Rina, a foxlady, wakes up hanging from a tree in the middle of the forest. She is being hunted by a being of darkness that takes pleasure in possessing the bodies of her friends. Her bestest bud Glade is caught in the middle of it all and is constantly being hurt and put in danger.

This article contains spoilers! You were warned.

Characters

Rina Quest by Fidchell
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Rina Foxhart

The heroine. Rina is a sensitive, yet very enduring and nimble vixen who enjoys outdoor activities. She is the prime focus following the tragic incident in the forest near Locust Grove in which she may or may not have been the cause of.

Glade Williams

Rina's best friend. Glade is a she-wolf who has only been introduced to constant pain and misery ever since the Locust Grove incident. She is rendered helpless by dark forces and Rina does everything in her power to keep Glade out of harm's way.

Rasha Valdo

Rina's boyfriend. Rasha is a rabbit who likes to keep his coolness in check. He also enjoys collecting insects as a hobby.

Leon Foxhart

Leon is Rina's older brother who left her a while back to go to college. During their reunion, Rina discovers Leon has seemingly fallen under some startlingly bad influences and habits.

Richard Heathrow

A male raccoon that gave Rina and Glade shelter shortly after the incident.

Harry Saunders

A mental patient making a temporary stay at the Bell Shoals Hospital. He seems to have a lot of knowledge about the dark powers that hunt Rina.

Janice Carson

A nurse at the Bell Shoals Hospital who cares for Rina after the incident. She seems to constantly carry a bottle of painkillers wherever she goes.

The Darkness

Can be considered a collective since it refers to itself in a plural form. Not much is known about what exactly the Darkness is, but they carry hostile intent, and for some reason they keep blaming Rina for the incident in the Locust Grove forestlands.

Black Cloak

This strange creature has been shown stalking Rina several times. What is it and what is its intentions?

Plot

Chapter 1

Rina wakes up hanging upside down. She is tied to a tree branch by a long fabric. Rina has no recollection of the events before this. She looks down to see a person slumped against the tree she is hanging from and calls out to him/her, but he/she does not answer. Rina acquires a backpack hanging from a nearby tree branch and gets a switchblade and a bottle of energy drink. Rina cuts herself loose, but loses her grip on the tree branch and falls to the ground. Her leg collides with sharp protrusions of a stray branch on the ground. Rina spouts vulgarities and acquires a first aid kit nearby the slumped person. She gets a bottle of disinfecting alcohol and gauze, and grabs a flashlight that is nearby her. To her disappointment the items are not enough to provide a good bandage for her gruesome wound. She checks on the slumped person, who is dead. She takes his shirt and uses it as a bandage after removing the branch from her leg. Afterwards, she picks up a survival knife and a GPS/walkie-talkie device. She also keeps the backpack for a larger inventory! She checks the corpse's pockets and finds a strange box which she does not open. Rina whirls around to find dead bodies littered everywhere, bodies that she somehow didn't see before. A scream sounds from the distance and Rina follows it and a noticeable trail on the ground. Rina finds her friend, Glade, who looks seriously injured. Rina pulls her away from a nearby cliff to safety and discovers her arm is broken. Glade speaks nonsense, saying that voices are speaking to her, telling her that Rina is the cause of the horror. Rina is stumped by this and encounters a shadowy being who looms over Glade. He wields a hatchet and has a horribly disfigured face. Rina interrogates the creature, who reveals Rina is the "shackles" that bind "them" to her "fleshy prison." Not understanding a word of what the thing is talking about, Rina pulls out the box, which the creature seems to recognize, but states she cannot do anything with it. It ends the conversation by beckoning a hurricane. Rina holds on to the ground for dear life, but Glade is dragged over to the cliff. She calls out Rina's name but Rina is too late to save her. Glade plummets off the cliff and the wind stops. It is evident, however, that she is still alive. Her screams echo throughout the valley below. To Rina's right, she sees police vehicles making their way across a winding road toward the area Rina woke up in. Rina then encounters a spiritual being surrounded by light, who offers Rina their aid. Rina interrogates the spirit and they claim they can suppress the dark forces. Rina accepts the spirit and it merges with her body. Rina goes down the cliff face and follows the trail Glade left behind. She comes up to a winding road and finds a lone cabin to her right, which she goes to. She knocks and a male raccoon answers. He says Glade is resting inside and lets Rina in. As Rina watches over Glade, she informs the raccoon about what happened. He claims he already called 911 and that people are coming to help. He goes to the kitchen to make Rina something to eat and drink, but receives a hatchet to the head. He comes back into the living room transformed into a similar look that the dark being from before had. He has become hostile and attacks Rina, wielding the axe. Rina tackles him and tries to kick away the hatchet, but the raccoon grabs her leg and tosses her into the wall. The spirit awakens within Rina and her vision becomes shrouded in a bright haze. The spirit aids Rina by attacking the raccoon's mind, causing a struggle with the darkness inside him. Rina takes the opportunity to grab the axe and buries it into the back of the raccoon's neck, killing him instantly. The spirit fades away and Rina is left lamenting over her action. She moves Glade to the bedroom and goes to the telephone to call the cops and warn them, but someone is already on the other line. It warns Rina that they cannot be stopped and that she should not underestimate them. It hangs up and Rina discovers the cord is cut. The house is suddenly hit by an earthquake and the hurricane picks up again. Rina dashes over to the bedroom, throwing herself on Glade and shielding her from the debris. Rina blacks out from the pain.

