Behold, our not-so-beloved travelers were approaching the city. But reaching their final destination wouldn't be simple. The reasons? Many...
"The kingdom was nothing but forest — a vast island, colonized long ago and slowly populated in an organic way — which made safe travel much easier.
But the true reason for such misfortunes stemmed from a fact widely known, even by the king. The king himself, by the way, was happy — autumn was ending, and summer would come bringing comfort… or perhaps surprises.
Summer and winter were marked by a period of warning; in that kingdom — as in every kingdom — magical, or even natural secrets, lay hidden in the ground; between earth and sky; beneath the infinite layers of history under their feet.
In those seasons, creatures of unknown origin would mysteriously appear in the heart of the forest, without any warning. And most importantly, it always happened exactly when the night turned and the new season arrived.
Nothing was known about them. There were only three rules:
They never attacked towns or cities.
They only attacked those in the forest.
The winter creatures are different from the summer ones.
That was all people knew. The only additional information was that they had appeared sometime during the Primary Colonial Period."
"So, in short... we're dead?"
Evandro opened his mouth… but Alexander went on.
"And by the way… how the hell do you remember all this?"
Evandro shrugged, and they kept walking. Their hearts were full of dread. Night was falling, and today was the dreaded day — the transition from autumn to summer.
And at that moment, they were still very far from any form of life… Human, of course.
Nightfall overtook them in a chilling way, though not melancholic.
They didn't know what those creatures actually did, because no one had ever survived to record it.
The crescent moon shone in the sky like pure quartz. But Evandro insisted something was off — he sensed a mist, almost like a faint protective layer.
Both tried to ignore it, but deep down, they knew something dangerous was already waiting for them. And there was nothing they could do.
Alexander stopped abruptly.
Evandro didn't even question it — he looked up immediately after.
Their fears had caught up to them… Guided by the moon's position in the east, they realized midnight had arrived.
They stopped in a small clearing, dimly lit by moonlight.
They moved to the center of the tiny clearing and drew their swords. A sudden sense of helplessness overwhelmed them. Darkness. There was no way to fight it…
Alexander stared at Evandro in the dark. Evandro, however, was just as fearful.
Alexander muttered softly to himself, "I hope this prophecy is worth something… and maybe, just maybe, we'll be the first to survive."
Despite everything, all they could do was wait.
A silence spread across the entire forest. Even the animals, trees, and nature itself — though not hunted — felt fear and fell quiet.
It seemed as if the forest surrounding the clearing grew darker, as if leaves and branches had gathered to serve the darkness.
Hiss. Hiss.
A chill ran up and down their spines.
Hiss. HISs.
Goosebumps covered their skin. Their eyes widened. Pupils dilated.
HISS. HISS!
Instinctively, the two men stood back-to-back, holding their swords up in front of their faces.
HISS! HISS!!
With each passing second, the sound grew louder. All around them. It was as if a new hiss joined the chorus every millisecond from every corner of the forest.
HISS!! HISS!!! HISS!!!!
Out of the darkness, from behind one of the trees in the clearing, a pair of eyes appeared. White. Milky.
But they didn't see them. They didn't notice.
Their hearts pounded faster and faster in the face of the unknown.
Suddenly, the hissing stopped.
But what each of them experienced next was not the same.
What Alexander saw — or rather, heard — was, in the darkness, a voice calling to him. His spine froze.
All he did was walk toward it.
For Evandro, it was entirely different… He actually saw something.
In the dark of the forest, he heard weeping — far away, impossible to tell its gender or distance.
"Anyone there?" His lips trembled. But not out of fear of what might appear — rather, whether it would cause his death or not.
He looked back and, despite the overwhelming darkness, noticed that Alexander had vanished.
Yet something inside told him that what lay ahead was more urgent.
Strangely, he noticed the crying had stopped.
But when he turned back around, he heard it again.
And now, it was much louder. Closer. Distinct.
It was definitely a woman.
Evandro's eyes widened, and he jolted — his hair standing on end in response.
He slowly stepped forward. He passed between two trees whose intertwining branches formed a strange arch.
Evandro took a deep breath and entered the shadows — diving into complete darkness.
He immediately noticed the ground around him felt different, even in the dark.
Hiss.
He thought he heard a hiss behind his neck, at the base of his spine.
When he turned, he froze.
Nothing was there. And before he could even process it, in the blink of an eye, he was no longer in darkness… or in any forest.
He was in complete void.
Lost in his own thoughts and fears, unable to understand anything. But his inner distress was interrupted by a sudden outburst of crying.
It was loud. Clear. Audible.
When he looked to the side, he saw the "nothingness" beneath him begin to move, like a conveyor belt.
Stunned, he looked down.
A white light appeared before him.
And like a fast-forwarded painting, a scene began to materialize within that tiny beam of white light.
The paint slowly turned into a vivid image.
Evandro lost his balance and fell backward onto the black ground of nothingness.
The moving image was strange to him at first.
A woman weeping, kneeling sideways, her clothes soaked in blood, tears flooding down her face — and a body lying in front of her.
He immediately recognized the clothes… But his attention was drawn at once to the corpse.
He knew that body — a face he never expected to see again among the many he'd encountered in his short life.