'...Pfft!'
Ethea couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.
'...'
Soren gritted his teeth and turned forward, hastening his pace.
"Be careful," Theo warned, killing a sneaky monster that had crept too close. "There might be more hiding in the shadows."
"Nnh..." Soren nodded and kept leading the way. 'What happened to you, Ethea?'
'I woke up in a village in...'
'...'
While exchanging thoughts through their bond, they walked for several more minutes. The forest grew darker and denser, the whispers growing louder with every step. Then, through a gap in the trees, they saw it.
The massive tree loomed before them, its trunk wider than a house and its branches stretching into the sky like grasping claws. Webbing hung from the branches, glistening faintly in the dim light, and at the base of the trunk, a small opening led into the hollow interior.
Soren stopped and pointed.
"That's where the children are..."
Ethea translated for him again.
