My heart sank. That wasn't good.
Alexander took another step towards the direction the serpents had fled, but Gabriel caught his arm.
"Your Highness, don't."
Alexander glanced at him.
Gabriel shook his head. "We don't know what's waiting in there."
Liam joined them, still breathing heavily from the fight. "He's right. Whatever frightened those serpents was enough to make all of them run."
Alexander's gaze remained fixed on the trees. "I hate this."
"Then we should leave," Gabriel said.
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
I watched him carefully. There was something different in his expression now. Not suspicion. Not yet. Curiosity. And somehow, that was almost worse.
Finally, Alexander lowered his sword. "We go back."
Nobody argued. We made our way out of the forest while the remaining daylight faded behind the trees. No one spoke much. The knights kept looking over their shoulders, as if expecting the serpents to return.
They never did.
By the time we reached the camp, darkness had settled over the forest. The knights immediately began tending to the injured. A few had cuts along their arms and shoulders, while one had taken a nasty blow to the leg. Thankfully, no one had been seriously hurt.
I sat beside the fire, rubbing my sore arms. They were still aching from blocking the serpent's attack.
Gabriel approached and crouched beside me. "You're hurt."
I looked down at my arms. "Just bruises."
"You're lucky."
"I know."
He gave me a doubtful look.
"What?"
"You looked like you were about to be eaten."
I stared at him. "That is because I was about to be eaten."
Gabriel laughed under his breath. For the first time since entering the forest, some of the tension left my shoulders.
Across the camp, Alexander stood with Liam, speaking quietly. I couldn't hear everything they were saying. But I caught a few words.
"...not normal."
"...something deeper in the forest."
"...we shouldn't pursue it tonight."
Good. At least Alexander wasn't reckless enough to charge blindly into the forest after whatever had frightened the serpents.
I leaned closer to the fire. I should have been relieved. Instead, I felt uneasy. The entire point of bringing everyone to this cave had been to convince Alexander that we were getting closer to the King of Monsters.
Now he had discovered something else entirely. And I had no idea what that something was. That was the problem with changing the story. Every time I thought I understood what was happening, the world found a way to surprise me.
A shadow moved across the firelight. I looked up. Alexander was standing in front of me. "You handled yourself well today."
I blinked. "Me?"
His gaze dropped briefly to my bruised arms. "You didn't panic."
I almost laughed. I had absolutely panicked. "I was terrified."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "You hid it well."
I wasn't sure whether that was a compliment. "Thank you?"
He studied me for another moment. I waited. Was this it? Was he going to ask how I knew what to do? Why did I react so quickly? Why wasn't I more surprised by the serpents?
Instead, he simply said, "Get some rest." Then he walked away.
I watched him return to the others. That was it? No interrogation? No suspicious questions? I exhaled slowly. Maybe I had worried for nothing. Or maybe Alexander simply wasn't ready to ask yet. Either way, I wasn't going to complain.
I leaned back against my rolled-up cloak and stared into the fire. The King of Monsters was still somewhere beyond these forests. I hadn't found him. Alexander hadn't found him. And for now, that was exactly what I wanted. But the serpents had shown me something I couldn't ignore. The world outside the original story was changing.
And I was no longer sure whether I was the one changing it—or whether something else had already started. I looked towards the dark forest one last time. Whatever had frightened those serpents was still out there.
Somewhere beyond the trees. Waiting. I pulled my cloak tighter around myself. For tonight, that was enough. Tomorrow, I'll figure out what came next.
***
Alexander remained awake long after the camp had gone quiet.
The fire had burned down to a bed of glowing embers. Around him, the knights slept beneath their blankets, their weapons within easy reach. A few guards remained awake, keeping watch around the perimeter.
Alexander sat slightly apart from them. His thoughts kept returning to the forest. The serpents had attacked them without hesitation. Then, without warning, they fled. Not because they were wounded.
Not because the knights had overpowered them. They had simply looked towards the deeper forest and run. Something had frightened them. Alexander picked up a stick and stirred the embers.
He had seen strange things before. Monsters could be unpredictable. Some were territorial. Others avoided humans unless provoked. But this was different. It wasn't only the serpents. He thought back to Braedon. That was where the pattern had begun.
Before Braedon, they had encountered monsters regularly. Some had attacked them. Others had kept their distance. There had been tracks, distant roars and signs that the forest was alive with creatures.
After Braedon, there had been almost nothing. At first, Alexander had considered it good fortune. They were travelling quickly. Perhaps they had simply moved through an area with fewer monsters.
Then the days passed. Nothing. No small creatures. No larger predators. No monster tracks crossing their path. Even the forest seemed strangely quiet whenever they travelled. And now they had found an abandoned cave.
Alexander's eyes narrowed. The creatures that had occupied it had left recently. They had been feeding when something had caused them to flee. Then there were the serpents. Creatures that weren't under the King of Monsters' control. They should have had no reason to avoid him. Yet they had retreated from something deeper in the forest.
Alexander leaned back. There was another detail he couldn't ignore.
Elysia.
His gaze drifted towards the opposite side of the camp. She was asleep now. At least, he assumed she was. Since leaving Braedon, she had behaved differently. Not enough to accuse her of anything.
But enough to make him wonder. She always seemed to know when something was about to happen. She had insisted on following a particular route. She had been strangely certain that the traces they found would lead them closer to the King of Monsters.
And now they had arrived at a cave that appeared to have been abandoned just before they reached it. Alexander frowned. Could Elysia have known? He dismissed the thought almost immediately.
There was no proof. None. She could simply be lucky. Or perhaps her knowledge of the forest was better than he had assumed. Still, there was something about her. Something he couldn't quite understand.
He remembered the way she had reacted when Gabriel mentioned the serpents. She had gone still, only for a moment. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed. Alexander had. Her expression had changed before she quickly covered it.
Fear? Recognition? He wasn't certain.
Then, during the attack, she had managed to avoid being seriously injured despite having no one beside her. That could mean nothing. She could have simply been fortunate. But tonight, Alexander found himself wondering whether he had been overlooking too many small things.
He glanced towards her tent again. Elysia had entered his life as an unexpected complication. At first, he had thought of her only as someone who could help him reach the King of Monsters. Then things had become more complicated.
She was intelligent. Observant. And strangely difficult to read. Alexander had expected her to be frightened by the monsters. Instead, she seemed more worried about what would happen if they encountered them. That distinction bothered him.
He looked back at the forest. Perhaps Elysia was hiding something. Perhaps she wasn't. Either way, he wasn't going to confront her without evidence. He had learned long ago that suspicion without proof could be more dangerous than ignorance.
For now, he would watch. He would listen. And he would remember every strange thing that happened from this point onward.
Alexander pushed himself to his feet and looked towards the dark forest one last time. Whatever was waiting beyond those trees had already disturbed the creatures living there. And if Elysia knew more than she was telling them, sooner or later, he would find out. Not tonight.
But eventually.
END OF ARC 1