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Reyll sprinted recklessly, breathlessly through the forest, the svelte lynx bearing no typical feline agility; branches clipped his shoulders and face, he plowed through thickets, his feet caught rocks and roots, and yet his frenetic flight continued unceasingly. His mottled tan and white fur was streaked with mud and blood, yet everything that should have sent him crashing and tumbling was merely stumbled through, his body almost unnaturally forced back upright no matter how far it pitched, twisted, reeled from every obstacle.

Something had caught his attention. It could have been a branch catching the shoulder of his tunic, a leaf brushing against his whiskers, a breeze teasing his ear tufts. It enticed him from the path into the trees, leading him like the gentle tugging of his shirt by a lover. Reyll could feel her warm aura and hear her sweet voice just ahead. He became feather-light on his feet, his head felt stuffed with cotton, his heart was set racing; a first kiss.

In a blink, his world grew radiant and vast, as though his eyes had been truly opened for the first time. All Reyll saw, the plants, the trees, the birds and insects and mosses and even the stones and streams and loamy earth itself guided him, beckoning him with their inviting glow towards an infinity he could not begin to hope to comprehend yet moved toward with no less fervor. His Joy was there at the threshold of nothing and everything, waiting for him, so that they might abscond together. So very far away from it all. Solitude at long last.

Then his world lurched to a halt, the guiding lights fleeing and leaving him in pitch.

Reyll stopped--no, had been stopped. An overwhelming darkness sprung from the ether and consumed him. Sensations; warmth, softness, a turning of his body. He could then see once more; he was moving. Not in the direction he needed to go. He tried to run, but his legs wheeled freely in empty air. He tried to push away, but his arms were pinned at his sides. He could hear something, muffled and distant as though heard through a closed door. A voice? Joy? No. No.

A malignant terror blossomed in his chest. The lynx began to thrash, kick, claw, scream, anything to break free and keep moving toward his newfound destiny, his escape. Adrenaline electrified him, the pleasant, numbing noise between his ears crescendoed into a symphony of shattering glass and screeching metal. The world around him turned on its head and was reduced to a roiling, writhing tumult. Something roared in a horrid facsimile of her voice, digging into his skull like nails as it fiercely protested the abduction of its muse, but began waning as quickly as it had seized him.

Lucidity took root once more. Reyll was dangling at the waist, bouncing slightly, staring at the ground moving beneath him. Not dangling, draped over someone's shoulder. They were tall, and all he could see of them were a pair of thick, brown-furred legs clad in greaves rhythmically peeking out from the hem of a tea-length green skirt.

The strong, fuzzy arm holding him there cinched tighter around Reyll's waist and arms when he tried to raise himself to get a better look. "Oh, no you don't. You've had enough fun running chasing the pretty lights for one day." The voice was gruff, but feminine. Reyll opened his mouth to respond, but only a pitiful murmur dribbled out. Another sensation reared its ugly head as the lynx continued to sober: pain. His lungs, heart, and everything below the waist screamed at him, but he lacked the energy to do much besides groan feebly again. The arm relaxed slightly and his carrier's voice came to him again, losing a little of its previous brusqueness. "Your head clearing up finally? I'll put you down and let you be on your way if it is." Reyll didn't attempt to answer this time, let alone move. "Alright, alright. Well, the hostel isn't far now, you can rest up there."

The remainder of the walk was hazy from exhaustion, and the next thing Reyll knew he was lying on his back in a simple cot, staring at the wood planks of a bunk above him. He let his eyes close with a heavy, relieved sigh. "Thank you kindly. I feel like I owe you quite a bit." His voice came in a parched rasp that surprised even himself. The feminine voice replied as warmly as he'd ever heard it, "oh, it's nothing, really. The falselight's dragged the odd underprepared traveler down my way before. That said, I've never seen someone get so worked up by 'em quite like you. You were looking pretty wild-eyed for a minute there. Frankly I'm glad you're as small as you are, or I might not've been able to drag you away! You don't have a traveller's charm on you?" "'Fraid I've never heard of a 'falselight' before, but then again I never did get out of town much."

Reyll could hear her walking across the wood floor toward him. "Hmm, that might explain why you got caught up in it so fiercely, I'll have to give you one before you leave. Here." He opened his eyes to see a brown bear woman towering over his bedside, offering him a waterskin. She had green eyes which shone brilliantly even in the dimly-lit abode and darker brown hair tied back in a simple braid. She wore a low-cut, strapless green dress with a pink sash tied around her waist and a kind smile. Reyll propped himself on one arm and graciously accepted it with the other, nearly drinking the skin dry in one long draught. He coughed slightly through a dopey grin as he held it toward her. "So, might I know the name of my benevolent savior?" The bear giggled and took the waterskin from him. "So quick to flattery! Are you sure you aren't still a little addled?" She stepped out to refill the skin, talking to him from the next room. "I am Elloa, but 'Loa' suits me just fine."

"And what's a lovely lady like yourself doing all the way out here by your lonesome, Loa?" "I could ask you the same question, and you haven't even given me your name yet," Loa replied--though not defensively--as she entered and handed Reyll another drink. "Ah, pardon my poor manners, ma'am. My name's Reyll. I had set out three days ago from home, but thanks to that magical... whatever it was, sweeping me up like that, I'm not so sure anymore." He took a draw from the waterskin, slowly this time. "Three days? That'd put you... from the basin area?" "Yes'm, lived quite near there all my life. I'm making for the Crest."

Loa's warmth faltered slightly. "Ah. I heard the valley-side area around the Crest had developed a bit of a bandit problem." "Has it, now?" Reyll sat up, interest piqued. "Yes, though it has been a while since I heard about them last..." She seemed disconcerted as she trailed off before blinking hard and shaking the thought. "The enforcers may have cleared it up by now, anyway. So, Ascent? You aren't too far out of the way, if you were using the road I think you were. The road this hostel is on meets up with it to the northeast of here, and the base is another day-and-a-half's worth of steady travel." "Well at least I got that goin' for me today." He sat up and swung his legs off the cot and looked around. "Uh, when you... stopped me, was I carrying anything?" "I'm afraid not, sorry. Just the coinpurse tied to your belt. I suppose you lost everything else when you got swept up."

"I see," Reyll sighed. "Not to sound ungrateful for your momentous hospitality, but I probably ought to hit the road again. I'm... expected at my destination." He tried to stand up, but his legs quaked weakly. His muscles ached to the bone and might not survive the journey from the bed to the front door of the hostel, let alone a day's travel. The cot creaked as he half-sat, half-collapsed on it.

Loa stifled a chuckle, finally relaxing a little into a bemused expression. "Looks like whoever's expecting you is going to need a little patience. You just lay down now and I'll get some supper started up. I got a beef stew recipe that'll get you right by sunup."

Reyll grumbled to himself and did as he was told, a knot of stress slowly forming in his gut, and closed his eyes to think. Even waiting until dawn felt risky, especially with the time he already lost to that magical bullshit, and the time he'll have to spend in the next town getting new travel supplies, and now the threat of brigands in the mix? Every second that ticked by where he wasn't out of this podunk valley was filled with dread as it stood, and the odds just seemed to keep stacking against him.