Chapter 2

Rina wakes up with a splitting headache in what appears to be a hospital. She presses a call nurse button with no immediate response. She tries to turn on the TV in the room, but it has no buttons on it, so she searches for a remote. While doing so, she looks out the window to see a perfectly normal town. She decides to leave the room, but when she opens the door, a nurse is on the other side carrying food who was about to come in. The nurse tells her Rina is in the Bell Shoals Hospital in the city of Locust Grove and that Glade is under intensive care. After a few more questions, Rina greedily consumes her meal. After an attempt to converse with the Spirit, Rina leaves the room once more. She finds nothing unusual in the hallway other than a spilled bottle of pills. She explores the three floors below her with glances, but there aren't any people, even at the receptionist's desk. She then notices she has a black protrusion from her neck. Feeling faint, she goes and sits down in the bathroom, where she is choked by a six-armed monstrosity. She then wakes up in her hospital bed again. The nurse runs in the door and exclaims that she thought she was going crazy. Rina asks the nurse to check her neck, but the nurse finds nothing unusual. The nurse (who informs Rina her name is Janice) explains that she has stopped seeing people in the hospital, just like Rina. After an awkward hug, Rina decides to go explore outside, even though Janice asks her not to leave. After a few steps outside, Rina rushes back to the room out of fear from realization that the Darkness could have attacked her while she was not present. Rina finds Janice immobile. Thankfully, she is alive, but Janice explains that she is tired. The two decide to go to the administrator's office to find out where Glade is being kept. Janice tells Rina that she heard voices that spoke Rina's name with coldness. They go in the hallway together, and find a few people wandering the halls, as if everything suddenly went back to normal. Janice seems to forget that everyone had just disappeared not long ago. They go to the first floor. Rina is then embraced in the hallway by a man she does not recognize. She does not remember who he is until he speaks his name: Rasha, at which point Rina realizes that Rasha is her boyfriend. After making Rasha put his sunglasses on indoors, she turns around to find Janice gone. Rina asks for directions to the administrator's office but finds out he is at lunch. She also finds out that Glade is being kept on the third floor. Rina and Rasha ascend to the third floor to find a haggard looking man staring at them. Before he catches up with them, Rina gives a quick explanation of some of the events to Rasha. When the man makes it to Rina, he starts talking to her in an excited manner. Rasha tells him to step off, but Rina asks that he be given a chance to speak. He explains that Rina is a survivor for a reason, and everyone she meets becomes a part of her world. Before he can explain more he is rushed off by a nurse and Rina finds out his name is Harry. They proceed to Glade's room, where Rina has a short vision of Glade's horrifically mangled and slaughtered body. She snaps out of it and checks the room for surprises. Glade then wakes up, and everyone shares explanations. Rina asks Rasha if he has any friends that he can call for backup, but he claims he doesn't have anyone he would want to involve in this sort of thing. Rina then checks Glade's arm, which is bruised, but still functional with an ice pack and rest. Harry comes through the door and shuts it behind him, but is accosted by Rasha. Once again, Rina requests that Harry be given a chance to speak. He gives further explanation on yesterday's events and the box Rina found. Rina checks outside, which is now covered in thick black fog, and a nurse starts banging on the door asking for Harry. Harry freaks out, and suddenly a monstrous creature appears in the room, seemingly affected by the Darkness. Rina asks the Spirit for help, and this time it answers. While the creature is momentarily weakened, Rasha pins it to the ground with a blanket. While it's down, Rina and Glade kick it until Rina applies a sickle to its head and it stops moving. A police officer, a doctor, and Janice arrive. The doctor requests the police officer arrest Harry for murder, but Rina tries to defend him. The police officer recognizes Rina and wishes for her to come with him in order to explain the events at the forest. Everyone then leaves with the police officer. The last thing before the chapter ends is a cryptic moth announcement, the likes of which could also be seen in the first chapter.

