Chapter 225: Ch223. World with no System
They walked for what felt like hours, or days, or years.
Time had unraveled, slipping between their fingers like water, thick and sluggish and ungraspable, but the forest did not change.
No matter how far they walked, the trees loomed overhead, eternal and unmoving, except for the leaves in the canopy, dancing lazily with the breeze. There were no trails, no birds chirping.
Only the low hum of a place that had been forgotten by time.
"It doesn’t end." Sarissa was the first to break the silence, letting out a heavy sigh.
Miles didn’t answer. He was scanning the trees, looking for something, anything, that could have hinted at direction. Moss, sun, the curve of the roots, anything.
But nothing behaved the way it should. The moss grew in spirals, light filtered in from angles that didn’t match their internal clock, and the trees had no bark. They were just long, woven layers of something like silk and bone.
And after what felt like another lifetime of walking, Sarissa grew tired of the silence.
"Are we walking in circles?" She asked, finally stopping with slamming steps.
"No." Miles muttered, though he didn’t sound convinced. "I’ve been marking the trees."
He stopped at a tree and traced his fingers over its surface. There was a long, thin scar tracing the trunk in the shape of an X that he had left hours ago.