The water still clung to my skin when the scream tore through the air the second ti.
For a heartbeat, none of us moved. We froze, the illusion of paradise shattered in an instant. A silence heavier than stone pressed down on us as Raul, Diana, and I turned to one another, wide-eyed, as if searching each other’s faces for confirmation.
Had we imagined it?
This place was supposed to be hidden, untouched, a zone where no one should have been lurking. But the scream ca again, rawer, guttural—soone being mauled alive.
A shiver shot up my spine. My chest squeezed tight. Before I realized I was speaking, I was shouting–"Out of the water! Now!"--as if the others weren’t already scrambling.
I flung my hands outward, tugging at the threads of magic inside . My pulse spiked, my blood humd with power, and with a sweep of energy, the water peeled from our skin and hair, evaporating in a sudden shimr of heat. The clothes we had shed earlier reford on our bodies, called from where they had been piled—no ti to run up to the cave for them.
Raul muttered a sharp, surprised "thank you," while Diana’s nod was barely more than a jerk of her head.
There was no pause, no hesitation. Instinct drove us toward the sound. But the forest ahead was a wall of tangled green. No cleared path–no one had treaded it.
Raul lifted his hand, muttering words under his breath, and the air crackled as vines shriveled back, branches split, and the thick undergrowth parted before him.
Beside , Diana kept one hand raised, her brow furrowed in concentration. I felt the faint shimr of her protective barrier forming, invisible but solid, pressing against my skin like a faint warmth.
She knew—I would need to conserve what strength I had. Too much of my magic had been expended already, and the hours behind us were proof of that.
The path Raul carved slled strange, as though the very earth were bleeding. Actually, the whole atmosphere felt strange. The vegetation here was unlike any I had seen before—twisting roots gnarled like fingers, leaves that shimred with an otherworldly sheen, thorns that pulsed faintly as though alive.
The air was thick, heavy with an unearthly energy that clung to the lungs and slowed every breath. A sweet, cloying scent stung the back of my throat, as though flowers had rotted where they blood.
Insects darted around us, their wings glowing faintly blue or red, buzzing in strange, irregular rhythms that grated against my ears. The forest didn’t feel real—it felt staged, conjured, alive in a way that had nothing to do with nature. My steps crunched on soil too damp, too spongy, as if it rembered every footprint and swallowed it whole.
Diana’s voice, low and wary, broke the silence. "Tell I’m not the only one feeling like this. Is this even real?"
Her words cracked sothing open in . I had thought the sa but hadn’t dared to say it. "No," I whispered. "You’re not the only one."
We pressed forward until the trees thinned abruptly, the path opening onto a cliff. My breath caught. Ahead of us was nothing—nothing but a wall of white, dense fog rolling endlessly across the horizon. It shifted like a living thing, curling and twisting, concealing everything beyond.
My stomach sank. A realization clawed its way through my thoughts. We weren’t in the sa realm anymore. We never had been.
"What is this?" Raul muttered, his jaw tight. "An illusion? A trap?"
Diana shook her head, eyes darting nervously between us. "If it’s a trap, then we’ve already walked too far in."
I felt the weight of their questions pressing against . I didn’t have answers. My lips parted. El, I whispered inwardly. Tell what this is.
For a mont, silence.
Not now. Please...
Then El’s voice slid into my mind, steady but hesitant. The fog is a boundary, Maya. This cave—this place—is severed from the main pack realm. Circled by magic. The cave exists in another fold of ti and space. Crossing this fog is crossing into the true lands again—specifically, the forest where the hunters pursue the fulak beast.
The scream echoed again, fainter this ti, brittle with pain. My chest tightened until it hurt.
Then we need to cross, I told El.
It is not wise. Her voice sharpened. This barrier was set for a reason. To breach it directly... you risk turning fate against yourself. You risk death. The mouth of the cave would carry you back safely. You can go through there. But this path is forbidden, Maya.
The scream ca again, softer now, like a dying breath. My pulse spiked with panic. ’We don’t have ti to go back through the cave,’ I mused, voice trembling. ’If we take the longer route, whoever that is will be dead by the ti we reach them.’
And if you cross here, it may be you who dies. Or worse. Do you understand? This isn’t just danger—it is the unraveling of what should be.
