By the second day, the world had stopped trying to pretend it was normal.
The trees crooked in like nosy neighbours who didn't get the hint.
No, I've seen crooked. This was worse. Like they moved when I wasn't looking. Like every time I turned my head, they exhaled a little closer.
Their bark pulsed faintly, and roots were filled with mana and something else, something sinister.
Shadows no longer respected the sun. They stretched wrong and reached out long after the light had passed.
Time itself started to bend.
I blinked, and the sky jumped.
I counted three clouds, closed my eyes, and opened them again only to find them all gone.
The birds stopped singing.
The insects were still.
The wind whispered things I didn't try to understand.
Once, I stared at a flat rock for too long.
It blinked back.
Just once.
That was enough for me.
I didn't sit down anymore.
I didn't rest.
Because this place wasn't just dangerous. It wanted me tired.
Vulnerable.
Like the forest itself was playing a long, patient game.
I heard crying once.
A soft, wet sob, carried on the wind like a child lost in fog.
I didn't follow it.
Didn't even flinch.
Because I knew better.
That wasn't a person.
That was bait.
The air shimmered more now. Illusions grew only stronger and more eerie with time.
Some were subtle, barely a flicker, just enough to make your foot miss a step or your blade miss a kill. Others were bolder.
I saw my old apartment from Earth.
I froze.
There it was, my broken world, carved out of memory and grief.
The exact layout. Same sagging ceiling fan, still missing one blade. The torn page from a novel I never finished still lay nicely on the stained floor. That same stale smell of damp loneliness.
'Home.'
Nyx hissed beside me. Fur raised and pupils slit.
"Ignore it," I whispered.
I didn't go in.
Just stared at it. I allowed the ache and longing to punch through me, sharp and fast.
Then I walked past.
'It wasn't real.'
Not anymore.
And that was when I realized: this forest didn't just want me dead.
It wanted me to doubt.
It wanted to peel me back, memory by memory, until all that was left was bone and regret.
By nightfall of what seemed to be the second day, I collapsed near a stream.
It glowed faint blue.
'Probably poisonous.' I thought as I tried to lie there with all my muscles aching.
Nyx curled beside me. Quiet again. He hadn't spoken in hours.
We didn't light a fire.
The forest was already watching us.
I could feel the eyes.
They didn't blink.
They didn't move.
They just… stared. From between the roots. From above the trees. From places that didn't exist.
My shadow stretched on its own at one point.
Nyx noticed it and let out a low growl, tail twitching.
He didn't like this place. And seeing him in this state was quite intriguing. This unruly brat was scared of ghosts.
I could see it in his eyes.
And he had a shadow affinity.
That said a lot.
***
By the third day, I was more animal than human.
My feet were raw. Blisters layered over blisters, torn and leaking.
Drip! Drip!
Every step felt like punishment, leaving behind a trail a blood. The wind was screaming now. Not loudly but constantly.
Like a distant voice stuck in its throat, moaning from far below the surface of the world.
I turned Nyx back into its card form hours ago, conserving every bit of mana and food that I could.
Taking a small water bottle out of my backpack, I took a small sip. More like I could only take a small sip.
Gulp.
That was the last bit of my water.
I checked the phone once again with hands trembling and eyes bloodshot.
I read them again. The calculations that I wrote based on all possible hints I had.
Some lines looked like coordinates. Others like a madman's rant. I didn't know if I was decoding truth or eating my own tail.
After walking for what seemed like eternity, I saw something. The thing I had been searching for so long.
Past the ridge. Just over the hill of blackened roots, there it was.
A red rock.
A real one. Not an illusion.
Bleeding.
Yes, the stone bled.
Thick, rust-colored liquid oozed from its cracks like the world was still suffering from an ancient wound.
According to my calculations, it was here, the Forgotten Temple of Oath. I slowly reached the rock and added a faint pulse of mana over its rough texture.
That's all it took to bring the rock to life.
Ka.. Boom!
It exploded with a deafening sound, and the ground beneath it opened.
The forest simply… split itself into two by a canyon that looked like a wound left by a divine sword trying to cleave the continent.
The sky turned red as it started raining. It looked as if the world itself was crying.
The air went silent the moment I stepped near the edge of the valley. I took a peek inside the valley and there was no end to it. A thick red mist covered the lower parts of it.
It was called Vermilion Scar in the merchant's journal. But the words didn't do it justice.
The canyon was so wide and so ragged that it made you feel insignificant just by looking at it.
Like standing before the grave of a forgotten god.
And there, underneath, not in the deepest part of the valley but on the sidewalls of the canyon…
Far below…
Covered in vines…
Half-buried in time and silence…
I saw it.
The Temple of Forgotten Oath.
It had black stone pillars and cracked walls with a roof caved in.
Iron chains were hanging from nothing, twisting gently with the wind. The entire structure shimmered faintly with an aura that didn't belong to this age.
My heart slowed.
My hands went cold.
But my lips moved.
"There you are," I whispered.
I didn't smile.
There was nothing to smile about.
Because now I had to go down.
And whatever lived in that canyon, whatever had waited all these years beneath the bleeding sky, was about to meet me.
And I wasn't sure which of us would regret it more.