Chapter 003: The Middle of Nowhere
Logic and instinct were still clashing inside her head, testing her courage to keep moving forward in a world that had just swallowed her whole. But that battle slowly faded as her eyes began taking in the details around her.
"This is... amazing..." she murmured without realizing it.
Anindira's eyes widened. The fear that had gripped her chest was gradually replaced by a fascination she could hardly explain. Before her stood rows of colossal trees rising so high that their crowns vanished into a gigantic canopy overhead. Their trunks were thick, covered in moss, and wrapped with climbing lianas that sprawled around them like lazy snakes basking in the sun.
"Awesome..." she praised again, almost like a child seeing something that existed only in illustrated books.
She tilted her head back, trying to glimpse the sky above. But the dense roof of leaves allowed her to see only scattered gleams of light dripping through narrow gaps like flecks of gold. Sunlight descended in thin shafts, slicing through the humid air and creating corridors of light that made the ancient forest appear both sacred and wild.
The air was cool—not cold, not warm. Clean. Fresh, like a forest untouched by pollution. The scent of damp earth, leaves, and tropical vegetation filled her lungs. There was no strange odor, no rot, only the fragrance of wilderness indulging her senses.
For a moment, her mouth hung open, unable to close.
She was genuinely awestruck.
"Huh? What was that?!"
She flinched when something moved in the undergrowth. Her body stiffened, her eyes searching for the source of the sound. But as soon as she heard the crisp notes of a bird perched above, her tension eased. Her breathing gradually settled.
The sounds of the forest were... beautiful.
Lively, yet somehow quiet.
Summer insects called from every direction, loud but not unpleasant. Leaves brushed against one another in the wind, creating a soft rustling that soothed the mind. And woven through it all were the songs of forest birds—high, low, varied, answering one another from afar.
This forest was not haunted.
This forest was alive.
Yet its grandeur created a silence that made humans feel impossibly small within it.
The view before her was breathtaking while simultaneously sending a chill down the back of her neck. The dense wilderness stretched endlessly, with no visible end. Giant trees stood proudly like guardians from another age untouched by time. The surrounding bushes grew high, some even reaching her waist. She could easily imagine that if a cow hid behind them, she might see nothing more than a faint movement.
Anindira swallowed.
Her eyes remained alert, tracking every small motion.
Beyond the grass swaying gently in the wind...
what exactly was hiding there?
The question appeared on its own, like a wild whisper stirring from behind ancient leaves.
"Going in and out of forests isn't new to me... but a forest like this?"
Anindira looked around with a furrowed brow, her voice growing quiet.
"This is definitely my first time. What forest is this supposed to be?"
Her confusion deepened as she recalled the moments before the river had dragged her away.
"The problem is... I was in a forest before too. By a river. Then—how did I end up here? How is that even possible?!"
Her frustration continued to build.
"My grandpas would probably be jumping up and down with excitement if they saw a forest like this..." she sighed deeply.
"But how am I supposed to figure out where I am when I didn't even bring my smartphone... idiot. Why didn't I just put it in my pocket?!"
She snorted, annoyed with herself.
The scenery before her was too magnificent—too rare—not to capture in photos.
Although she had been born and raised in the city, forests were not unfamiliar to her.
Hiking, camping, accompanying her father and older brother on small hunting trips back in the village, helping relatives in the rice fields—all of it had been part of her childhood. Things many city women considered disgusting were pleasant memories to her.
That was why her fear now was not fear of the forest itself.
It was fear of the horror hidden within this unfamiliar forest.
"Dira, that's enough being melodramatic!" she suddenly exclaimed, lightly patting her own cheeks. "You're alone now... really alone!"
The atmosphere suddenly felt oppressive.
The silence that had seemed comforting moments ago now emphasized just how isolated she was.
Several times she had fallen into panic and forced herself to calm down. But now...
she was truly beginning to accept reality.
"Wake up, Anindira!"
She shouted again, louder this time.
"You need to assess the situation. These are just trees. If a predator suddenly shows up... you're finished!"
The next second, survival instinct took over.