Chapter 3

Rina and the gang arrive at the police station. Privately, she speaks with the chief about details concerning the incident back at the forest. She leaves and reunites with Rasha and Glade and notices Glade is acting strange and antisocial, wavering away whenever Rina attempts to start a conversation. Rina goes back into the police station and to the chief, remembering to let him know about Harry's knowledge of the Box and its connection to the Darkness. The chief mentions something about Harry's hometown - a secluded village in the forest. Rina requests she takes a look at the box the police detained. The chief gives her permission but asks she does not take anything. Rina goes to the storage and finds the box. She opens it to find a strange, decorated orb. Upon looking at it, she remembers her time back at the campgrounds at the geocaching trip. She remembers showing off the box to Glade and opening it, but cannot remember what happens afterwards. She also recalls the leader of the geocaching trip - a ram by the name of David Farrow. Rina wonders whether or not she should keep the sphere, and the Light seems to advocate it and suggests she go to the forest and find Mr. Farrow's broken down vehicle to get a clue on where he is located. Rina hesitantly puts the sphere away in a handbag and leaves the police station not before retrieving her backpack. Upon going outside, Rina sees Rasha in a panic and Glade sitting down next to the sidewalk in a fetal position. Rasha exclaims Glade had walked into the road, nearly getting herself killed. Rina embraces Glade in an attempt to comfort her. They then decide to head over to Rina's place to piece their thoughts together and get a bit of rest. While heading there in Rasha's vehicle, Rina takes a quick nap. She wakes up to find Rasha transformed into a grotesque figure, although this quickly fades. They get out of the vehicle and into the vicinity of the Clarity Oaks condominium, where Rina's apartment is located. While they go to her place, Rina sees a male fox peeking in through her window. It is Leon, her brother who she has not seen in years. He seems somewhat drunken, and Rina is almost offended considering he was never like this before he went to college and left her. They all go up and meet with Leon. Rina questions his vow he made to her to never get involved with alcohol and Leon acts oblivious to this. Rina brushes it off and they all go inside, Rina forcing Leon to go take a shower. Rasha makes something to eat while Rina uses the second restroom. The three then eat Rasha's meal. Rina notices Leon is taking a while in the shower. Just then, Leon calls out to Rina saying he is finished. Rina gets him some clothes from her wardrobe and finds out that he is smoking. Angrily, Rina kicks him out. She starts to suffer extreme pain inside of her left leg, where she was wounded earlier. She then crawls to the toilet and vomits black liquid. Rasha and Glade come in to see what is up. Rina realizes that she yelled at Leon and regrets it aloud to which Rasha replies that she should not worry so much about it. Rina unveils her wound under the bandage on her left leg and finds out it's covered in a sickening black, bubbly scab. They decide they need to go to a hospital to get it checked out. Upon leaving the apartment, they encounter another being of Darkness. Rina runs off to the stairwell, thinking the others are behind her. Entering the stairwell, Rina finds another husk possessed by the Darkness, this time a deformed female. Rina jump kicks her and they both fall down the stairs, Rina not suffering any injuries. The husk, however, is knocked out. Rina stabs it in the head and Rasha comes in. He exclaims Glade is missing. The two go out into the parking lot and find Glade being held by the male husk, a knife at her throat. The female husk is behind him. Leon comes out of nowhere and bashes the female with a bat. While the male husk turns to see what happened, Rina takes the opportunity to call the Light and attack the Darkness, freeing Glade. It is greatly weakened and Leon proceeds to beat it to the ground. Rina thanks him and helps Glade lift herself onto her feet. They all decide to go to the police station to retrieve the orb, as it is evident the world has shifted once again to the alternate reality the Darkness seems to be conjuring. On their way, they encounter a huge tree-like mass in the middle of the forest. A huge black tendril blocks their way. Rasha rears back and discovers there is now one behind them as well. They leave the vehicle and Rasha lights the tendril on fire, causing the mass to seemingly go into a rage. Glade screams that they need to get