Nibbles, I Don't Think We're In Nightshade Anymore

 “What the hell is that?!” Sara yelped as they reached the border to their next location.

The five of them stood in a twisted moonlit forest, staring at the next location ahead of them. While their usual sky was dark, the one that lay ahead of them was a bright blue, just a couple shades lighter than Millie’s hair. Rather than a full moon above, bathing them with its comforting glow, this location had full-on sunlight, Talia having already stepped behind Sara.

Amaia cursed a bit in some other language. Millie couldn’t quite place it, but their grimace spoke volumes enough to provide context.

“Is there any way around this?” they asked.

“I’ve never been this far from home,” Talia admitted.

Nibbles, meanwhile, wiggled her tail at the sun and ran out into the open field before them. This would have a consequence the werewolf had not considered, as she began to shrink down. Before long, she was back to regular dog size, once more on four legs rather than two. She let out a confused little bark, before lying down in the grass and soaking up the sun’s rays.

That confirmed one thing that both Amaia and Talia had worried about: this sun was real enough that it could hurt at least one of them. The location didn’t have that off-putting tint that the various attacks contained.

Millie walked toward her dog, giving her some pets. “Any idea how big the area is?” she asked, glancing backward.

“Hopefully not too big,” Talia said. “I don’t like the idea of burning in the sun. Why the hell do you think I live in Nightshade in the first place?”

Aside from being its ruling class? Millie didn’t bring that up, though.

“I’m not entirely fond of it, either,” Amaia said. “I’m not allergic to sunlight, per se. It’s more that I’m more comfortable in the darkness.”

“So that’s what the sun is?” Sara asked, head tilted as she kept staring directly at it. “It doesn’t seem too bad…”

Millie, personally, had never really enjoyed the sun, either. Back when she was in the human realm, she was always much more partial to rainy days. The rumbling of semi-distant thunder was a comfort, and the smell of the earth after a good rain? That always made a bad day just a bit better. Also, she had that tendency to burn easily in the sun, and her eyes were extremely sensitive to bright lights.

As for Nibbles, she just seemed to enjoy basking in the sunlight, her tail giving a little wiggle. She may not have been a werewolf at the moment, but she was still a happy canine. The fact that her human was giving her attention didn’t hurt matters, either.

But they needed to find a way through there.

“So, how do we want to handle this?” Millie asked.

Nobody had any answers just yet. On the one hand, they could wait it out until the sun set and go from there. That would enable them to rest for a while. But on the other, there was the fact that Nightshade didn’t have sunlit hours. Who was to say that this region didn’t follow similar rules?

“We wait it out,” Talia said after a bit. “If the sun sets at any point, please let me know.”

Amaia had also taken this time to rest, leaving Sara, Millie, and Nibbles to wait out the day. Not that Millie was entirely enthused about the idea of Sara being the only one around she could really talk to, if needed. What didn’t help matters was when the drider skittered toward them, wanting to experience the sunlight a bit more.

She settled in the grass, all eight legs tucked beneath her huge spider abdomen.

“This feels weird,” she said after a few quiet moments. “Is it supposed to feel like someone’s trying to cook you, but the flames are really weak?”

Millie glanced at her, letting out a slight chuckle. “That’s one way to look at it, I guess.”

“Did you used to live somewhere with that thing?”

“Unfortunately, yeah,” the witch replied. “I know it’s vital for growing some stuff and sustaining life, but getting burned by that thing? Not fun.”

The drider looked at her, curious. “It actually can cook you?”

“To some extent. It’s just not super-strong about it. At worst, it can give someone cancer. But some people like using it to get a tan.”

Again, Millie was not one of those people. Enough time in the sun caused her to resemble a freshly cooked lobster. She had no idea if the drider would be able to handle the UV rays.

“Wonder if I can get a tan…” Sara mused, looking right up at the sun again.

“Might not wanna stare directly at it. It’s a good way to go blind,” Millie said, giving Nibbles more attention.

“Wait, really?”

“Yup.”

She may not have liked the drider much...but she wasn’t about to intentionally disable her in any capacity. Plus, she was starting to wonder if maybe she wasn’t quite so malicious after all.

The two got to talking a bit more as they waited for the sun to set. Several hours passed, and it had made no indication whatsoever that it would go down. Amaia was the first of their companions to wake up.

The dullahan looked out at the sunny landscape, groaning in annoyance. Sara informed them of how much time had passed. They grumbled as it sank in that this sun worked in exactly the same way as the moon back home. Talia awoke soon after to be met with the bad news.

And so, it was time to figure out a good way to shield her from the sun’s rays. What came to mind was Millie loaning her her hat. Thankfully, the brim of her pointed witch hat was nice and wide, and could serve as enough of a shield to get by. A cloak might have helped even more, but she felt weird enough about borrowing the hat and didn’t want to seem too demanding.

Amaia picked up their head, hoping they would be able to get to the next moonlit area sooner rather than later. Millie whistled for Nibbles to get up and come with them, the group continuing on their trek.

Right now, the plan was to locate the next pocket of civilization. There was a chance that a prior champion had come through this area, and all.

But there was a question that dawned on at least three members of the party: was this even a natural part of the land itself? Endless day seemed like something that had to be enforced, quite like the endless night they were leaving behind.

Walking along, the field seemed as endless as the day around there. Or maybe it just felt that way due to the relative unfamiliarity of such conditions to the group. Nibbles happily walked along at Millie’s side, which Millie appreciated since that leash had been discarded back at Talia’s castle.

After what felt like hours and hours of walking, they saw a gate ahead. It had an alabaster quality to it, and there were several figures stationed atop the gate’s walls. All of those figures’ eyes fell on the party, one of them calling down to them.

“State your business!” a woman called, tone stern.

Millie stepped forward. “Hey! Um...so, we were just passing through, and hoped to find someone that could answer some questions for us…?”

“Where did you come from?”

Amaia spoke up next. “We’re from Nightshade,” they replied. “It’s a long ways back there.”

They gestured in the direction they’d just come from.

There wasn’t a response right away, as the people atop the gate eyed them with further suspicion. The feeling was coming in that they probably weren’t the most welcome there. Maybe they could find some way around this area?

The gate opened after a while.

“Enter,” the woman said, tone not becoming any more pleasant.

Millie stepped into the city first, Nibbles still right by her side. Amaia, Sara, and Talia followed, the vampire seriously hoping for some more shade, or some shelter, because that hat was starting to itch.

As soon as the gate closed behind them, they found themselves surrounded buy more guards. Talia was the first to be tackled to the ground, Amaia being next. It took three of them to apprehend Sara, and as for Millie, she was body-checked into a wall.

“You’re all under arrest,” one of their attackers stated.

“Under what charges?!” Talia demanded.

She didn’t get an answer. Instead, she found herself being handcuffed and forced upright. The party (save for Nibbles) was being marched to the local police station. None were sure what the hell this was all about, but were very curious to find out…