Releasing the First Creature part 1

Elin wasn't sure about the creatures that Ember suggested. She recognized the logic, but she still felt rather uncomfortable in doing that.

It was already too late in the day to attempt that where they currently were, but Elin was confident that she'd be able to find another place. Even if they had to risk it and do it out in the open.

Only, she couldn't be sure that Jonas would accept the risk involved with the idea. Which meant that she'd need to either not mention it, or downplay it as much as she could if Jonas mentioned it.

Or Ember actually brought it up.

Though, when Ember told Jonas that they had agreed on a course of action, Elin didn't argue, despite the fact that it was pushing actual facts a little too much in her opinion. As they hadn't actually agreed to it, since Elin still felt rather hesitant about the matter. The only thin she had agreed on was that it was likely the better option. As then they could know what would work and what wouldn't, and understand it just a little more than before.

"So, you're saying we should let out that large bird and the snake?" Elin asked quietly, not wanting Jonas to overhear the options.

"Would you rather let out the orc?" Ember returned. "I don't know much about orcs, but I do like serpents just a little bit more than orcs. Even though snakes are one of the worst creatures ever."

Elin felt like she was out of arguments about it.

When she'd first planned on releasing the serpent, solely because it was in there because of Douglas. Yet, the fact that Douglas had wanted it in the first place, made her wonder if there were reasons for him to take it, regardless of anything else about the creature. Such as if there was something special about it that made it stand out from others.

Although, on the other hand, Douglas had essentially started collecting her, and she couldn't say that there was anything special about her that he'd have wanted to 'collect' aside from her system, which she was confident that he didn't know about. Otherwise she was certain that he'd have been collecting the others as well.

If only because each system was different.

"Let's just first release the large bird and then we'll see about the serpent, okay?" Elin said, feeling more than a little dejected at the thought. She was willing to admit that the serpent certainly sounded like a better idea than the orc, partly because she knew that the orc would be much more likely to go after her because of how she understood an orc's nature to be. Where the serpent might or might not go after her, simply because she couldn't say what would interest them or not.

Though, she did hope that the serpent would be more amenable to leaving and understanding what she'd be trying to tell it rather than her having to pick it up to get it to the exit.

"Good enough," Ember replied, a little too cheerfully for Elin. "I'll let you find a place to release it, but remember, just in and out. Don't take too long trying to convince whatever it is to leave. We want to release it, but we also don't have time to negotiate or anything."

Elin nodded. She understood that, though she was probably willing to take longer than Ember would in 'negotiating' with the creatures. Especially the ones that she was more confident were safer than some of the alternatives.

Elin began walking, vaguely aware of Jonas following her and Ember being present as well. She didn't like the idea of doing this out in the open, but at the same time, she knew that there were certain conditions that had to be met in order to release them. Or at least for her to enter the crystal in order to help pull them out of it.

Elin didn't know how long this stretch of trees went, but she planned on following it until she reached a place that would work. Though, that 'place' never seemed to show up.

"Any idea how long this'll take?" Ember asked at one point.

"It'll take as long as it'll take," Ember merely replied. She didn't care to go into much more detail, since it wasn't like she knew precisely where she was going.

Eventually they reached the end of the trees. Though, it let out on an open area that somehow felt safer to Elin. She wasn't sure why she felt that way, just that she did. That somehow it felt like it was something that she'd be able to use to work out freeing the creatures.

"Are you sure about this?" Ember asked, turning her head around as she looked at their surroundings.

"Yeah," she answered, feeling rather serene at the moment. "This place is as safe as in the trees there."

"Sure about that?" Jonas asked. "I'm pretty sure we can be seen for miles here, while in the trees we can't."

Elin merely shrugged. She wasn't going to argue. She only knew what she knew and felt. If she wanted to explain it, she knew that anything she said would just fall flat. So, instead, she looked around for a place to hang the crystal. As she needed to find that anyway, she just didn't care to discuss it with Ember or Jonas.

It felt like moments from that point when she found a lone, bent, and weathered tree that provided her the branch and place to enter the crystal at.

She hoped that this endeavor wasn't a mistake, but she also knew that she wasn't in a place to make other demands about it. Besides, she knew that they'd have to release something first and this was likely as good as any of the other creatures.

So, Elin set the crystal to the color she wanted, then set it on the branch, which wasn't nearly as high as the other one she'd used previously, before kneeling down in front of it, on top of the small shadow that it cast.

She hoped that there wasn't other requirements to enter the crystal that she didn't know about, as she could only imagine looking like a fool if it didn't work this time. Though, she hoped that it wouldn't be as much of a disaster as she feared it would be.

She waited and waited, feeling time slipping by slowly as she continued to wait. Yet, when she ran out of patience and was about to stand up, she suddenly found herself inside the crystal again. Though, this time, she wasn't in a room.

Instead, it almost felt like she was on the beach of an island. An island that looked rather tropical and was complete with water lapping at the edges of the shores, like it was trying to eat the island. The problem with it was that the island hardly felt like it was what it looked like. Instead it had a wind that blew cold air, like it was from the mountains that Elin had just come from.

As Elin looked around her, she didn't see anything else. As if that facet of the crystal had actually been empty. Though, Elin was confident that the giant bird was somewhere around.

She took two steps off of the stone platform she'd appeared on that had the same color as the shadow of the crystal when she entered. Which was also the same color that had surrounded the creature when she'd looked at it from outside the crystal.

One thought that came to Elin as she looked at her surroundings was if this crystal had different amounts of space in each facet or if it changed based on the size of the creature.

Which in turn meant that if this was the size of the 'room' that Elin had to enjoy when it was herself that she'd rescued, Elin could only imagine the actual size of the bird. She hoped her thought was mistaken, because this would make the bird so much larger than she could have expected in the first place.

A shadow fell over her and she ignored it, thinking it was just some clouds. While she didn't know where the bird actually was, she was confident that it was somewhere on the island. Though, where that 'somewhere' was, she could only figure out by actually exploring it.

No matter how long it actually took. Though, she hoped that she'd be able to get out of the crystal before the sun went down. She wasn't sure if the time difference was the same in this facet as it had been in the last one she was in, but she didn't plan on taking chances. Not when she couldn't say how many weeks she'd have to wait here in order to get back outside the crystal if she didn't manage to leave in time.

Elin turned around quickly as the shadow blocking the sun suddenly disappeared, making her wonder if she'd messed up by not looking to see what cast the shadow.

She had hoped to see the giant bird, and maybe talk to it, but instead, she found that it was already leaving the crystal. That apparently it knew just how to leave it, though she also wondered if it merely saw an opportunity and was taking it. That it was trying for a jail break of sorts.