Chapter 6

Analokia and Cyroz entered the woods together behind the small group. A couple of soldiers, led by two men wearing long robes, were leading them through the narrow paths. The path was dark and narrow. Although, it wasn't very dark since the stars were shining brilliantly overhead, illuminating every single tree they passed by. They kept walking and soon, they arrived near the edge of the forest.

Once they arrived, Analokia could see the place from where they had arrived. It appeared exactly the same as it had the last time she had been there.

“Wow! That's incredible!” exclaimed Cyroz. “We should explore this place as quickly as possible. Let's go!”

The young woman hurried forward and started running towards the center of the clearing where they had come from. She stopped abruptly in front of an empty space surrounded by trees. Her face lit up as if she was seeing Christmas morning. The group of six people followed her excitedly and they arrived at the exact center of the circle. On the ground lay a large pile of bones. There was no sign that there had ever been anything alive on that spot, unless there was some creature roaming around inside the trees. But those creatures wouldn't dare to cross the border that separated the humans from the monsters.

“Hey Analokias! What is this place? Is it a graveyard? Do they bury ghosts here? Or maybe there's a crypt nearby? Maybe we'll see some skeletons or something!” exclaimed Sammy gleefully.

“It's not a graveyard…or a crypt. Look! Look! This is a graveyard!” shouted Cyroz excitedly, pointing at the bones.

Everyone was amazed by her discovery. Analokia stared at Cyroz in awe, then she saw something else and gasped quietly. In front of her, lying on the ground, was a human skeleton.

“Do you think this belonged to someone?” asked Analokia worriedly.

“It may! Who knows. Let's see where the grave is!” exclaimed Cyroz.

“Wait! Shouldn't we search the area first?” asked Jack timidly.

“Searching for remains isn't going to help any of us,” replied Cyroz calmly. “The most important thing is that we look for clues. So we should start by searching the area around the body. The person was killed by some sort of monster. That means whoever killed him must be hiding somewhere close to the skeleton.”

Analokia nodded slowly. Cyroz was right. As soon as the group found anything suspicious, they immediately should look for the person responsible for the crime. They were supposed to keep an eye on each other while they were doing this. No one was allowed to talk alone. They were also not to go deeper than five feet away from each other. Even if they found clues that would lead them further to the murderer. The killer had to remain alive to catch him or her in the act of destroying everything. Otherwise, the entire group might be trapped in the woods forever. All because they were afraid of one person's power.

Chapter 7

The sun had already risen in the morning and was setting again. It was getting hotter as time went by, as if it was burning with anger against its enemies.

As soon as the sun rose, Analokia woke up early and rushed downstairs to check if the fire was ready. She placed a bucket of water on the stove and added wood so it would stay hot for quite a while. After she checked to make sure that the water wouldn't spill, she began washing the vegetables. When she finished, she washed her hands, took a knife, and sat down beside the big pot and began cutting some onions. The smell of onions filled the house. Analokia grabbed a big spoon and mixed together the onions, tomatoes and garlic.