The forest grew denser and denser as they advanced. The thick, twisted tree trunks rose like pillars of an ancient, forgotten temple, their canopies forming a natural canopy that filtered the sunlight in shaky, greenish beams.
The air, once merely cool, now carried a heavy humidity, impregnated with the pungent smell of wet earth, moss, and decaying vegetation. The cold crept in slowly, first as a slight chill on the skin, then becoming something more penetrating, icy dampness that clung to clothing and flesh, making each breath visible in small white puffs that soon dissipated into the growing silence.
And the silence was absolute.
The sounds of the forest seemed sucked into the shadows. There was no birdsong, no irritating buzzing of insects, not even the rustling of the wind. Only the muffled squelch of boots against the viscous mud, a wet, sticky sound that echoed in a surreal way, as if the forest itself were absorbing any trace of human presence.
Gregory walked with a console with a built-in GPS, the display flashing with data about the mission. His eyes scanned the darkness between the trees, alert for any suspicious movement. “Less than 200 meters to the location point. We are in the detection zone of the senses of mutant beasts of level 3 and above. Can you sense anything?”
Daira, next to him, closed her eyes for a moment, her body emitting a faint glow as her markings gained color. After a few seconds, she frowned and shook her head. “Nothing. The mutagens are interfering with my senses… And your pheromones are unusually distracting.” Her voice had a tone of suppressed frustration.
Vivian, who was slightly ahead, tried to use her own detection. His eyes flared with ethereal flames for a brief moment, only to go out shortly after. “I couldn’t find anything either.” His expression was irritated, but there was an underlying uneasiness.
Gregory sighed, his eyes darting around. “This sucks… We’re going to have to operate in the dark. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is my pheromones distracting?”
Daira stared at him for a moment, her eyes shining with a hint of unease. “Seven.”
Vivian, her back to him, remained rigidly turned toward the darkness of the forest. “Nine.”
Gregory nodded. “Something is very wrong here… We’ll remain in a group until we make contact with our target. Depending on the situation, I’ll take measures to avoid disrupting your combat. Turn on your radios and please don’t try to ignore my pheromones. We could engage in combat at any moment, so we must be alert.” His voice lowered as he adjusted his night vision goggles and gripped his M16 firmly.
Daira watched him rummage through his backpack and asked, “Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed here? Going there is like putting yourself as live bait. As soon as we get close enough, the first thing they will feel will be your pheromones spreading Testonitus’ signal through the air.”
Gregory took some recon drones out of his backpack and activated them, looking at the control screen. “I’ve thought about that, but we need to resolve the situation with as little damage as possible. Besides, this is also a reconnaissance mission. As an expert, my job is to analyze the area and get as much information as possible.”
Vivian moved away a little, making her way through the vegetation. “I would say that’s stupid and leave you here while we go there, but since you insist, we’ll try. Just don’t get in our way any further.”
Gregory smirked. “Thanks for the warning, I appreciate the concern…” His tone was sarcastic. Then he turned to Daira. “Is she always like this?”
Daira sighed. “No… But she’s been more stressed lately. And yesterday was a rough day, even for me. I can’t blame her.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Gregory chuckled softly, zipping up his backpack and strapping it to his back in one practiced motion. “I can tell she’s not getting better.”
Daira arched an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes at him. “What do you mean by that?”
Gregory hesitated for a moment. Daira’s sharp gaze fixed on him, waiting for an answer. But instead of answering, he just shook his head and let out a short sigh. “Nothing… Let’s move on.”
They walked through the forest in silence, their footsteps muffled by the damp ground covered in leaves and twisted roots. The cold seemed to deepen, curling around them like a silent warning. Dampness permeated their clothes and skin, making the air heavy, almost too dense to breathe.
The beam of light filtering through the dense canopy wavered with the distorted shadows of the trees, creating the illusion of movement where there should be none.
Then, suddenly, Vivian stopped.
Gregory almost ran into her, but he stopped abruptly, his eyes following the direction in which she was looking. The forest ended abruptly less than 20 meters ahead, as if an invisible veil had cut through nature there, abruptly and relentlessly.
They were standing at the edge of a wide and unexpected clearing. The open space stretched out ahead like a precise cut in the dense wall of trees, where the sun finally touched the ground unobstructed. It was almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
The golden rays tinted the leaves with a warm tone, reverberating in small beams that looked like fingers of light touching the cold earth of the clearing. The sun, already low on the horizon, cast its light over the open area, bathing the clearing in a soft and almost ethereal aura.
Where the shadow of the trees still stretched, the sun's brightness created flecks of gold on the ground, making the grass and small plants shine as if they were adorned with jewels.
The contrast was so stark that it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The air here seemed lighter, drier, and the undergrowth shivered softly, as if alive in the golden light. In the center of the clearing, a perfectly round lake sat like a motionless mirror, reflecting the sky with unsettling precision.
Its waters were so crystal clear that the bottom could be seen even from a distance, revealing a gradual slope that deepened to a dark blue in the center. But what made the scene truly unsettling was the absolute silence. No breeze broke the surface of the lake, not a single leaf floated adrift.
Even the insects seemed absent, as if the environment itself were holding its breath.
Then something moved.
What at first glance seemed to be just a rock formation turned out to be a massive, motionless body, bathed in the sun like a predator satisfied after a hunt. But it was impossible to mistake it for any ordinary creature.
The thing's skin felt hard, almost calcified, and its breathing was slow, deep, as if every movement of its chest required effort.
Gregory held his breath. Without exchanging a word, he, Vivian, and Daira instinctively ducked, sinking into the shadows of the forest.
None of them dared cross the line between the protective gloom of the trees and the treacherous brightness of the clearing. This was not a place to enter unprepared.
"Shit. What the hell is an Aligodon doing so far from the Mabhir Marshes?" Gregory exclaimed, visibly surprised, his mind trying to figure out the incongruity he was seeing. He knew that the situation was now much more complicated than he had imagined.
"Shh, be quiet before it notices us!" Vivian whispered, her voice sharp and full of authority, as she firmly grabbed Gregory's arm, warning him of the imminent danger.
"Shit... you're right." Gregory swallowed his tension and, with a determined look, crouched even lower, trying to minimize his profile. "Let's get out of here and find a safer spot to observe from afar."
He quickly removed the GPS device from his pocket and began to analyze the map, his nimble fingers sliding across the screen, searching for a more strategic area to position himself without being detected.
The pressure was increasing by the second, and he knew that every move now needed to be perfect. Gregory quickly analyzed the map on the GPS and, with a sigh of relief, located an area of higher ground a few hundred meters away from where they were.
The open and vulnerable clearing was dangerous terrain to move through, but the area he had found would provide a clear view and a strategic position for observation.
"Let's go around here," Gregory said quietly, pointing to the map and indicating the location to Vivian.
They then retreated several meters along the trail they had made before Vivian began to blaze a new trail to the new location. They moved quickly, careful not to make any unnecessary noise as they slid through the dense trees and bushes.
When they finally reached the ridge, they approached a large, moss-covered rock, nearly forgotten by time. The rock, with its jagged, shadowy surfaces, provided a perfect natural shelter.
They crouched behind it, the space providing cover and camouflage from the outside world, the afternoon light dissipating into a dark, safe blanket.