We are deep in the story here. Want to start from the beginning?

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The afternoon sun beat down mercilessly, but Keira felt none of its warmth. The thick canopy of the swamp only allowed pale, sickly shafts of light to filter through, where they were instantly swallowed by the dense shadows of hanging vines and gnarled trees. Wild, wet grasses clung to the jagged boulders, which were the only solid ground in a world of sucking, treacherous mud.

Keira pushed a curtain of moss-covered ivy aside, fighting through the stagnant, heavy air. She longed for the clean, rushing breeze that came with moving water. But she couldn’t stop. She was entirely on her own now. The villagers had made their stance undeniable; no one was coming to save her. For a brief moment, the thought of simply running away, leaving the village behind to start fresh somewhere else, crossed her mind. But it was quickly drowned out by the hot, bitter weight of her anger. She couldn’t let it go. If they were so intent on letting her perish, then so be it. She’ll let her fate happen, but not quietly in the winter, as they wanted. She would not go quietly to the other side.

For hours, she had forced her way through the swamp, and now her muscles burned from the strain of the uneven terrain. She needed to stop. Slumping down onto a cold boulder, she buried her face in her hands. There was a rustle in the leaves above her head, and she scrambled backwards as a man appeared, hanging upside down, with his crazy ginger hair.

“Oh!” he said, with a big smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. Have you seen a rat? Are swamp rats common in this area? I’ve been tracking one for days, isn’t that right, Percy?”

Keira watched with confusion as Ziggy lowered his hand, and there was a chameleon clinging to it.

“Umm,” said Keira. “I haven’t seen a swamp rat, no. I don’t think I would want to, anyway.”

“Oh, don’t you like them? They’re really very friendly,” replied Ziggy, swinging his body up so that he was sitting on a thick branch.

“No,” Keira replied.

She shuffled uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” she said, “I’m not really in the mood for people right now.”

“Oh? No?” Ziggy replied. “The swamp is a lonely place. I guess you wouldn’t come here for a mixer.”

“What’s a mixer?”

“HEY!” Ziggy said, getting excited. “If you don’t want to talk to people and you don’t like rats, I know exactly who you should meet!”

“I don’t want to meet anyone, thank you,” Keira replied. “Look, I’ve just… I am not having the best day, and I think maybe I’ll go…”

“Yes, yes,” Ziggy replied. “I’ll go get her; you’ll love her!”

“Get who?” replied Kiera. “OK. I’m going to go; you are clearly not listening. Just like the council. Why don’t people listen?”

Kiera got up and wiped her damp hands on her skirt. She was about to stride off when Ziggy started making funny noises and swung himself upside down again. She rolled her eyes and started to walk past him when there was a rustle in the grass and a cat jumped out.

“OH!” Kiera squealed. “Is that a cat! She’s so beautiful.”

“No, she’s not just a cat,” Ziggy said, waving his finger. “She’s a shadow cat. And she’s had her eye on you for some time.”

“What do you mean she’s had her eye on me?” Keira said, stroking the long ombre grey fur of the cat.

But there was no sound, except for the purring shadow cat. Keira looked up, and the branch was empty.  Keira looked down at the cat again. It looked like an ordinary cat for the most part. She wondered why the strange man had called her a shadow cat. It did feel like there was a certain whisp to her outline, as if her fur merged into the light and shadow around her. The more Keira stared at it, the more her eyes couldn’t focus on where the cat started and the shadows began. She shook her head. She was tired and seeing things. Her stomach was also rumbling.

A chill ran down her spine, and she looked up. It was difficult to pinpoint the sun through the leaves, but it felt like it was starting to descend. She needed to start thinking about what she was going to do when night fell, since she only had a few more hours left.

There was a rustle, and Keira turned to see Ziggy’s backside sticking out of a bush.

“I found the rat!” he shouted. Keira turned. She didn’t want to know about it or see it, or have anything to do with it.

“Percy! Take a look at this,” he continued, and Keira saw the chameleon slowly move, one foot in front of the other, along Ziggy’s spine. He started humming a tune and bending his knees to a silent beat. The odd show of Ziggy, bouncing, with a chameleon on his back and his head completely in a bush, was too much for Keira. She decided to take it as a cue to leave.

Keira stood up and took a few steps. The cat seemed to follow her. She went into a light jog. She had to ensure that her feet landed on firm soil, as every now and then the mud gave way beneath her footing, causing her to stumble. The constant concentration drained her mentally quicker than the jog took her energy.

Keira ducked under the roots of trees. They seemed to extend out like fingers, with the base reaching up towards the sky. Every now and then she felt the ground give way to something that felt very much like steps. But that kind of construction was impossible in Artizan. She shook her head at the thought. This was the pure wilderness out here. There was nothing here but shades of green and teal, to show the growth. Steps would be far too man-made to be in this environment.

The ground started getting harder, and less grass grew. The rock was showing more, as Keira realised that she was jogging her way to a body of water. The Shadow cat seemed to also notice, and pounced its way up the trees, using the branches to cross over. Keira realised that the flimsy, wet, practically decomposing wood would not hold her weight, and so the only way to cross would be to go through the water. She didn’t enjoy the thought of getting wet so late in the day, nor did the idea of wading through potentially infested water sit well with her, but there was no other way. She slowly lowered her body into the cool water and tried not to think about roots, fish, eels, and rotten leaves touching her legs.

There was a rustle in the leaves above her, and she saw that the cat had disturbed a series of pale flowers that released their pollen, which sparkled in the shards of light. The beautiful twinkle took her mind off what was potentially touching her under the water, and she started to make her way slowly across. She didn’t want to get any more wet than she had to, so she tried to keep her shoulders and head above the water.

She thought she heard movement in the water. She quickened her pace and clambered quickly onto the hard stone on the other side. It was slimy with lichen growth, which kept causing her to slip. There was another splash sound, and she just turned over and reversed-crawled away from the water’s edge. Her back hit a boulder, and she waited. Silence overtook the air. She could hear her heart pounding. She waited until that quieted too. The sun was definitely starting to get lower, and she had to get out of here.

She clambered over the rocks, back onto the wet grass. The smell of wet soil and mud floated up as her hands disturbed the ground. There were wild ferns and large broad-leaf plants here that made it feel colder and darker on this side of the water. Kiera scrambled her way through, and the ground seemed to firm up more. Larger trees grew, and it was beginning to feel more like a dense forest than a swamp. She could feel the air become lighter, but with the sinking sun, it was also becoming darker. She wasn’t sure if spending the night in a forest was better than the swamp. The boulders seemed larger here, and she leaned against one to take a moment.

The shadow cat reappeared by her and slid itself against her legs. She smiled briefly, but then she felt something within her hands and turned around. There seemed to be etchings in the boulder. She took a few steps back. Yes. There were markings that were grooved in, with some chisel device. The moss was growing over it in some sections, and there, in others, the lichen and ferns, but she could make out an unnaturally perfect shape.

She had never seen such markings. The shadow cat made an odd noise, and Kiera looked down. It seemed to be unhappy about something, and then pounced into the undergrowth. An odd smell that Keira could only describe as metal, wafted through the air. She had smelled something similar before, when the blacksmith worked in the town.

It was followed by a low growl.