Jonas was awake before the sun rose. He wasn't that surprised, in that he'd gone to sleep earlier than usual since they also had stopped for the night that much earlier.
He didn't really mind that much, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if there might be something going on with Elmo and possible Elin as well. Both seemed a little off to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it, nor could he spare the attention with all the dangers that had presented themselves while they'd been travelling first to these mountains and then while in these mountains.
While the others still slept, Jonas got up to walk around, partly to stretch his legs, partly to take a look at their surroundings. As Elmo was supposed to be on watch at this time, but he'd clearly fallen asleep. Which Jonas didn't hold against him, since it wasn't like they'd been trained for this sort of thing. The watches had merely been set up as a necessity rather than an expectation that each of them would remain alert throughout their watches.
One reason Jonas didn't wake Elmo up was because he was sure it would only exacerbate the problem that Elmo was dealing with. If nothing else, Jonas could tell that Elmo was at a point where he could choose to go a separate way from them, and being embarrassed like that would likely give him more incentive to leave.
Jonas couldn't say why, but he didn't want Elmo to leave. He didn't understand what it was that made him want that, nor could he bring himself to say anything. All he could be certain about was the fact that it wasn't what Elmo brought to the table with his system. Their relationship had gone past what each could do with their systems and help the group out as a whole.
As Jonas looked down at the river in the early morning light, he let his mind wander to consider what the reasons might be and why he didn't immediately recognize them.
The sun had crested the walls of the canyon before he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts. He hadn't made any progress about the matter, but he didn't see a reason to stress about it. As it didn't feel to him like it was anything that required immediate attention.
Although, he had a feeling that he needed to figure it out sooner rather than later, even though he couldn't say why. Just that while Elmo hadn't decided to leave, he still had time. Yet at the same time, since he didn't really know exactly how much time he had to think about it, he felt that he should at least think about it when they started walking again. As it wasn't like he had anything else to think about then. Not to mention how even Kim could see any threats just as well as he could in this environment during the day.
He returned to the others for a quick breakfast, not sure if his being off by himself had had any effect on anything this morning. Everyone seemed mostly distracted by their own thoughts and conversation was basically nonexistent. Which made for a peaceful meal. Though, Jonas couldn't be sure if the tension of the day before was still present or if it was just smothered by the night and had yet to reawaken.
Not that it really mattered to Jonas. As long as it didn't create another situation like it had the day before when both Elin and Elmo had nearly fallen from the stone bridge that they had been on.
"Looks like we really should start heading out," Kim remarked, pulling Jonas out of his thoughts.
"Sounds good," he remarked absently.
Maybe there was something going on with me, Jonas speculated, wondering when he'd gotten so out of it. Before getting like this could potentially put him in danger, yet now he was letting himself get lost in his thoughts.
There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary as they cleaned up their camp, which primarily consisted of making certain that their fire was out. While there wasn't any real vegetation to speak of here, none of them would like for it to start a fire somewhere, which Jonas was pretty sure could potentially happen, since he couldn't say what the law of physics or any of that was like on this world.
As they started walking, the day promised to be much like any of the others, even though they had started a little later than they usually did. Jonas chocked it up to others being more tired than usual, which was possibly what had put Elmo and Elin out of sorts the evening before. Especially with how worked up Elin had gotten about which path she had wanted to take. While he thought that Elin had reasons for taking that route that she didn't say, he also didn't see a reason to push for those. Mostly because he didn't see a point.
When they neared the first natural stone bridge to cross of the day, Jonas saw something that felt out of place. It was a shadow over the river that didn't have anything above to cast it. The shadow was stationary, not moving, so he could tell that it wasn't because he just wasn't looking at the right spot.
He wasn't sure if he should say anything, but right then, he suspected that it was the same shadow as before. Which meant that it was either a coincidence or it might be hunting them in particular. He also didn't want to risk whatever it was hearing him mention spotting its shadow to the rest of his group, as he didn't want to alert it if possible. If it did realize it had been spotted, it might relocate, making identifying it that much harder. Aside from which, if it was a threat to them, it might attack before they were ready, and this wasn't really the best place to engage an unknown enemy.
What little he could tell from its shadow was that it was large. Jonas estimated it to be the size of Aquis. Although he couldn't say for certain that Aquis was casting that shadow himself. It was just that Aquis was good for a frame of reference right then, since Jonas couldn't think of anything else that would be as large that he'd encountered in this world so far.
What he did in response was to make sure that he was pulling the rear of the group. He couldn't say if it mattered, but he just felt like they should be moving in more of a combat formation, just in case the worst possibility came to pass because of that shadow.
"You know, there's another of those glowing feathers," Elin remarked, drawing Jonas' attention away from the unknown shadow.
He looked and saw Elin picking up another of the feathers that looked like they had a piece of a campfire inside them. Or at least what came to mind when Jonas looked at them was a campfire. While he knew that fires looked much the same, mostly differing in colors based on what their source fuel was, he really only have much experience with campfires.
"Well, put it with the others," Kim said. "Who knows what you might be able to either do with them later on or get done with them."
Elin nodded happily and Jonas hoped that whatever problem she had the day before was past. That it wouldn't affect her later on. Especially when he had a feeling that the shadow being there wasn't just a coincidence.
Part of him even speculated that Elmo had somehow sensed it the night before and that was what his 'bad feeling' was about. Jonas didn't have any evidence to that point, but he wasn't going to rule it out, either. There was just too much they didn't know about this world and Jonas would like to know more before they encountered some of the more dangerous aspects of it. Not that he had any realistic expectation of that happening.
"Something wrong, Jonas?" Kim asked as they continued on, reaching the midpoint of the stone bridge.
Jonas shook his head. "Not here. Once we get back to the path we were on," he answered, almost feeling like keeping the knowledge of that shadow to himself was putting a weight on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Kim shrugged, looking like she was willing to let it go. Like it wasn't anything serious. Which for Jonas, it wasn't. While at the same time, it was a critical matter that related to the safety of their entire group.
However, about that time, he saw the shadow move. He couldn't say if it really was about to go after them, but with the fact that they were so high above the river and with how large whatever cast the shadow had to be, the stone bridge wouldn't be too difficult for whatever it was to destroy.
"Run!" Jonas cried, hoping his reaction wasn't too late.
When Elmo and Elin turned to look at him, he instead paused only long enough to give them a gentle push forward, as he started moving them forward. He wanted to pick them up and either throw them to the other side or to carry them, but he knew that not only would it take too long to do that and get clear himself, assuming he could even throw them far enough to reach the other side.
He could see the shadow unfurl wings that spread out and looked like they could possibly span the entire canyon from wall to wall. Although, that partly depended on how far up whatever was casting the shadow was. Which Jonas had to assume that it wasn't that high up.
While he did what he could to push Elmo and Elin to move quickly, he was afraid that they weren't going to make it to the other side. They were about twenty feet from the end when the shadow reached them. At that moment, the bridge broke apart, like it had been hit with explosives.
As Jonas tried taking another step, he felt the bridge falling apart beneath his feet and he briefly had the thought that he was going to fall however far it was to the bottom of the canyon when he felt someone grab a hold of his hand as he started to fall and keep him from falling any further.
It took him a few moments before he could fully process the fact that he wasn't falling all the way down. When he did, he looked up to see Kim holding him.
"I understand you want to get down fast, but shouldn't you take it a little slower?"
Jonas couldn't be sure which he found more surprising: that he hadn't fallen down or that Kim was cracking jokes now. All he could be certain of was that he was out of danger. Though, he also very much suspected that the destruction of the bridge wasn't an accident either.