Chapter 39: The One Who Watches
The forest kept changing.
Eren had already counted three identical hills, five stone formations that seemed to repeat like imperfect copies, and even a tree where he himself had left a mark... which he found again half an hour later.
Something was wrong—not physically, but perceptibly. The smell of the earth was the same, the dry leaves crackled with the same tone, and the sky above... never changed color. Time didn’t pass. Or rather, it only passed enough to make it seem like there was progress.
Kaela was irritable. She stopped every minute to sniff the ground, circle around, grumble low. Counterintuitive instinct.
Morwynn, on the other hand, was excessively calm. She walked in the shadows with her subtle steps, eyes too alert for someone who had already noticed they were going nowhere.
Nyssa stayed closer to Eren than usual. She seemed to understand—even without logic—that they were in a loop. It was like being inside a silent nightmare: the paths changed to keep everyone trapped.
Eren stopped. He looked around. Took a deep breath. He wasn’t sweating. He wasn’t tired. He wasn’t sleeping. But he was mentally exhausted.
"This isn’t a forest. It’s a veil. A system of layers."
Morwynn turned to him.
"A labyrinth without walls. Well thought."
"A protection system, perhaps?" Nyssa ventured. "To hide something?"
Eren didn’t respond. His red eyes scanned the surroundings, trying to find a pattern. There was something there... an invisible line that determined where they could or couldn’t go. But how to see a path made to be ignored?