before turning back to Richard. He fidgeted with his ring again. "I assume you're the one who left that note on my door, judging by that fact...?"

"Indeed I am," Richard smiled.

"And... why?"

"Reasons. You'll find out."

Not unsettling at all, Arin thought with a shudder.

Arin noticed that one of Richard's hands, originally hidden by the pocket of his jacket, was now visible. Holding something. Something that reflected moonlight on its silver, metallic surface, a sharp edge present on its blade.

He tried to hide the sudden surge of panic that rose inside of him, but it was evident it shone through as he heard Richard sigh.

"Alright. Sorry, but I gotta get this over with."

Before he could raise the knife, Arin's feet were already moving into the dark wood.

-=+=-

[Xyan]

"...and so I chased him, killed him, and did the whole ritual thingy."

The man, who introduced himself to us as Richard, finished the story of what he knew. Which was a... surprising lot. But of course, I guess he does have to be pretty knowledgeable about people he kills.

People these days - killing for money? That's just sick. The thought came before I could really stop it, not like I could help it. I refrained from saying it aloud in case it offended Richard, but it did circle around in my mind for a few moments before I spoke.

"So... this ring you mentioned Arin-" I tested the name on my tongue - I was surprised by the innocence of it, really. "-was fidgeting with when you saw him, you think maybe that would be what we're looking for?"

"Possibly," Richard shrugged. "You know more than I do about this. Until less than an hour ago I didn't really even believe in an afterlife."

"How would we find it?" Praxus spoke up now. He was sitting next to me on Richard's couch, having been contently listening to the human's story.

"I buried him right where I killed him," Richard said, his eyes darting around the room as if making sure no one was there to hear besides us. "Didn't mess with the ring, so it should still be on his body. Good luck getting it, though - I've made it a rule for myself not to disturb the graves once I bury the body. Easier to keep it hidden if it's only done once. So you're gonna have to do it somehow."

"I'd say that's probably right where we found him," I said, looking at Praxus. Praxus nodded slightly as I turned back to Richard and stood. "Thank you. You've helped us a lot."

"No problem," Richard shrugged. "Just, uh... don't tell anyone living what I do, got that? I don't wanna get arrested."

"Uh... okay, that shouldn't be a problem," I said back. I flicked my tail as Praxus stood as well.

And with that we both said our farewells to the human and began to fly towards the woods.

-

Eyyy Richard's back >:D

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