“Did they… turn left?” Sadie frowned, picking up her pace.

Akari pointed ahead. “I think I see them—come on.”

Shapes flickered between the trees: Tasunee’s red hair, Harlen’s tall figure, Haskiel’s small frame. They were walking just a few paces ahead, but no matter how fast Sadie and Akari moved, the distance never closed.

Sadie’s breathing grew shallow. “Wait… weren’t we just here?”

The forest floor sloped suddenly, and Sadie almost slipped. She stumbled forward, her phone dropping on the ground with a thud as the screen shatters.

“Akari!?”

No answer. She turned, and what she saw left her frozen. 

"A—Akari..."

Sadie opens her mouth to say something but not even a meaningless noise comes out. Akari stood between two massive trees, the gap between them slowly closing.

"Akari! M—Move away! Please! Akari"

His frame was getting compressed. Sadie tries to grab his hand and pull him away but his hands were cold. Not cold like ice but it was cold like something so familiar she let go of it and backed away

A bone cracks, two, three, several

The noise sent a chill down Sadie's spine. She's never felt her body tthis cold before. She ran, her phone screen stared at her

Then Akari looked at the direction she had ran

"Where is she going?"

The air vibrated. A low hum echoed through the roots, calling her forward. Ahead, a dark opening yawned between two trees—half-hidden by vines and thick moss.

Something inside whispered her name.

Her legs moved before her mind caught up. Each step pulled her deeper into the earth. Trees blurred in the background the atmosphere becomes colder the scent of the forest slowly disappears and by the time she stopped, the forest had vanished. She was standing alone in a cold, hollow cave.