They moved through the underbrush in silence.

The jungle—Ashgrove, or something pretending to be it—was hushed in all the wrong ways. No birdsong. No insects. Just the soft crunch of leaves beneath their boots and the rustling of vines that never seemed to stop shifting.

Sebastian pushed aside a curtain of ferns. The path ahead curved gently between familiar trees—yet the familiarity itself felt off. The trunks were the right shape, but too smooth. The canopy overhead filtered the light strangely, casting soft green shadows that never settled in place.

“This isn’t real,” Sebastian muttered.

Nick didn’t respond. He was too busy sniffing the air, ears flicking side to side like they were picking up sounds no one else could hear.

They reached a clearing where once—he was sure—there had been a camp. A place where someone had lit a fire, maybe set up tents.

Now it was just damp earth and pale mushrooms, sprouting where ash should have lain.

Sebastian knelt and ran his fingers through the soil. It was cold. Too cold. “Do you remember this place?”

Nick stepped past him, tail flicking. “I remember something like it.”

They kept moving.

The jungle opened wider. The trees spread apart, their shapes shifting ever so slightly—branches stretching like arms, bark patterns curling like words. In places, they seemed to breathe.

At the edge of a shallow ridge, they stopped.

There, far ahead through the wavering haze, something white loomed.

It rose like a mountain, wide and smooth, glinting faintly in the filtered light. But it wasn’t jagged like rock. It was too round. Too clean.

And something about its shape made Sebastian’s skin crawl.

“…That wasn’t there before,” Nick said.

“No,” Sebastian murmured. “It wasn’t.”

They stood frozen, staring across the jungle at the impossibly distant shape.

It didn’t move.

But it didn’t have to.

Its size alone bent the silence.

They exchanged a wary glance.

Nick’s tail twitched, the muscles in his legs coiling like a spring. “We can’t just sit here and stare.”

Sebastian nodded slowly, eyes never leaving the distant shape. “But getting closer might be worse.”

The jungle around them felt heavier now—thicker with unspoken warnings. The leaves rustled with a language they couldn’t understand, and the very air seemed to pulse with quiet anticipation.

A breeze stirred, carrying with it a faint scent—something clean and sharp, like linen or polished stone. It was out of place here.

Sebastian shivered, pulling his cloak tighter.

“We rest,” Nick said, voice low. “But only for a little while. Then we move.”

They settled beneath a massive root twisted into a hollow seat. Sebastian sank down, bow still in hand, senses straining in the unnatural quiet.

Above them, the canopy shifted once more, the green light flickering like a dying flame.

And far beyond, the great white shape remained still—watching, waiting.

Sebastian closed his eyes, trying to slow his racing thoughts. The steady thrum of the jungle, once comforting, now felt like a heartbeat counting down to something unknown.

Nick curled up beside him, his breath soft but steady. “Try to get some rest,” he murmured. “We’ll need it.”

The moss beneath them was cool and surprisingly soft, a small comfort in this twisted place. Sebastian’s fingers brushed against the rough bark of the root, grounding him.

Minutes passed. The shadows lengthened and shifted, though the sky above was hidden behind layers of leaves. The white shape in the distance remained, unmoving and silent.

Then, just as Sebastian’s lids began to droop, a faint rustling came from the undergrowth nearby.

He snapped awake, heart pounding.

Nick was already alert, ears pricked forward.

From the thick vines and ferns, a small figure emerged — slight, pale-skinned, with eyes too large and too bright to be entirely natural.

It paused a few feet away, watching them with an unreadable expression.

Sebastian swallowed, raising a hand slowly.

“Who are you?” he asked quietly.

The figure blinked, then smiled — a slow, mysterious curve of lips.

“I am a watcher,” it said softly. “And you... you are far from where you should be.”

The watcher’s smile flickered like a shadow.

The jungle thinned as they drew nearer, the thick green giving way to pale ground strewn with smooth stones that seemed almost polished. The air grew cooler, carrying a faint scent of salt and something metallic, sharp and clean.

