All of them were confused as for why I was doing this. But I knew that if I asked them to leave that they would insist on staying. So, I proceeded. The twisted figures of the decorations had already faded. Leaving them all on their own in the darkness.
I had already hidden all of them from each other. All they could see was the mist that swirled around with every step they took. I kept moving everything around to make sure that they would lose all sense of direction and with that every chance of them finding each other.
It was eery quiet. The only sounds that could be heard by human ears were the muffled footsteps and each other's heavy breathing.
At first, I wanted to lead them out of here like this, but there was a chance that they would come back. so, I tried to make it so that they would no loner want to come back. that way it would also be easier for me.
Therefore, I made shadowy figures move around just outside of their view. no matter where they looked, they would always be somewhere in the corner of their eyes while slowly coming closer.
Alex was already starting to panic as he was desperately looking for the others. He never liked to be alone and was always happy to talk. No matter what topic. But now he was merely a shell of himself whilst still looking for the companionship he always craved.
Allenya was a lot more collected. She tried her best to ignore the images that moved around her and kept a steady phase in order to find the others. Though the darkness and isolation also started to affect her.
Beatrice and Noah were both unnaturally calm. They had already understood my intentions and were just waiting for the others to decide to leave.
Noah knew that they just wanted to be by my side while I was facing hardship and find a way to get out together. But Beatrice was slightly more irritated than Noah. She tough of it as just insulting that the others tried to stay. Even if I had made it clear already that I wanted them gone.
Leonor had found a metal shard on the floor. It was most likely just leftover form the battle. Despite my actions to disorient her she kept walking in a relatively straight line. But I did not really mind it as she was walking towards a wall and not one of the other people.
My father was just walking around as he tried to make sense of what was happening. But he was not looking for the others. A brief moment of passing by his mind let me know that he was in fact still looking for me.
Deducing that the others were sill occupied with looking for each other I decided that I could talk to him for a moment before I let all hell break lose to get them out of here.
As my father turned around yet another time, he saw an illusion of myself walking towards him. The illusion was like the previous time an exact replica of what I used to look like back when I was human.
I stared at it while I came closer. ("Why are you here?")
Despite the fact that the mouth of the illusion moved according to the words, he could tell that my voice had no direct origin.
"Gustave please, just stop. You are scaring everyone."
("That was not my question.")
I soon noticed that Leonor had managed to start a small fire by scraping the piece of metal along the wall and thus setting a piece of cloth alight. Like this she was hoping to see trough this darkness and find the others.
But I could not let that happen. Not yet.
While she was still trying to see I made one of the figures come closer. It no longer moved in the corner of her eyes. In fact, it was standing right in front of her.
It was a tall wendigo. Completely hairless and covered in both dried and fresh blood. It had ripped out it own lower abdomen and some of its organs were visible. It no longer had lips and its elongated teeth were twisted in a permanent smile. Its dark empty eyes followed her every movement as it slowly came closer while the light of the fire only made its disgusting form more visible.
When the creature was only an arm's length from her, it suddenly dashed forward. Leonor screamed and stretched out her remaining hand to protect herself. She slipped and fell backwards but still tried to fend off the creature that was not really there. But the creature suddenly evaporated into thin air and the fire she had made died out.
"What did you do?!" My father had heard the scream and reached out and tried to firmly grab the shoulder of my illusion. But his hand just went trough the image.
My illusion smiled and stepped away. ("Don't worry she will be fine.")
While I was talking my illusion slowly stared to change. At first the skin turned red, then the first two sets of horns started to grow along with a tail and some scales.
The illusion walked around my father while he tried to follow what was happening. After the first changes the scales became thicker and shifted around a little. Then came my first set of wings followed by the glow in my eyes. After that the illusion doubled in size and a blade started to form on the end of the tail along with spikes running down my back. for last, three more horns grew together with the second set of wings until the illusion was an exact copy of what I looked like now.
("Let me ask you again. why are you still here? just leave me alone!")
suddenly Leonor's voice rang out trough the darkness.
"Everyone cover your eyes and move towards each other's voice! Nothing you may or may not see is real."
I saw how they started to call out to each other. I was not sure what they were about to do next now that they had ordered themselves a bit more. Now that they had effectively had a way to find each other and do as they pleased, I could no longer mess with them with only illusions.
Yes, I could use different types of magic to forcefully guide them around. But I was scared that I would harm them by accident.
Even though I did not want to. I flew down to talk to them face to face.