I slid out of bed when my body just about started to signal that it wouldn't tolerate anymore sleep or lying down. There was a foul taste radiating within my mouth. How long was I out? The last memory I had was mumbling some 'goodbye's in a drowsy state to Mun as he was about to leave. Right. The mirror. Mun went there. Might as well clean myself up. I slammed open the front door with my foot and stepped outside. The moist and chilly forest air greeted my nose.

We kept a bucket full of water beside the hut for general life-usages. Some leaves and bugs floated atop, but I was never the coward with these sort of things. I had more serious fears to haunt me. Half-heartedly flicking away the gunk in the bucket, I took a dipper full with liquid, gulped down a generous sip, and poured the remainder water onto my head. Shaking my head side-to-side, droplets of water spattered all over the mossy dirt. Good enough.

Sputtering around with my sloppily half soaked, half dried hair, I heard some rustling grass from behind the house.
"Mun?"
I shouted, questioningly. No reply. Thinking to investigate, I inched slowly toward the source of the sound. More rustling. Definitely someone was there. Did the freaks from the Zenith finally find me?

Walking closer and closer to the back of the brick building, my heart raced with burning anxiety and anticipation of a disaster. Upon at last, I took a peek at where our back wall of our hut rested. My heart skipped a beat, as a dark, human-sized cluster of what seemed like shadow bugs shrieked as it saw me and blasted away into the dark section of the woods.

Usually creatures from the dark side of the world don't dare step into the bright side, especially the larger ones. It was the same logic as us humans refusing to walk deep into the darker realms our world beared. It was curious to see such a thing scurrying away. Black-blue slimes coated the dirt where the thing had supposed been at. If that dark-spawn really was truly a amalgamation of shadow bugs, it probably wasn't a good idea to keep that vile slime laying about. Fire would be fit to pacify whatever toxins it contained. I walked inside to grab some firewood and a flint.

As I ravaged around the house in search of some flammable materials, the image of that dark being kept resurfacing in my head. The curious thing was, now that I gave it enough thought, that it wasn't just human-sized, but rather actually resembled a form of a person.  An odd sight to have witnessed.

Stepping outside, this time with some leftover firewood and a flint stone, another more familiar human figure approached from the north side of the thick brambles and forestry. Mun. I yelled out.

"Mun!"

A waving arm emerged from the shadowy silhouette. His voiced echoed toward me.

"Rial! I'm back!"

He treaded closer to where I was standing. Glancing over my still, dripping wet hair, he chuckled.

"Did it somehow rain only over your head?"
"Had the lazy girl's shower."

I smiled, which was quickly wiped off my face as now this was the moment of judgment. He went to the mirror as he wished, on one condition. He promised to renounce all hearer-related worship tendencies if members of the mirrors were, as I described them to be, gutless hypocrites. I paused for a brief period, glared at him straight in the eye, but stopped once more choking on my own breath as a sudden echo reentered my mind.

He'll be sad

Shut up. That light forsaken voice again, ringing in my head. I shook off any remaining hesitation, then finally asked the question I longed to embrace upon Mun.

"How was the revelation?"

Mun lowered his head, avoiding my gaze.

"I did promise an answer, didn't I?"

He lifted his sight back up then scanned me over as if he were looking for any excuses to defer this conversation. His eyes locked on to the wood and tinder I still was grasping on to.

"What's that for?"
"Don't try to dodge the question, Mun. It's been too long for that."

Mun left out a tuft of air from his nose, then continued speaking.

"Do what you're about to do. I'll tell as you do it; it's going to be a long story. Plus, I also have some curious things to ask as well."

This was satisfactory. I turned around and walked over to where the original slime-stain was at. Mun followed me.