Sebastian’s heart pounded with a mixture of fear and curiosity. The shape loomed larger now—a colossal form that dominated the horizon. Its surface was smooth and unblemished, curving gently upward like the hull of a massive ship turned upside down.

Nick’s eyes narrowed as he circled, ears twitching. “This isn’t a mountain,” he said quietly. “It’s… something else.”

Sebastian reached out, fingertips grazing the surface. It was cold—almost impossibly so—and unnervingly smooth, like porcelain or bone.

Suddenly, a soft, low rumble vibrated through the ground beneath them.

They both froze.

The shape shifted slightly, a slow, deliberate movement that sent a shiver down Sebastian’s spine.

“It’s alive,” he whispered.

Nick’s tail twitched, muscles coiling in readiness. “We should be careful.”

As they stared up at the immense white form, a sudden gust stirred the air, carrying with it a whisper — a sound like the faintest quack, almost lost beneath the jungle’s breath.

Sebastian blinked. “Did you hear that?”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Yeah. I did.”

The white shape remained still once more, but now the jungle seemed to hold its breath.

QUACK!!!

The sudden, loud quack shattered the heavy silence like a thunderclap. Sebastian and Nick jumped back, eyes wide as the enormous white shape before them shuddered violently.

For a moment, the jungle itself seemed to recoil.

Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, the colossal form shifted — a massive, webbed foot lifting into view.

Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “No way...”

Nick’s fur bristled. “That’s… that’s a duck.”

The shape blinked — huge, glossy eyes focusing on them — and let out another echoing quack that rumbled through the clearing.

The giant duck was very much alive. And very, very curious.

Before Sebastian could speak again, it darted into the jungle, moving with impossible speed — a blur weaving between trees and vines.

“Wait!” Sebastian called, rising quickly, but Nick was already bounding after the figure, paws pounding the soft earth.

They chased through the tangled undergrowth, branches slapping their faces, but the watcher was too fast. It vanished before they could close the distance, slipping through a thicket as if it was never there.

Nick skidded to a halt, tail flicking in frustration.

“That was pointless,” he muttered, panting. “We’ll never catch it.”

Sebastian rubbed his forehead, gaze drifting toward the distant white shape once more.

“We should stop wasting time,” he said. “That thing—whatever it was—didn’t want to be found. But this…” He nodded toward the mountain-like figure looming through the green haze. “That might have answers.”

Nick nodded reluctantly. “Fine. But we stay sharp.”

Together, they pushed forward through the jungle, the strange quiet pressing in around them.

The white shape grew larger with every step, an impossible monolith rising from the jungle floor.

Neither of them spoke as they approached, the weight of the unknown thick in the air.

Nick shook his head, tail flicking with a mix of disbelief and amusement. “Of course it’s a duck. What else would it be?”

The colossal bird’s massive webbed feet thundered against the earth, each step sending tremors through the ground like rolling thunder. Its movement was surprisingly swift — a towering mountain on the move, charging through the jungle with unstoppable momentum.

Sebastian stumbled backward, gripping his bow tightly. “We need to move — now!”

Nick’s eyes narrowed, muscles coiling. “After it, or away from it? Because either way, that thing’s fast.”

Before Sebastian could answer, the duck surged forward, a living avalanche crashing through the trees, branches snapping and leaves flying in its wake.

Nick’s eyes widened, tail bristling as he threw up a paw in surrender. “Well… do you think we can do anything to that?”

Sebastian shook his head, heart pounding. “Nope. Not a chance.”

“Then,” Nick said, voice sharp with urgency, “RUN!”

They didn’t hesitate.

Dodging thick roots and leaping over fallen logs, they sprinted through the jungle, the thunderous pounding of the duck’s steps shaking the ground behind them like an earthquake.

Branches snapped overhead, leaves rained down, and the air filled with the deep, resonant quacking of their colossal pursuer.

Sebastian’s lungs burned, bow clenched tight. “We can’t let it catch us!”

Nick glanced back, ears flattened. “Too late for that!”

