Chapter 64 Chapter 64

Chapter 64 Chapter 64


Yulia

They didn’t move right away.

Everything seemed the same for a couple of seconds. The creatures were still calm and the forest and the area around us were still quiet. There were no signs of danger at the moment.

Then one of them turned around.

It did not rush towards us, almost as if it knew that would scare us. We were already on alert. It just moved slowly its, body changing shape a little before it went deeper into the forest. The others followed it slowly.

They were not running away from us. It felt like they were taking me somewhere.

I felt it right away.

There was a familiar feeling in my chest, like something was pulling me. It wasn’t painful. It was insistent. 

It wasn’t just a feeling anymore. It was like I was being directed somewhere.

"They want us to follow them " I said quietly.

"No " Luci said from behind me. "They want you to follow them."

He was not wrong.

The creatures slowed down a little, like they had heard us. One of them turned its head towards us. Even though I could not see its face, I felt like it was watching me.

Rhys took a step forward his voice low. "I think we all know this, but I still have to say it. This could be a trap."

"It probably is" I said.

Rhys looked at me. "But it is also the lead we have" I added.

There was silence after that. No one disagreed. But no one looked comfortable with the situation either.

Luci put his hand on my arm, not holding me back just touching me. "We can’t just follow them blindly” he said.

"We will not" I replied. "We just don’t ignore this either."

His jaw got tight. After a moment he nodded. That was enough.

Rhys signaled to the others. We changed our formation again. Closer together this time and more controlled. No one relaxed as we started moving.

The deeper we went into the forest the more it seemed to change.

At first the changes were small. The air felt thicker, like it was pressing against my skin with every step. Then the sounds started to fade. The wind stopped first, then the noises in the distance until all that was left was the sound of our footsteps.

Even those felt quiet.

"They are controlling the space" one of the warriors said.

"Or something else is" Rhys replied.

I did not say anything. Because the feeling in my chest was getting stronger.

The creatures did not go ahead of us. They stayed in sight, moving between the trees. Their bodies flickering in and out like they did not fully belong here.

After a while I realized something

"We’ve been here before" I said.

Luci turned his head. "What do you mean?"

"That tree" I said, pointing to a tree with a split down the middle. "We have seen it before."

Rhys frowned, looking around. "That can’t be possible. We have been moving in one direction."

"I know" I said. "But I am telling you we have seen it."

One of the warriors went to the tree looking at it closely. His face changed a little. "She is right. There is a mark here... I remember it."

A quiet tension spread through the group.

"That means we are walking in circles " Rhys said.

"No" I replied, looking ahead. "We are not."

Because the feeling in my chest had not changed direction.

It was still forward.

Which meant—

"They are not taking us through the forest " I said slowly. "They are changing it."

That news didn’t make anyone much happier.

Lucis hand tightened on my arm before he let it go. "Stay focused" he said. "No one moves off the path."

The path itself did not feel safe anymore.

The light changed next. It got dimmer, not like the sun was setting. Like something was blocking it. Shadows got longer bending at angles on the ground.

Then I heard a sound.

Soft. Quiet.

"Yulia..."

I stopped moving. It was as quiet as a whisper, but i heard it clearly.

Behind me.

I turned my head before I could stop myself. There was no one

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" Rhys replied.

I hesitated. "Nothing " I said. It was not nothing.

The feeling in my chest reacted again, sharper this time like something had just touched my heart.

We kept moving.

A second later I heard another sound.

Not my name this time. A voice. A voice I knew. I stopped walking.

Luci noticed away. "What is it?"

I did not answer right away. My eyes were fixed on something between the trees.

"I thought I heard something" I said slowly.

"What kind of something?" Rhys asked. I hesitated.

"I don’t know" I said. That was a lie.

I did know. That was the problem.

The creatures ahead of us slowed down again. One of them turned, its body flickering as it watched me.

Waiting. Something wasn’t right.

The feeling in my chest was not just pulling me forward anymore.

It was changing. Unstable.

Like it was reacting to more than one thing at once.

Luci stepped closer, his voice lower. "Stay with us."

"I am" I said.

Even as I said it I wasn’t completely sure.

Because the forest did not feel like one place anymore.

It felt like different places all layered on top of each other.

And something, in those layers, was starting to reach back.