The villagers always said the forest was cursed.
It crouched at the edge of their lives like something half-asleep, coiled in a quiet threat. Trees twisted skyward with limbs too gnarled and close together, their roots bulging up from the earth like bones breaking through skin. In winter, it looked like a graveyard. In summer, like it was breathing.
And in every season, it was watched.
Children were told bedtime tales of foxes with too many tails and too-sharp smiles. Hunters spoke of strange lights drifting through the trees, of voices that mimicked human cries. A woman once returned after three days in the woods only to fall deathly ill, her mouth muttering riddles in languages no one knew. She died before morning. Some said it was grief. Others whispered the forest had taken something from her.
That was years ago. People didn't talk about it anymore. But they still didn't go near the woods.
Except Kaiden.
He didn't want to be brave. He wasn't looking for trouble. But sometimes life pressed a basket into your hands and said, "If you want to stay, go." And Kaiden had nowhere else to go.
The old herbalist had wheezed out her request just after sunrise, bony fingers pointing at a sketch in her book. "Earthblood root," she'd said. "Only grows near the mist line. Bring it back before nightfall."
Kaiden hadn't argued. He never did.
Now he stood at the tree line, the woven basket clutched tight to his chest, heart drumming so loud he was sure it would alert every spirit and demon hiding in the underbrush.
The wind stirred the tall grass behind him, sending a shiver down his spine. He took a deep breath, then stepped forward. One foot, then another.
The forest swallowed him whole.
The shift was immediate.
Light dimmed, muffled by thick leaves overhead. The air felt heavier, like stepping underwater. Every footstep landed too loud. The scent of damp earth filled his nose with rich, almost metallic and something faintly sweet, like the ghost of blooming flowers.
Kaiden tried not to think about the stories.
He focused on his task. The Earthblood root had pale, vein-like tendrils and a red center. The herbalist had drawn it in detail, though she hadn't said how to find it. He would have to look near fallen logs, under moss, anywhere the soil stayed moist.
He walked carefully, eyes scanning the ground.
But no matter how much he focused, the presence at his back refused to fade. The feeling was subtle but persistent, like being followed by someone who never stepped loud enough to be heard.
He turned suddenly.
Nothing.
Just trees. Just silence.
But his skin prickled. He knew what it felt like to be watched. The orphaned boy always knew when people looked at him with pity. Or suspicion. Or fear.
This was none of those.
This felt more like… curiosity.
A rustle to his left made him flinch.
He turned again. Still nothing.
But the hairs on the back of his neck refused to lie flat.
Kaiden swallowed hard, suddenly aware of every sound or lack of it. No birdsong. No crickets. No rustling of squirrels or rabbits. Just wind moving through the branches like breath through teeth.
And then…
A low laugh.
It was barely a sound. Almost too soft to hear. Almost imagined.
Kaiden froze. His eyes darted to the shadows between the trees, wide with fear. "Who's there?" he called out.
Silence.
The laughter didn't return.
But his heart had already picked up its pace, thudding painfully against his ribs. He took a shaky step back, his boots crunching a patch of dry leaves. Every instinct told him to run.
But then he saw it.
Something glimmered ahead. A glint of silver in the dirt. Carefully, Kaiden stepped closer, kneeling beside the object.
It was a hairpin. Ornate, old, and etched with foxes.
His fingers brushed it, and the forest seemed to inhale.
Branches creaked. Shadows deepened. And from somewhere just beyond the edge of sight, golden eyes opened.
Kaiden went still.
Not from fear, not entirely but from something older. Some instinct that whispered: don't move. Don't breathe. You've entered someone else's territory.
The air vibrated with presence.
Kaiden slowly looked up.
At first, he saw nothing. Then the faintest outline appeared behind the trees a figure, too tall to be human, too graceful to be a beast. Long white hair shimmered like moonlight, and from the darkness, something watched him with a lazy, dangerous amusement.
Eyes like firelight. Smile like a knife.
Kaiden didn't know it yet.
But he'd just met the Devil Fox.
To be continued…