Hills followed hills, and the path followed the hills. Fir moved beyond time now, measuring her journey with footsteps instead. She counted an eon of footsteps. Was her stomach crying out at her for sustenance, her throat screaming and choked with grit? No, that wasn’t her concern here. Was it? Fir sometimes forgot what was real here, and what was not.

An eternity came and went, swallowed by the Unquiet. Fir found herself staying away from the roots by the side of the path more and more, feeling something vaguely like she remembered fear to be on the few occasions she slipped and her foot came close to the edge of a cobblestone. Were the roots getting closer, the path getting smaller?

No, it had to just be her mind playing tricks on her. But why had her muddled thoughts taken this long to turn on her? She had been walking for so long, with her thoughts faded beyond her comprehension. And when was the last time Fir had felt the warmth of Palelight, seen the darkness lessen slightly?

The Unquiet seemed more oppressive now, pushing against the boundaries of the path with a calm ferocity. There was no Palelight left to maintain the boundaries - Fir’s mind retained that thought at least. She dared to look back, seeing nothing but path and hills before an uncontrollable instinct drove her eyes forwards again. Any Palelight which had been there had long ago been swallowed by the Unquiet. That, or she had simply walked out of sight. She hoped it was that, and there was still a path behind her, still a patch of Palelight to return to if the Unquiet became too much.

Not that returning was an option anyway.