The elder’s voice floated through the stillness, heavy and worn. “Every time we think we’re close to a cure, it slips away,” he murmured, his tone frayed like an old rope about to snap. “It’s as if the mists are toying with us.”

A woman's voice, sharp with resentment, and weirdly filtered as if she were talking through a voice modifier, sliced through the elder’s weariness. Hidden beneath a red cloak, her face remained obscured, only the faint outline visible in the dim light.

“Mocking us, you mean. You’re no closer now than when we began, and we’ve lost more than we've saved.” She paused, and in the silence, Henry felt the weight of grief pressing in, thick as fog. “How many has it been now? Seven? Eight?”

The elder exhaled, a sigh that seemed to hang in the air like a bitter ghost. “Nine,” he replied softly. “Nine children gone... and still, we press on. Because what other choice do we have?”

Luka’s hand twitched in Henry’s, a slight tremor that betrayed his horror. Henry glanced at him; Luka’s face was pale, his eyes fixed on the door as though it might open any second. Henry squeezed his hand tighter—a silent plea to stay quiet, to stay hidden.

The woman spoke again, her voice softer now, almost pleading. “Are we certain... are we sure there’s no other way? They’re only children—”

“They’re children who will die regardless if we don’t succeed,” the elder interrupted, his voice a whip crack in the darkness. “Each one has brought us closer, even if only by a fraction. Their lives...” His voice faltered, a momentary slip, before continuing in a murmur so low it barely reached them. “Their lives haven’t been in vain.”

Her response came slowly, each word sinking like stones into the cold quiet.

“Try telling that to their parents—if we ever find them again.”

A bitter shiver ran down Henry’s spine. His chest felt tight, constricted, as though the weight of those nine lives pressed against his ribs. He could almost see the parents’ hollow faces, searching in vain, and the woman's words—“if we ever find them again”—echoed in his mind like a ghostly refrain.

The machinery thrummed on, oblivious, relentless.

A silence lingered, thick and almost stifling, before the elder spoke again, his voice threaded with a desperation barely concealed.

“Perhaps this next group... perhaps one of them will be strong enough to survive the procedure. We only need one. One resistant strain, one that we can study and replicate. Then maybe... maybe we’d have a fighting chance.”

The woman’s tone softened, but bitterness clung to her words like poison.

“And if they aren’t? If they’re like the others?” She exhaled sharply, frustration spilling over. “Each failure leaves us further from hope. It feels like the mists know, like they’re anticipating our every move.”

“Even if they are, we can’t stop now,” the elder replied, his voice hardening with finality. “This is the only way forward, bitter as it may be.”

Stolen story; please report.

Henry felt a cold shiver ripple down his spine as the two figures’ voices faded into the shadows. He glanced at Luka, whose eyes were wide, mirroring his own dread. Luka’s hand tightened in his, a silent plea to hurry. Elara floated beside them, her iridescent glow barely enough to pierce the dark, as they moved quickly but carefully toward the elevator. Every creak of their steps, every drip echoing from the cavern depths, felt amplified—each sound a betrayal that might give them away.

The elevator loomed ahead—a rusted iron cage suspended by thick chains that stretched into darkness above. It groaned, a long and mournful sound, as they stepped inside, sending fresh chills up Henry’s spine. He hesitated, his fingers hovering over the cold lever, his heart pounding like a warning drum in his chest.

Behind them, shadows clung to the cavern walls, stretching and shifting, as though hiding secrets of their own. And then—a distant murmur, low but unmistakable. The elder and the woman were coming back.

With one last glance over his shoulder, Henry pulled the lever, feeling the chains shudder as the elevator began its slow, rattling ascent.

Henry’s heart hammered painfully as the elevator jolted to life, rattling and clanking as it rose. He winced, gripping the cold metal bars, his palms damp with sweat as the chains creaked and groaned—a tortured sound that seemed ready to betray them at any moment. For a split second, he imagined the elder’s skeletal hand snaking through the bars, dragging him back into the dark depths below.

As they ascended, the dim light from the cavern mouth dwindled, swallowed by the yawning shadows, until only a thin thread of illumination separated them from total darkness. Henry’s breaths came shallow and fast, each one seeming to echo in the metal cage—too loud, too close. He felt Elara’s small hand clutch his shoulder, her usual carefree grin replaced by something sharp and anxious. Her fingers dug into him, anchoring him even as fear twisted tighter around them.

The elder—someone they were supposed to trust. And the woman cloaked in red—her identity shrouded, her intentions unclear. Henry's mind spun, grasping for some way to make sense of what he’d overheard. He’d known there were whispers of desperation in the town, rumors of lost hope, but he’d never imagined the elder—the very person charged with keeping them safe—might be part of something this horrific. Sacrificing children in the hope of finding some sort of miracle? Each “procedure” just a gamble that took another innocent life?

His stomach churned, a sickening weight settling inside him. How long had this been going on? How many parents had handed over their children to the elder's care, never knowing they'd never see them again? And who was the woman in the red cloak? An accomplice? A leader?

The thoughts clawed at him, each question piling up like stones in his chest, heavy and cold. Could the elder have seen this as a last resort? Or was there something darker, something twisted, in this so-called “procedure”?

He glanced at Luka, who had pressed himself against the elevator’s bars, his face pale and drawn. Did Luka know the truth—or part of it? If the elder was capable of this, who else could be involved? For a moment, Henry felt a pang of doubt even toward Luka. But as soon as the thought came, he pushed it away. He had to trust someone, and Luka’s fear was as real as his own. Still, it left a hollowness in his gut—the uncomfortable realization that betrayal could lie anywhere, masked behind tired eyes and hidden faces.

The elevator lurched to a halt with a final, grating groan, and they stumbled out into the open air. Henry didn’t dare look back.

they rushed back to the city, the forest blurring behind them.

Every shadow seemed to watch them; every rustle of the mist hinted at something lurking just beyond sight. The silence pressed in, broken only by the occasional distant murmur of voices in the night—each one sending a jolt of fear racing through Henry’s chest.

Finally, they reached the town square, breaths ragged, nerves frayed, still half-expecting the elder's figure or the crimson-cloaked woman to loom behind them from the mist.

For a heartbeat, they stood there in the quiet, the weight of their escape beginning to lift. Henry took a deep, shuddering breath. They’d made it back.

And then the screaming started.