The jungle blurred around them as they ran, the massive shadow of the duck looming ever closer…

The duck came to a sudden halt, towering over the jungle like a living monument. It lifted its massive beak toward the sky and let out a deafening quack — sharp and commanding.

Then, from deep within its throat, a blazing beam of fire shot upward, piercing the dark sky like a spear of molten light.

The night shattered.

Above them, the sky itself cracked—deep, glowing fissures splitting the very fabric of the heavens. Pieces of the sky peeled away and began to fall, vast slabs of shimmering blue and silver tumbling down like colossal, fragile shards of glass.

The air filled with a deafening roar as the celestial fragments crashed into the jungle, splintering trees and shaking the earth beneath Sebastian and Nick’s feet.

The world felt as if it was breaking apart.

Sebastian stumbled, eyes wide with disbelief. “The sky’s... falling.”

Nick growled, low and fierce. “We need to move. Now.”

They didn’t need telling twice.

Sebastian grabbed Nick’s shoulder. “Run!”

Branches cracked overhead as massive chunks of sky shattered down around them—sharp edges of shimmering blue hurtling through the air like jagged blades.

The jungle erupted in chaos—trees splintering, earth trembling beneath their feet.

Nick sprinted ahead, agile and swift, dodging falling shards with feline grace.

Sebastian followed, heart pounding, lungs burning, the sky’s broken pieces crashing close enough to scorch the air.

A huge slab slammed down just behind them, sending a shockwave that threw Sebastian forward.

He rolled, coming up just in time to see another shard crashing where they’d been seconds before.

“Keep moving!” Nick called, voice strained but fierce.

They raced through the jungle’s ruins as the sky continued to fracture, the world unspooling around them.

Ahead, the distant white shape — the duck — moved steadily, almost indifferent to the apocalypse it unleashed.

Sebastian swallowed hard. “What... what is that thing?”

Nick didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed ahead, muscles coiled for whatever came next.

Sebastian’s breath came in ragged gasps as he pushed through the thick undergrowth.

“Where are we even running to?” he shouted over the crashing and roaring all around them.

Nick glanced back briefly, eyes sharp and calculating.

“There’s a river not far from here,” he said. “Water might slow whatever’s falling from the sky. Maybe even stop it.”

Sebastian nodded, muscles burning but resolve hardening.

“Then that’s where we’re headed.”

The jungle thinned ahead, shadows giving way to a faint glimmer of silver—water catching the fractured sky’s light.

They dashed toward it, dodging falling shards and burning branches, the world breaking apart around them.

Behind them, the thunderous quacking of the colossal duck faded into the chaos, its presence looming as both threat and mystery.

Sebastian pushed forward, eyes fixed on the faint glimmer he thought he saw ahead.

But as they ran, the jungle itself seemed to rebel.

The trees twisted and bent, branches stretching like fingers to block their path. Leaves rustled with a strange, restless energy, reshaping the undergrowth with every step.

Paths they’d taken just moments before vanished, swallowed by shifting vines and creeping shadows.

“What the—?” Sebastian stumbled, nearly falling as the ground beneath him shifted.

Nick hissed, weaving through the suddenly tangled maze. “This place isn’t natural. It’s alive. Or worse—it’s playing with us.”

They tried to follow the changing path, but it led deeper into the jungle’s labyrinth, spiraling away from the river that never appeared.

Each turn brought new confusion, and the crushing feeling that they were trapped in a place that refused to let them leave.

Sebastian’s breath caught. “We’re being led… somewhere.”

Nick’s eyes glinted. “And I don’t like where that is.”

Sebastian skidded to a halt, heart hammering.

“We can keep following this twisting path,” he said, voice tight. “But it’s clear this place doesn’t want us to leave.”

Nick crouched beside him, eyes locked on the shifting trees. “Or… we can stop running in circles and head straight to that giant duck.”

Sebastian swallowed hard, weighing the options. The unknown maze behind them felt like a trap—but charging toward the colossal creature was no safer.

Nick’s tail flicked with a mix of frustration and resolve. “One way or another, we have to choose. Because standing still isn’t an option.”

Sebastian nodded slowly. “Alright. Duck it is.”