Chapter 207: Ch205. [Dark Forest] (9) - Arrival
Sarissa stood motionless, her heart was a knot of cold stone.
The air had thickened, the tension of the forest curling around her like a dark mist. Her fingers clenched around [Cheshire’s Gleam], but the weight of her sword-partner felt suddenly insignificant, as if she was holding nothing but the air itself.
She heard Victor’s words echo through the camp, and felt the chill of his betrayal seep into her bones.
"You’re not a part of it."
They were no longer fighting for survival. Something more was at play, and the [Dungeon War] had not even begun.
The forest beyond the camp seemed to hum in a language she couldn’t understand, sharp, broken syllables that clawed at the edges of her thoughts.
Sarissa could feel the Stories pressing against her mind, whispering things she wasn’t meant to hear. The trees beyond the ward’s edge pulsed with a faint glow, as though the dark roots of the forest had found a new rhythm, an alien pulse that threatened to swallow everything in its path.
Her gaze flicked over her comrades. Jake stood stiffly, his eyes wide but his stance firm. The kid had more heart than he realized, but this wasn’t a fight for bravery alone.
This was about understanding something much deeper than they had ever been prepared for.
Cass was at her side, quiet but ready, her eyes sharp and furious like blades. There was a fierce protectiveness there, a shield built from times after times of standing in the shadow of many things.
Elise and the others were all gathered, their faces hardened, but each of them was just as lost in the terror of the unknown as Sarissa.