out of there, and so, they do, escaping powerful gusts of wind that attack Rasha's vehicle as they make their escape. They arrive at the police station to find it has been damaged badly. They enter the decrepit building to find a police officer, the same one that escorted Harry to the station, badly injured. His firearm is pointed at Rina. Rina tries to tell him she is not one of them and the police officer explains the chief turned on him and shot him. Rasha points a gun at him too and Rina hotly tells them that this Mexican standoff is pointless and gets them nowhere. They listen and lower their firearms. The team go to the storage room to find out the orb is no longer in the handbag. There is also a note written by Harry saying he has the orb and that they need to meet him at the sanitarium with a man named Mr. Farrow. Rina decides to split the group in two to search the building for a first aid kit. Rina and Glade head over to the left hallway while Rasha and Leon go to the right to the armory. Rina searches the locker room and finds a little box with a wedding ring in it. Glade wonders aloud what Rina is thinking and Rina states she wishes to get married to Rasha one day. Glade reacts horribly to this. Rina notices something is wrong and looks at Glade's direction to find Rasha's corpse against the nearby wall. Glade runs away, saying she did not do anything. Rina runs after her only to be knocked out. She awakens in a padded room with the floor flooded with blood. Rina is in a patient gown. Rina, believing she is in a dream, pinches herself in an attempt to get out, but fails. She stands into the pool of blood and wades to a mirror. Her reflection speaks to her, trying to discourage her and drive her to suicide, but Rina resists and breaks the glass. She opens the door to her room and her double is on the other side, now speaking to her about Glade and her fragility. Rina ignores everything her double says and then transitions to a very large chamber, the creature she encountered back at the hospital coming out of a large hole on the ceiling. Rina, realizing this is her dream and that she can do what she wants, grabs the monster's face, dissolving it, but injuring herself in the process. She wakes up at the locker room, Rasha and Leon beside her. Rasha has attained a shotgun and Leon a pistol. Rasha explains that it seems the world has gone back to normal and the police are demonstrating hostility to them and that they are surrounding the building entrance. They all escape through the nearby window and leave Locust Grove in Rasha's vehicle. Back in Rina's town, they head over to Glade's house to see if she has gone there. While searching the house, Rina heads upstairs and into Glade's bedroom to make a shocking discovery - Glade's walls are covered in photos of good pastimes Rina and Glade shared, and then there are some photos that seem to have been taken of Rina without her knowledge. Rina then acknowledges Glade's love for her, feeling terrible that she never knew all this time, but at the same time feeling violated that Glade would take photos of her in private. Rina finds a book on Glade's bed and a flyer that showcases the geocaching trip Rina had gone to. She decides they need to head over to the community center where it all began. The team reunites and Leon is expressing anger at the entire situation and waving his gun around. Rasha snatches the gun and forces Leon to go back into Rasha's car and sleep. Rina questions Leon when he mentions voices, but Leon has no idea what they are saying. Rina warns Leon and then the trio head off to the community center. Dusk begins to fall. Rina advises Rasha to stay with her brother and she heads out to the front doors. Every door is locked and Rina finds a note taped to one saying that the center is closed. Rina climbs a tree and leaps onto the roof, finding a box with a beacon device attached to it. She opens it and finds a cellphone. A number is written on the bottom of the box in roman numerals. Rina finds messages on the cellphone from Janice and comes to the conclusion whoever owned it must be close to her. Rina dials the number on the box and Harry answers. Rina questions him about Glade and where he got the phone, Harry responding he never touched Glade and that the phone came from a dead guy in the police station. Afterwards, Rina finds a hatchdoor locked with a rusty padlock. Rina shoots the lock and breaks it successfully. She climbs down into the building's interior, which is completely dark, and exits the room. She enters a larger chamber and finds Glade's shirt on a chair. She hears voices and goes to where she is hearing them. She opens the door...