Chapter 4: The Shadow's Breath
Pip the squirrel didn't waste a second. "Follow me, and stay off the dark patches of grass," he commanded, leaping from the water's surface to a mossy stone.
Rohan struggled to keep up. The forest was becoming a maze of twisted roots and hanging vines. Suddenly, the air turned ice-cold. A thick, black mist began to crawl along the forest floor, snaking between the trees. It didn't look like normal fog; it moved like it was alive, searching for something.
"Don't breathe it in!" Pip hissed, his blue eyes glowing brighter. "That is the Shadow's Breath. If it touches you, it will steal your memories of home, and you'll be lost in these woods forever."
Rohan pulled his shirt over his nose, his heart drumming against his ribs. He saw a black tendril of mist reach out toward his ankle. Just as it was about to touch his skin, the silver key in his pocket flared with a warm, golden light. The mist recoiled as if it had been burned.
"The key... it's protecting me," Rohan realized, gasping for air.
"For now," Pip replied grimly, looking at the darkening sky. "But the sun is setting, and the shadows grow stronger in the dark. We must reach the Great Oak before the first star appears, or the portal will remain hidden for another hundred years."
Rohan looked ahead and saw a massive silhouette against the horizon—a tree so large it looked like a mountain. But between him and the tree lay the 'Valley of Echoes,' where the mist was thickest.