Without waiting for logic to catch up, her feet moved quickly. She was no longer walking—she strode forward briskly, almost half-running. Her breathing quickened, but her pace remained controlled.
Her expression tightened, reflecting two things at once:
panic she struggled to suppress, and a determination not to give up.
She looked right, left, up, and down, trying to grasp a direction, a pattern, anything she could use as a guide.
There was only one thought in her mind now:
Get out of this place as quickly as possible. Find help. Stay alive.
Whatever this place was—however she had arrived here—Anindira understood one thing:
From this moment onward, every step might determine whether she returned to her family...
or never returned at all.
In another corner of the wilderness, completely unbeknownst to Anindira, someone was watching her.
A pair of *Sapphire-blue eyes barely blinked.
Hidden behind the darkness of giant ferns and a tree trunk nearly as wide as a human embrace, their owner stood perfectly still—like a part of the forest itself.
"Am I seeing things?" the man wondered, holding his breath.
"A woman... in a place like this? Alone?"
Confusion and vigilance were clearly reflected on his face. He leaned slightly forward to ensure his view was not blocked by the hanging lianas. His movements produced almost no sound—he moved like a creature that had long since become one with the wilderness.
For several minutes now, he had been observing the woman.
Every nervous step, every turn of her head searching for direction, every anxious breath—nothing escaped his notice.
The woman was obviously not part of the world he knew.
Her clothing, the way she walked, even the expressions of surprise on her face...
all of it was strange.
"What clan is she from? Did she get separated from her group...?" he thought, his brows drawing together.
"Leaving a woman alone is incredibly careless."
The forest around them continued to rumble with the sounds of insects, birds, and wind. But to the man, the world seemed to narrow, focusing entirely on a single figure:
the foreign woman who had suddenly appeared in a territory women should never have been able to enter.
From behind the foliage, those *Sapphire-blue eyes continued watching—silent, alert, and ready to move at any moment.
"What am I supposed to do?!" Anindira cried out, her voice a mixture of confusion and panic.
"There's nothing... It feels like I've walked so far, but I still haven't found anything..."
She kept moving without any clear direction.
There was no trail.
No axe marks on the trees.
No rope markers, stone piles, or carved signs like those commonly left by hikers, hunters, or villagers who regularly traveled through forests.
There was only pure wilderness—dense, untamed, and seemingly untouched by humans.
"No way... Did I end up in a forest nobody's ever entered before?!"
Anindira shouted again, her panic becoming more obvious. Terror slowly spread through her mind, forcing logic and instinct into conflict.
"No... no way!"
But the more she tried to deny it, the harder the absurd possibility struck her chest.
"What am I supposed to do?!" she cried again, louder this time.
"There really isn't anything... no signs of people at all..."
She pressed both temples, trying to calm herself. Her thoughts were chaotic, her mind noisy, and the unfamiliar forest only added to the pressure.
Anindira took a deep breath, then forced herself to speak quietly.
"Calm down... calm down, Dira. Focus. Just follow the gentler terrain. At the very least, find water first..."
Her words sounded fragile, but she forced her steps to become steady again.
She followed the principles she had learned from hiking and basic survival:
find water, find tracks, find the sun, don't panic.
Yet the longer she walked, the more she realized how dangerous this silence was.
Not empty—because the insects, birds, and leaves were still alive with sound—
but empty of civilization.
Anindira began touching tree trunks, hoping to find knife marks or signs of resin harvesting.
There were none.
She examined the ground, searching for footprints or bare tracks.
There were none of those either.
Even animal trails were scarce, suggesting that large creatures rarely passed through this area.
Time passed without her noticing.
And without realizing it, Anindira drifted farther and farther from the place where she had arrived, pushing deeper into a region of forest she did not know was extremely dangerous.
She now stood at the threshold of the Forbidden Forest—the deepest region of the wilderness, a place only those who had reached at least the lowest *Emerald rank dared enter, and even then only after years of training. A territory that even men traversed with fear and extreme caution.
And Anindira...
walked into it without the slightest idea what dangers lurked behind every bush and every shadow cast by those ancient trees.