Chapter 108: The Forest of Glass

We walked. North. Away from the shadows. Away from the voice.

The pain in my body did not stop. It was a constant burn. My black skin crackled. Blue sparks. White static. I was fading. Becoming less solid. More like the void.

Elias walked beside me. Silent. Watchful. His sword was sheathed. But his hand rested on the hilt. Ready.

The forest changed. Slowly. The twisted trees became straight. Tall. But they were not green. Not brown.

They were clear.

Transparent.

Glass.

I stopped. Stared.

The trunks were made of crystal. Clear. Sharp. Reflecting the gray sky. The branches were thin shards. Delicate. Beautiful. Terrifying.

Leaves hung from the branches. Not soft. Not organic. Thin plates of glass. They clinked. In the wind. A sound like chimes. Like breaking windows.

Tink. Tink. Tink.

"What is this place?" I asked. My voice was hollow. Echoey.

Elias looked around. His gold eyes were wide. Serious.

"The Edge," he said. "Where the reset failed."

"Failed?"

"The baby’s power," Elias said. "It tried to turn everything to glass. To make it perfect. Still. Eternal. But here... it stopped. Halfway."

He pointed to a tree. The bottom half was wood. Brown. Rough. Bark. The top half was glass. Clear. Shiny. Frozen.

"The transition was incomplete," Elias said. "A wound in the world."

I stepped closer. To a bush. Half-green leaves. Half-glass shards.

I touched a glass leaf. Cold. Hard. Sharp. It cut my finger. A drop of blood came out. Red. Bright. On the clear surface.

The leaf did not break. It stayed. Perfect.

"It is beautiful," I whispered.

"It is a graveyard," Elias said. His voice was low. Sad.

I looked around. Really looked.

Among the glass trees... there were shapes.

Animals.

A deer. Standing still. Half-wood. Half-glass. Its eyes were open. Frozen. In fear.

A bird. Mid-flight. Wings spread. Turned to crystal. Suspended. Forever.

A wolf. Snarling. Teeth bared. Made of ice. Of glass.

They were statues. Trapped. In the moment of the reset.

Not dead. Not alive. Just... stuck.

I walked deeper. Into the forest. The ground crunched. Under my boots. Glass dust. Sharp.

Elias followed. Careful. Step by step.

The air was cold. Still. No wind. No birdsong. Just the clinking of glass leaves.

And then... I heard it.

Voices.

Faint. Whispering. Coming from the trees. From the statues.

Help...

Please...

Let us go...

I froze. Looked around. "Do you hear that?"

Elias nodded. Grim. "The souls. Those who were caught in the reset. They are trapped. In the glass."

I walked to the deer. The glass statue. Its eyes were clear. Empty. But I felt something. Inside. A presence. A spirit.

Trapped. Screaming. Silent.

It hurts, the voice whispered. In my head. So cold. So still. Please. Break us.

I raised my hand. Black. Sparking. Static.

"I can help," I whispered.

"No," Elias warned. "Do not touch them. The glass is fragile. But the soul is bound. If you break it... you might kill them."

"They are already dead," I said. "Look at them. Frozen. In pain."

Free us, the voices cried. Louder. Many voices. From the trees. From the animals. From the bushes. End the pain. Shatter the cage.

I looked at the deer. Its glass leg was thin. Weak.

I could not leave them. Suffering. Forever.

I reached out. My black fingers touched the glass leg.

Static sparked. Blue. White.

The glass vibrated. Hummed.

Then... it cracked.

Crack.

A line appeared. On the leg.

The deer’s head turned. Slowly. Toward me. The glass eyes widened.

Yes, it whispered. Break it.

I pushed. More power. More static.

The leg shattered.

Crash.

Shards fell. To the ground. Sparkling.

But the deer did not fall. It did not run.

It screamed.

A high, piercing sound. Human. Animal. Painful.

And from the broken leg... blood flowed.

Red. Warm. Real.

Not dust. Not light. Blood.

I stumbled back. Horrified.

The deer looked at me. With real eyes. Now. Wet. Terrified.

"We are not dead," it cried. Its voice was real. Hoarse. Broken. "We are waiting."

Elias grabbed my arm. Pulled me back. "Selena! Stop!"

I looked at the other statues. The bird. The wolf. The bushes.

They were not stone. Not glass.

They were flesh. Trapped. Under a layer of crystal. Alive. Conscious. Feeling every second. Every year. Every century.

Trapped in silence.

I am sorry, I whispered. Tears fell. Evaporated. On my black cheeks.

The deer collapsed. Bleeding. Dying. Finally free. But dead.

The other voices grew louder. Angry. Desperate.

Break us! they screamed. Kill us! Free us!

The forest shook. The glass leaves rattled. Loud. Deafening.

Elias pulled me. Hard. "We must go! Now!"

"But they..." I started.

"They are gone," Elias said. "You cannot save them. You only ended their pain. But if you stay... they will take you. They will pull you into the glass. To join them."

I looked at the dying deer. Its eyes closed. Peaceful.

I had killed it. To save it.

Was that mercy? Or murder?

I did not know.

But the voices continued. Screaming. Begging.

Join us...

Stay...

Be still...

I ran. Away from the deer. Away from the voices.

Elias ran with me. Through the glass forest. Shards cut our clothes. Cut our skin. But we did not stop.

The pain in my body grew. The void reacted to the pain of the forest. It surged. Wild. Uncontrolled.

My black skin spread. To my face. My hair. My eyes.