Greyrose City

Spirit narrowed her eyes, growling softly before shaking herself out of her thoughts. Carefully, she slipped the thin, silver chain over her head, allowing the crystal heart pendant to hang over her chest.

Then, she set her sights upon the black dragon emblem, the 'S' shaped figure casting a dark, gloomy aura around it. Scowling, she sighed, "I guess I'll take this too," Spirit muttered, nudging it with her paw.

To her surprise, it suddenly vanished. Startled, she got to her paws, backing away before tilting her head in confusion. Spirit rolled her eyes. Of course, when she decided to take it with her, it 'ran away.'

Spirit froze, pausing in confused bewilderment. She glanced at the necklace, hesitating, before mumbling, "Well, here goes nothing." Spirit closed her eyes, concentrating on the faint energy signatures the necklace was emitting.

Previously, the necklace gave off a cold, distant aura, but after sensing Spirit's probing, it brightened up, giving off a welcoming vibe. It was as if a foggy glass pane had suddenly cleared up, letting Spirit peer into the contents of the pendant.

Shrouded in a mysterious rainbow fog, the black dragon emblem floated amongst the mist. 'Seems like the necklace is embedded with space magic,' Spirit thought, 'That explains it's storage ability.' Swishing her tail in nonchalance, Spirit decided to leave the dragon emblem in the pendant.

Spirit turned around and climbed out of the pit, pausing to think about her next step. "Adventurers dug the pit, but their magic doesn't cause Violet Sparks to grow, so either Mother or Rain used a soul stone..."

Spirit paced around, leaving small pawprints in the snow. "Did Mother get captured? Or did she use a soul stone to attack Rain? Or perhaps...they were both captured by adventurers..." Her line of thought trailed off as her stomach growled.

"Food first," Spirit said, "Then, I can go to Greyrose City and see if they got captured. If they did, they should be there, after all, this is the only human city around this area."

Spirit nodded before twitching her ears and extending her senses as far as she could.

'Tap, tap, tap.' The slight rustling of prey caught Spirit's attention. Quietly walking towards the sound, Spirit kept a wary eye out for hidden danger.

Spirit ducked under a low branch, pushing away the leaves blocking her vision. 'Click.' Spirit paused, her eyes wide.

"Oh nononono," She muttered milliseconds before a net, hidden with leaves and twigs scooped her up. Spirit dangled in the air, squirming around to dislodge the multiple leaves and twigs poking her in the side.

"Great," She said, looking around, "How annoying." Quickly, she used her razor-sharp teeth to gnaw at the flimsy rope. After easily chewing a hole in the net, Spirit jumped out and gracefully landed on the snowy forest floor.

Looking up, multiple other nets were scattered around the forest, most of which holding small prey such as horned rabbits, blue-furred mice, and scaled sparrows.

Easily spying the rope that held them in the air, Spirit walked over, a mischievous glint in her eyes. 'This is for setting up annoying traps in the forest,' Spirit thought as she chewed through rope after rope, freeing multiple animals.

Soon enough, the hanging nets had all been grounded and emptied, save for one, which held a large horned rabbit.

Quickly dealing a killing blow, Spirit dragged the carcass out of the net and into some bushes. The frosted, snow-covered leaves were a perfect place to shield her white coat from potential danger while she ate.

Spirit ravenously tore into the fat rabbit, a delicacy as most prey in the forest were scrawny and stringy, save for a few stronger animals that could fight over the limited resources in the cold environment.

Eating quickly, the rabbit rapidly disappeared until it was only a pile of bones. Spirit licked her lips, relishing in the feeling of having a full stomach.

She sighed, "I guess now I have to pay a visit to that horrid human city." Spirit knew that sneaking into the city would be a hard feat, but had full confidence in herself, knowing that if she got caught, she would be able to escape quickly.

Spirit crawled out from underneath the bush, shaking out her fur, and started ambling through the forest.

The bone-chilling air in the core of the forest quickly receded into something more manageable as she got to the outermost parts of the forest. It was still cold, but Spirit's abundant ice resistance that came from living her whole life in the forest made the freezing temperatures easy to handle.

Spirit forced her way through the thick undergrowth, nudging her way through sharp thorns and jumping over fallen trees. As the trees thinned out and the air grew slightly warmer, Spirit started to slow down, cautiously glancing around before slowly inching her way forwards.

In this area, around the outskirts of the Forest of Dreams, any human adventurer with a decent amount of ice resistance could enter. If they happened to notice Spirit, it would make it a lot more difficult to sneak into the city. After all, Silver Innota didn't venture this far out of the forest and had quite the reputation for attacking humans on sight.

Spirit stood along the border of the forest, looking at the nearby flourishing human city. It was bustling with adventurers, as it was far too dangerous for regular humans to inhabit.

Spirit tensed at the sight of so many adventurers, countless tales of evil and power-hungry humans flashing through her mind. Taking a deep breath, Spirit calmed herself. A determined look appeared on her face. 'Let's do this.'