Chapter 44: When it Come to Decide
Dylan listened to her explanation and nodded to show he understood.
Élisa slid her finger further down, hopping over the chasm with a swift motion, and pointed at something that vaguely looked like a pierced rock. According to her, it was a cave.
Then her finger drifted again, this time toward another zone, far from the chasm. There, she had drawn a crazy density of trees — even exaggerated a bit to make it look more oppressive.
Right in the middle of that sea of trees, she had sketched another skull, smaller this time.
Seeing confusion flicker in Dylan’s eyes, Élisa quickly jumped in to clarify:
"That skull’s not from some giant beast or anything. Nah... That skull could be ours if we’re dumb enough to wander in there."
She locked eyes with him, deadly serious.
"That’s the deadliest part of the forest. Besides the flipped skull zone, obviously. Over there... everything you could dream up in a nightmare? You’ll find it. And usually worse."
She gave the map a quick glance, letting the heavy silence hammer her point home for Dylan and Maggie.
Then, without a word, her finger traced back up the map, hopping again over the chasm, skirting the flipped skull, flying past the heroes’ graveyard, all the way to an area marked by stacked triangles — classic mountain symbol.
"This here is the Douclas mountain range," she explained calmly. "If we cross it, we’ll end up right at the western castle."