Sensing the hesitation in my eyes, Kai smiled faintly. His voice was quiet, yet filled with certainty.
"Don't be afraid, Mira. Ashen has prepared everything carefully for this journey. Trust me… we'll reach the new base, and we won't have to leave anyone behind."
Ashen said nothing. He simply looked down at the old, worn map spread out before him, his finger pointing at the circle-shaped markings.
"No one can guarantee this journey will be completely safe," he said at last. His voice was calm, steady — like a cold blade slicing through the heavy air. "But at the very least… to reduce the risks, we'll stop and rest at the safe points along the way."
I looked up, blinking.
"Safe points… what are they?"
Kai answered instead of Ashen. His voice was light, like a passing breeze, but no less serious.
"They're temporary shelters — places set up along the route, protected by layers of barrier spells. You can think of them as small refuge stations scattered along the path. They're fairly safe… though nowhere near as secure as the base we're heading toward."
Ashen stood up, brushing the dust from his knees. He glanced at the map once more before speaking, his voice strangely calm:
"From here to the new base… it'll take at least two weeks."
I froze. Two weeks? The words echoed in my mind, unable to fully grasp the difficulty ahead. I looked down at the spirit pendant resting against my chest, and suddenly, an idea sparked in my mind.
"Why don't we… ride the mystical creature and fly there?" I asked hopefully, my eyes lighting up. "It flies fast. We could get there much sooner, couldn't we?"
Ashen sighed. He stepped closer, raised a hand… and lightly knocked on my forehead.
"That method only worked when we were still moving inside the Elderwood Beast's nest."
Ashen shook his head.
"But once we leave that place… that method becomes completely useless."
I blinked in confusion.
Ashen continued, his voice now colder, like he was recounting something far more terrifying than I'd imagined:
"Out there… some trees are so tall they block out the entire sky. Their branches stretch endlessly, and their leaves form thick canopies. If you try to fly above them… you won't find your way. It's like getting lost in a maze in the sky."
His gaze darkened.
"And you think… monsters only exist on the ground?"
I froze.
Ashen looked straight into my eyes, his voice cold as stone:
"In the sky… there are far more monsters than below."
Those words hit me like a blow to the chest. I wanted to ask more… but my throat locked up.
"The sky here isn't a sky… it's another layer of hell," Ashen said flatly, turning his back.
"So forget about that. Get some rest. We'll depart tomorrow."
I frowned, puzzled.
"Why wait until tomorrow? It's still daylight… why not leave now?"
But the answer came not from words… but from reality itself.
The moment I finished speaking, darkness swallowed the world.
As if someone had snuffed out the sky.
I stood frozen. Minutes ago… light was still there. It had been less than two hours since we left the ruins — yet night had already fallen.
Without any warning.
Kai stepped forward, placing a hand gently on my shoulder.
His voice dropped into a grave warning tone:
"The day and night cycle in this world follows no rules."
I turned to him, seeing the seriousness in his eyes.
"Without Ashen's experience… you won't know when day begins or when night falls. Sometimes… the sun lasts less than an hour."
He paused before continuing, his voice lower still:
"If you misjudge… you'll become food for what lurks inside the darkness."
Silence filled the underground shelter.
I gripped the spirit pendant tightly, feeling each rapid heartbeat inside my chest.
---
The next morning, while Ashen and Kai were busy checking their supplies, I was still trying to summon the creature from my pendant. Even though Ashen had said flying directly to the base was impossible… I thought maybe, at least, the creature could carry us to the edge of the Elderwood Beast's nest. That alone could save us a lot of time.
But no matter what I tried, the creature didn't appear.
The pendant lay cold against my skin. The faint glow inside… silent, as if it had never existed.
Then Kai's voice echoed behind me, snapping me out of my hopeless attempts.
"Mira! Are you ready yet? We've packed everything. Let's go!"
I stood up reluctantly and ran over to where they were waiting, swallowing my disappointment.
"Sorry… I couldn't summon the creature."
Ashen glanced at me briefly, his tone indifferent, as if it didn't matter at all.
"It doesn't matter. Let's move."
And so… we departed.
The three of us walked silently, crossing jagged rocks and strange trees with their unnatural leaves. Time crept forward slowly, swallowed by shadows clinging beneath the forest canopy.
Then… I saw it.
A massive wall.
A wall made entirely of tangled vines, woven together with blooming flowers that looked like festering wounds. The wall stretched out endlessly in both directions, far beyond what I could see.
I whispered, my voice uncertain:
"…Is this the Elderwood Beast's nest?"
Ashen didn't turn around, but his voice rang out — certain and absolute:
"Yes. This entire wall of vines is its nest. It's built in a perfect circle. And the house that burned down… was at the center of that circle."
We approached a small gap between the colossal vines — the only exit Ashen had found. But it wasn't until we entered that I realized…
The Elderwood Beast's nest wasn't just massive.
It was suffocatingly thick.
It took us a long time, crawling and struggling, before we finally broke through to the outside.
And what I saw… stole the breath from my lungs.
Beyond the nest… was a forest.
But not the kind of forest I knew.
The trees before me… towered so high I couldn't even see their tops. Their trunks pierced through the gray clouds above. Their leaves were long, thin — like insect wings — brushing against each other to create faint clicking sounds in the heavy air.
But what terrified me wasn't their size.
It was what lay inside them.
Those massive trunks… weren't solid. Beneath the cracked bark, where dim light seeped through, I saw it.
Pulsing flesh.
Soft, contracting muscles, moving beneath the surface.
And deeper inside, buried in their cores — hearts.
I could see them.
Suspended behind semi-translucent bark, massive hearts the size of a human body floated inside thick, viscous fluids. They were beating. Slowly. Steadily. Their heartbeats didn't echo as sound — but as pressure. A pulse I could feel inside my own chest, as though my heart had been forced into their rhythm.
The entire forest… was alive.
A massive network of arteries.
Each tree… a giant, breathing vessel.
And above, dangling from the high branches… were countless cocoons.
Each as large as a human body, dripping with thick, yellowish fluids, swaying gently in the dark wind. Shadows stirred inside them — shapes I couldn't identify.
But I could feel it.
This forest wasn't just alive.
It was breathing.