Calden felt the pressure all over him when Astrid's hand went over him. In that dark confinement there was no escape from his still growing confused fear and hearing his only remaining link to reality beginning to cry as if to express emotion he couldn't only worsened the feeling. Worst of all was the ghostly tingling when his body didn't respond to the whirlwind of emotion roiling inside him. There was no tightness in his chest, no cold sweat on his skin, only this empty darkness and the seemingly nonsensical stimuli that came from Astrid's movements. Quite gradually, he was beginning to feel angry at the situation. His inability to feel or act all the while his friend was lost somewhere.<br/><br/>Some of his anger got loaded into his words without Calden realizing when he shouted over his friends sobs.<strong>"Don't cry! Astrid please don't cry now! You are alright aren't you, you can't start crying now! Come on! Just follow my voice and find me already, please."</strong>The volume and hostility of his voice began to face off after he had yelled out a few words and realized who he was being angry at. She wasn't at fault. What happened in the first place? Calden's thoughts suddenly switched to wonder why or how he had gotten himself here in the first place. He recalled yesterday, at least he hoped it was yesterday. The sensation of his slightly cold numb fingers dirtied by stumbling down on the dirt inside waterfall passage was still clear in his memory. He had stood there, on the ancient pedestal that the old ones had told them not to disturb and laughed, but then...   an eerie chill washed over Calden's mind, replacing the immediate anxiety with a horror that gripped his soul much deeper.<br/><br/>For the moment he fell silent and Astrid's words, though heard went right past his attention as if she was behind a window. The shadow took all the room there was in his mind when he focused on it. It had advanced along the stone walls - creeping towards him - and then there was nothing. At least not until this morning. He took the mental equivalent of a deep breath before talking to Astrid again, trying to keep his voice as steady as he could.<br/><br/><strong>"What happened. What happened Astrid? Where are yo- I mean where are we? Did we get away from that shadow thing?"</strong><br/><br/>After calming a little, Calden noticed something tingle in his field of view or perhaps it was inside his head. Although it was dark, he thought that for a moment he saw a faint blue light twingle in and out of existence.<br/><br/><br/>The forest around Astrid kept calm as morning continued its slow rise. Strangeness of night had all disappeared and the shadows were brightening. Birds and other little critters avoided from being spotted by the girl, but made their presence known by all sorts of chirps and chitters. It was almost a crime to have such an oddly disturbing crisis in this place.