Iris, with her shield ready, gets out of her hiding spot; there is no reason for her to restrict herself if she has already been discovered.
The mysterious creature looks at Iris, its deep black clothing staying still while the wind increases speed. Iris's hair is flying everywhere, her eyes determined yet scared while her shield is behind her, preparing to defend or attack at any given moment.
The creature's soulless eyes looked up and down at Iris. She has never felt so uncomfortable.
"What are you doing!" Iris said, trying to hold her ground as her legs shook.
"I am here as I sensed the guardian's presence here, but it seems it is no longer here."
"She was here but stole all of my meat, so I would like you to find it and avenge my stolen meat!"
The creature gave Iris a dirty look; it felt disgusted that someone gave it an order for such a dumb thing. The creature opened its cape and took out a blade.
Iris stepped back; she knew that she had done something wrong but was nervous about how much that blunder would cost her.
The creature pointed its blade, extending it at such speed that it touched Iris's nose before she could even see it extend. She fell, her nose bleeding.
"Never say such a pathetic thing once again." Its voice deepened with hints of rage. It then retracted its blade.
"There was a mission for you, but we don't care about it. You are just as weak as that girl in the cocoon. So rest safe that no one would care for you for about two months." The creature said, giving a small grin. "But since you are very cute, I am giving you a tip." Its voice deepened to an almost unintelligible, "Find a hiding spot and never talk to us." The creature turned around, leaving Iris to question herself.
Iris quickly noticed she felt goosebumps. She raised her head, saw the creature turn around, a blade in its hand, and then sensed a noticeable change in pressure.
"Also never trust us." The creature released its blade at an incredible speed.
Iris, using all of her strength, managed to put up her shield as fast as she could. Seeing the blade close by, she saw the world slow down but couldn't move faster; instead, it all felt slower.
Boom
Crack
The pressure of the attack sent her flying; she looked up, seeing the creature leave. She looked down at the blade on the ground with her shield in pieces. In the blink of an eye, the blade disappeared.
Iris' emotions felt conflicted. She felt extremely happy that her shield was strong enough to defend against an attack of that much power and that she was fast enough to react to what used to be a guaranteed fatal attack. However, she has now experienced the power of a creature, and she was completely overpowered, with the warning of a possibility of another attack with the motivation to kill her.
Iris looked around, trying to see if the mysterious creature would appear once again. She now has no way to survive another attack; now she has to rely on her luck.
Iris heard how trees began to fall, and the sounds of blood screams from animals who have no way to reason with such a terrifying creature. The increased smell of blood irritated her bleeding nose.
Her eyes stung with the sticky substance; her stomach turned the more the citrus and blood smell combined. She stood up, running towards some leaves to try and calm her nose.
She grabbed as many leaves as she could, smashing them and inserting them into her nose. The smell of leaves calmed her stomach just as she felt the food coming out.
Now her body began itching. She is extremely confused about why this is all happening simultaneously. She searches her body, but there is nothing out of the ordinary.
The fog lasted for a few minutes before disappearing, leaving no traces of it being here; the smell, blood, and footprints disappeared with the fog.
Feeling calmer, Iris felt her body slowly shut down. She walks to where Apatura is hiding, her body unsteadily walking from one side to the other with many instances of her falling.
Thump
Iris falls, her body entering deep sleep.
…
She wakes up, her body feeling stronger. She looks at Apatura's cocoon, seeing it still covered with leaves. She stands up, giving a glance at her plant, which is suspiciously bigger than the last time.
Iris noticed how all the trees have no leaves; everything is in the ground. The fruits appear older than before.
Iris realized that she had slept for a long time, but she couldn't pinpoint how long she had been out.
Swoosh
Iris felt a strong surge of cold wind passes through her thin clothing. She doesn't see snow, so she estimates that in a few days, winter will appear. She has nothing to protect herself from either the cold or the creatures that might go after her. The possibility that the time window is already closed scares her. She has not trained or created a home to hide until she is strong enough.
Unprepared and hungry, she runs towards the river to drink some water and to have a moment of relaxation.
Iris, without hesitation, jumps in the water. Her body shaking uncontrollably, the cold water is too much for her; she slowly walks out. With the increasing winds, she feels a strange surge of anger and desire to run away from all of her problems, away from everything, to eventually die in the forest alone.
Taking a few deep breaths Iris quickly creates a fire to heat herself; she grabs as many leaves as she can and inserts her feet, hands, and neck, as they are the most freezing parts of her body.
Iris, feeling her body heat returning, had a flashback. A flashback to when she was younger and loved the cold; she loved blowing clouds and playing in the snow, running when it was cold to not sweat. But now all that she wants is for the cold to be over. Scared of what is expecting her the following days.