The narrow path loomed before them. Flanked on both sides by jagged walls of ice and stone, it was barely wide enough for the truck to squeeze through. The wind no longer howled as it did up in the open plains. Here, it whispered. It crept. It clawed at their minds with cold fingers.
They had returned to the same fork they had passed earlier. This time, they had no choice. The previous path had collapsed behind them. A massive avalanche now blocked the road, making retreat impossible.
"This is the only way forward," Lira murmured, eyeing the oppressive darkness that blanketed the Hollow Path. "If we stop now, we're done."
The others remained silent. Gray sat in the corner of the truck, wrapped in a blanket, still recovering. His muscles throbbed with pain, and every breath sent a chill into his bones. But his eyes were alert.
Renn adjusted the wheel nervously and drove forward. The tires cracked over ice and hidden stone. Their lights pierced only a few feet ahead, swallowed by the dense mist that had settled over the forest beyond.
The trees came into view slowly. Blackened, twisted, and draped in layers of frozen web-like vines. They weren't natural trees. Or if they once were, they had long since changed into something else.
The forest thickened. The walls narrowed. At last, the truck came to a screeching halt.
"We are stuck," Renn announced. "Ice underneath. The wheels, they sunk into some weird substance."
"How long until we can move again?" Lira spoke quickly.
Renn hesitated.
"At least ten minutes..."
Everyone groaned. Korr was the first to jump out, his boots crunching into the snow. Lira followed after him, her eyes scanning the dark treeline. Adel and the rank six stepped out next. Gray hesitated.
Then he reached for his katana.
He unsheathed it slowly, the metal gleaming with a dull sheen. The edges were marked by faint grooves, symbols of an older craft.
"You didn't use that earlier, why?" Adel said, surprised.
Gray gave a half-smile. "I did not want to damage it before. But it seems I will have to rely on it now."
He stepped down into the snow and followed the others. The cold was worse than before. Not in temperature, but in weight. It hung over their shoulders like a thousand needles.
Then came the noise.
A crack.
A click.
A gurgled scream.
Everyone froze. The sound had come from behind.
"Where is he?" Korr looked around.
The rank seven.
He was gone.
His footprints ended several steps away from the truck. Drag marks led into the trees.
"No..." Adel whispered.
"We are not alone," Lira said, pulling out her sword.
As if summoned, the forest stirred.
Shapes flickered between the trees. Low, hunched figures with ice-blue skin and long, sharp limbs. Their eyes glowed faintly, and their teeth were jagged crystals. They moved in unnatural jerks, their limbs bending at wrong angles, their fingers ending in hooked talons.
The first one lunged at Korr.
He swung his axe in a wide arc, slicing clean through its chest. The creature collapsed, twitching, blackish fluid seeping into the snow. But more took its place, their breath hissing in ragged unison.
Lira infused Vyre into her blade. Catching one mid-air. Her movements were even more smooth. Due to the weight of the blade.
However, something caught her attention. The blades runic symbols, or rather etchings, glowed faintly when she infused Vyre into her blade. The
Fire spread across the clean surface of metal. Unlike before, the fire was brighter.
It clung to the monsters skin, and the thing shrieked as its frozen flesh melted away, revealing brittle, hollow bones beneath.
Gray stepped forward and moved fast. His katana sliced through the chest of one monsters. The blade glowed faintly as he channeled Vyre into it, making the slash clean and deep. Another creature rushed at him, but he parried and kicked it away, sending it skidding across the ice.
Adel moved with precision. Her two daggers cut through two of the creatures with practiced ease. Every movement was precise, perfect. But there were too many. For every one they killed, more seemed to emerge from the darkness between the trees.
"There's-there's too many!" Adel shouted, making sure her voice was heard by everyone nearby.
"We need to regroup!" Lira shouted, flames crackling around her.
The monsters began to retreat. They hissed, clicking their talons together in a strange, chittering language, then vanished into the shadows.
"They took him," the rank six muttered. "He is still alive. I know it."
Korr stepped forward. His breathing was heavy. "Forget him. We head back. We wait out the storm and then we find another way."
"We cannot abandon him," the rank six said firmly.
Korr growled. "He is gone. You want to run into a Frostkin nest? Be my guest. I will not throw my life away."
"Enough," Lira snapped. Her voice cut through the rising tension. "The risk is high. But we do not know what lies ahead. If we go after him and fall into a trap, we all die."
"So we leave him?" Gray asked. He had not spoken until now.
"Yes," Korr spat. "We leave him."
"No," The rank six spoke flatly.
"We cannot leave him behind. I refuse. What if it were you that had been taken instead? Would you be alright with us not doing anything?"
They all turned to him.
Korr didn't speak.
"He's right." Gray spoke up.
"I have seen what happens when you leave someone behind. It never leaves you. If there is even a chance he is alive, we owe it to him." Gray thought back to his first encounter. Although he hadn't left them. He had refused to act, leading to the innocent death of many in his group.
Adel stepped beside him. "I am going too."
The rank six grpped his weapon hard. "Thank you." He whispered quietly.
Korr looked between them, disgusted. "Fools. Why are you all trying tl act like a hero? Being a hero on this continent will only lead to death."
"The more people we have, the better it is. Losing one person now may not seem like much. But in the future we will have to deal with the consequences."
Lira sighed and turned her head around. Her eyes met Gray's. "You have ten minutes. Find him or get back here. If you do not return, we are leaving."
"Fair," Gray replied.
He gripped his katana tighter. Adel swung her two daggers into the air. The rank six readied his spear.
They stepped into the forest.
The trees groaned as they passed.
The shadows swallowed them whole.
The deeper they went, the more the forest changed. The twisted trees gave way to jagged ice formations, their surfaces reflecting distorted versions of their own faces back at them. The air smelled of iron and old frost.
Then they saw it, a gaping maw in the earth, half-covered by frozen vines. The drag marks led straight inside.
Adel exhaled sharply, her breath fogging in the air. "They took him down there."
Gray didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, katana ready.
The rank six tightened his grip on his spear. "If we go in, we may not come back out."
Gray's voice was quiet. "Then we make sure we're the ones who decide that."
And with that, they descended into the dark.