Another sound ripped the air—a second voice, screaming this ti. Another victim.
I clenched my fists. ’I can’t stand by and do nothing. El—push through.’
Maya...
"Now!" I snapped aloud.
Raul and Diana were staring at , confusion and fear flickering across their faces.
I didn’t give them a chance to argue or ask who I was talking to. Reaching out, I seized their hands, holding tight as if to anchor us together, my chest rising and falling with a deep breath.
El’s voice murmured words of power into my mind then, sharp and alien, and I muttered them under my breath, my tongue tripping over the unfamiliar cadence.
Then I jumped.
The fog swallowed us whole.
It was like plunging into freezing water, every inch of my body burning as if ripped apart and stitched back together in the sa breath. For a second, there was no ground beneath . Then my knees slamd into dirt.
We had crossed. And we were alive.
I gasped, the forest pressing in on , the air different here—thicker, heavier, full of blood and iron. And before us, barely feet away, a nightmare stood.
A massive beast pressed its sharpened snout into the chest of a half-turned werewolf. The wolf’s eyes rolled back, his claws twitching feebly as blood spurted from a wound too deep, too raw to heal quickly.
"Stop!" Diana’s scream split the air.
The creature froze. Then it dropped the dying male beside his counterpart, who was barely breathing, their bodies crumpling together. Slowly, it turned toward us.
My breath strangled .
It was a horror stitched from nightmares. The body of a lion, massive and corded with muscle. Tusks like spears jutted from its mouth, curved and gleaming. Its eyes glowed with the predatory yellow of a wolf, but its head was broad and brutish, more bear than feline. And behind it, lashing furiously, was a serpent’s tail, scales glinting in the shadow.
That... I thought, mind racing. That’s not a fulak. That’s sothing else.
Run! El’s voice thundered through my skull.
"Run!" I shouted aloud.
We broke apart, darting into the trees. The beast roared, the sound rattling my bones, and charged.
"Climb!" I scread, pointing upward. Raul and Diana scrambled toward the branches, leaping up into the trees. My heart hamred as I spun, ready to follow...
Wings burst from the creature’s back.
Black, leathery, enormous, they snapped open with a sound like thunder.
My stomach lurched, my blood turning to ice. "There’s nowhere to run," I whispered.
You must fight, El hissed. Now, Maya. Call it. Call the storm.
I shut my eyes, my hands trembling as I lifted them. The power inside writhed, wild, dangerous. I pulled it upward, feeling the energy coil into my palms. Air whipped around , violent, shrieking. The trees groaned as wind surged, leaves spiraling into the air.
The beast lunged then, its tusks aid for my chest.
I scread, releasing everything. Lightning arced from my hands, blinding white. It cracked against the beast’s hide, searing flesh, filling the air with the stench of burning fur.
The monster shrieked, writhing, wings beating frantically against the force of the storm.
Again! El’s voice cut sharp.
I dragged the power up once more, sweat pouring down my face, every muscle shaking. The ground beneath my feet split, roots tearing free as the energy surged. Fire blossod from my hands, wrapping the beast’s wings in hungry flas. It roared in agony, thrashing wildly.
One final push—I summoned the storm again, lightning and fire converging in a single, blinding strike. The blast hurled the creature back. It crashed into the trees, snapping trunks like twigs, before collapsing with a final, echoing roar.
Silence.
My chest heaved. My vision blurred at the edges. But the beast lay still.
I staggered back, staring. My hands trembled. My whole body trembled.
Branches snapped. I spun, heart still racing—
A group of werewolves stumbled into the clearing, ard and bloodied from the hunt. At their front were the king’s sons, each of them carrying the limp body of a fulak beast on a wooden carrier slung over their shoulders.
They froze at the sight before them. At . At the smoldering carcass of the nightmare beast.
"What in the spirits’ na..." one of them whispered.
Their eyes widened. So lifted weapons. Suspicion flared like fire.
They exchanged looks, doubt written in every line of their faces. I was too terrified to speak, to even check out my companions who had sought refuge in trees.
I saw the triplets pause, saw their eyes glaze for a heartbeat, and I knew—they were reaching out to their father through the mind-link.
What could go wrong? I had thought before embarking on this journey.
Well, the answer was everything.
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