The ancestral forest of the Dark Elves was dying.
A thick purple mist crawled between the colossal trunks, choking the roots and staining the bark with a withered, sickly hue. The air hung heavy as lead, broken only by the dry snap of branches breaking despite there being nothing in sight to touch them.
Selvryn ran through the undergrowth.
—To the left! —she shouted, her throat burning.
Keryn raised one hand without slowing down. At her command, thick roots burst from the ground with a dull rumble, sealing the path just as three silhouettes emerged from the undergrowth.
The first warrior crashed straight into the wall of vegetation and rolled across the ground. The other two leaped over the barrier with feline agility.
Selvryn spun on her heels in one fluid motion. Her sword carved a flashing arc through the gloom. The first attacker collapsed with his chest split open from side to side. The second barely had time to raise his guard before Selvryn delivered a precise parry and drove her blade clean through his throat.
A spray of black blood stained the wooden roots.
—Traitors! —a hate-filled voice thundered from within the thick fog.
Selvryn did not answer. She could not even find the words. Pain constricted her chest when she looked down at the corpse beneath her feet.
The fallen elf bore the same coat of arms she had proudly worn throughout her entire life.
He had belonged to her clan.
He had shared meals at her table.
He had fought shoulder to shoulder with her.
Now, corrupted, he had tried to take her life.
—Selvryn! —Keryn warned, frantically pointing into the mist. —More are coming!
Dozens of sinister silhouettes began to emerge between the shadowed trunks.
Dark Elves.
Her own brothers and sisters.
Some still wore the standard armor of the surviving soldiers; others had torn the emblems from their clothing in fury. Every one of them possessed the same wild, vacant gaze, twisted by the purple mana poisoning the forest.
—Don't engage them! —Selvryn ordered firmly. —Fall back. Now!
—There are too many! They'll surround us!
—I said fall back!
The few loyal elves remaining began retreating in disarray. Keryn raised both hands and conjured a shield of greenish energy. A moment later, a massive volley of fletched arrows slammed into the magical barrier. The force of the impacts made her arms tremble all the way to her shoulders.
—The barrier won't withstand another attack!
Selvryn glanced over her shoulder in desperation.
The casualties were mounting by the second.
And to make the nightmare even worse, the forest itself had ceased to be their home and become their executioner.
A gargantuan black root stirred behind a group of warriors. One of them barely had time to turn around.
The earth exploded beneath his feet.
A tangle of twisted roots wrapped around his waist and began dragging him mercilessly into the depths of the earth.
—Help! Get me out of here!
His companions desperately grabbed his hands and tried to pull him free.
It was useless.
The entire forest seemed to pull with monstrous strength, burying him in darkness until his screams were swallowed beneath the soil.
Selvryn stood frozen for a second.
That had not been a trap set by the traitors.
The forest itself—the very ground they had sworn to defend—had just devoured one of their own.
—Selvryn! —Keryn's agonized voice snapped her out of her paralysis. —We have to leave. Now!
Selvryn clenched her teeth until she tasted blood.
—The northern clearing.
—The clearing?
—It's our only way out.
They ran.
All around them, the ancient foliage seemed to awaken with a twisted consciousness. Gnarled trunks groaned like wounded beasts; roots slithered beneath the dry leaves, making them stumble; the purple mist grew thicker with every breath, burning their airways.
And through the suffocating fog came the sound of footsteps.
Heavy.
Far too heavy for an elf's agility.
Keryn dug her heels into the ground, stopping abruptly.
—What... what is that?
The thunderous sound came again.
BOOM.
The ground trembled, cracking beneath their feet.
BOOM.
A rain of withered leaves descended from the torn canopies.
Selvryn slowly raised her gaze, feeling her breath freeze in her throat.
A colossal silhouette emerged from the mist.
The Pagestuosas.
Those guardian beasts that had watched over the forest's peace for countless generations now stood horribly deformed. Their massive limbs had fused with gnarled roots and rotting bark, while their eyes glowed with the same sickly purple light that contaminated the vegetation.
One of them tilted its head with a dull crack.
Its lifeless pupils locked onto the elves.
Then it charged.
—RUN!
The group scattered in panic. The creature slammed a massive fist into the ground, unleashing a shockwave of jagged roots that tore through the clearing.
Two elves were impaled and dragged away instantly. One disappeared, swallowed by the earth; the other did not even have enough breath left to scream.
Selvryn kept moving.
She did not look back.
Not out of cruelty or a lack of empathy, but because she understood with bitter clarity that stopping for even a second meant dying beside them.
At last, the darkness of the trees gave way.
—There!
The few remaining survivors quickened their pace, but Selvryn stopped just a few steps from crossing the threshold.
The clearing was completely desolate.
Too desolate.
There was no birdsong.
No sign of wildlife.
Not even insects buzzed through the air.
Only a thick blanket of gray ash covered the dead grass.
Keryn stopped beside her, resting her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.
—What happened here...?
Selvryn remained silent.
Her gaze swept across the tree line. The purple tide was advancing without pause, devouring the vegetation. Behind them came the hysterical screams of their corrupted kin, and from the depths of the green abyss... the monstrous roar of the Pagestuosas.
She tightened her fingers around the hilt of her sword until her knuckles turned white.
They had lost their sanctuary.
Their brothers and sisters were slaughtering one another because of an invisible madness.
And the forest that had protected them beneath its ancient canopy for centuries had become their executioner.
—We're leaving —she declared in an icy voice.
Keryn looked at her in despair.
—Where?
Selvryn fixed her eyes on the open horizon beyond the foliage, toward the untamed continent.
For the first time in her life, she had no answer to give.
—Anywhere this forest hasn't finished dying.
Behind them, an enormous black root split through the ash with a dry crack.
The Dark Forest roared with fury.
And deep within her soul, Selvryn understood that perhaps it was already too late to escape.