WebNovels

Chapter 14 - The Forest That Died for Me

The world around Coker did not move like before. It waited. It watched.

As he stepped forward, the very ground yielded.

Every branch twisted not to block him—but to honor him. The dirt curled into spirals under his feet, and old stones lifted slightly from the soil, as if remembering the shape of his name. That lost name, still buried somewhere in the deepest corners of his soul.

He wasn't walking into a forest anymore.

He was walking into a memory that had been waiting centuries to wake.

And it woke for him.

The trees, enormous and ancient, leaned as if bowing. Their bark wept sap that shimmered like black mercury under the pale, bruised sky. Above, no birds chirped. No insects buzzed. Even the wind had quieted.

Only Coker moved.

And with each step, the shadows thickened.

Not in a hostile way. Not to choke or trap him.

But to follow.

They slithered at his heels, gliding like a tide of living ink. And the deeper he went, the more the light faded—not as if night was falling, but as if day itself was being forgotten.

It should've scared him.

It didn't.

Because something in him was starting to remember, too.

Not clearly. Not yet.

But in flashes—like sparks in a deep fog.

A hand reaching through water. A scream in a cradle. A battlefield of faces he didn't know… but felt like home.

And in all of them—

Her.

The silver-haired girl.

Her smile, a soft fire inside him.

Her eyes, full of sorrow.

And that whisper she left behind:

"Don't forget who you were, even if the world does."

He didn't know what it meant.

Not fully.

But he clung to it, like breath.

Ahead, the forest opened.

A clearing stretched before him—massive, circular, unnatural. The trees around its edge were dead, their trunks bleached white and carved with old symbols—sigils of blood, war, binding.

And at the center stood a statue.

Or what looked like one.

It was twice the height of a man. Covered in moss and cracks. Its wings were folded behind its back like sleeping dragons. Chains looped around its arms and neck. And in its hands—held like an offering—was a black stone sphere, pulsing faintly with crimson light.

But it wasn't the orb that shook Coker.

It was the face of the statue.

It was his.

Not a resemblance.

An exact copy.

His eyes. His jaw. The scar above his left brow that had never healed right. Even the sorrow in the mouth, half-open, like it wanted to speak but never could.

He took a shaky step forward.

"What is this…?"

The shadows at his feet curled upward, wrapping around his arms, his chest. Not to harm—but to embrace.

To crown.

The orb in the statue's hand pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Then a sound split the clearing.

Caw.

A single crow landed on the statue's shoulder.

Huge. Silent-eyed. Its feathers shimmered like polished obsidian. And when it opened its beak, it didn't caw again.

It spoke.

Not in a voice of flesh.

But in a voice made from echoes and lost dreams.

And it was her voice.

The girl with silver hair.

"The beast inside you is not a curse."

Coker's breath caught in his throat.

"It is a memory."

The shadows thickened, reaching toward the statue. And from the edges of the clearing, figures began to rise from the soil—not bodies, not beasts.

But guardians.

Twelve of them.

Shaped like nothing from this world.

Their bodies part stone, part root. Their faces hidden behind bone masks carved with runes that pulsed in rhythm with the orb. Each held a weapon older than fire: a blade made of wind, a hammer of silence, a spear carved from night.

They formed a circle.

And Coker stood in the middle.

"Am I supposed to fight?" he whispered, unsure if he was talking to the crow, the girl, or something even older.

"No." the voice answered.

"You're supposed to remember."

The orb cracked.

Light spilled from it like blood. Not bright—but ancient. Heavy. A weight you could feel in your ribs and bones. Coker fell to his knees as the light poured into him—not burning, not blinding.

But waking.

He screamed.

Not in pain.

In recognition.

Memories clawed to the surface. His first bond with a beast. The trial that nearly broke him. The night he was marked with the shadow scar. The day he was betrayed.

And one moment—

Buried deep—

Where the silver-haired girl knelt beside a dying Coker, her hands over his chest, sobbing as she sealed something inside him.

Something that shouldn't be sealed.

A name.

His name.

His true name.

But the moment faded before he could grab it.

He opened his eyes.

The orb was gone.

The statue was gone.

And in their place—

A mirror of bones and shadow, rising from the ground, shaped like a throne.

The guardians bowed. The crow perched on the throne's edge. The forest tilted in reverence.

And Coker stood at the center.

Changed.

Marked.

Not just a beast master anymore.

But a King of Forgotten Wilds.

And something watched from beyond the trees. From the mountains that cried. From the sky that bled. From the stars that blinked like eyes.

Something ancient.

And it whispered:

"He's awake."

More Chapters