They moved through the mist without direction.
Only instinct.
Only Thalia.
The roots stretched endlessly beneath their feet, rising and falling like frozen waves. Every step felt uncertain; like the ground itself might shift if they trusted it too much.
After a few moments, Thalia slowed.
Then stopped.
Her head turned slightly.
"…This way."
She changed direction without explanation.
Leah followed instantly, her grip tightening around the dagger.
"Stay alert," she said quietly.
Her voice carried weight now.
Not fear alone;
Responsibility.
Henry nodded, his eyes darting around the shadows. Every flicker of lightning made him flinch.
He didn't see the root.
His foot caught.
"ah!"
His body lurched forward.
Before he could fall, Leah grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Careful," she said, her voice softer now; but tight with worry.
Henry swallowed hard.
"S-sorry…"
They kept moving.
Turning.
Doubling back.
Following paths that didn't feel like paths at all.
Only Thalia seemed to sense anything real in this place.
Her movements were slower now.
Measured.
Drained.
Then;
She stopped again.
This time more abruptly.
Her body stiffened.
"…I feel it."
Leah stepped closer immediately.
"What?"
Thalia's eyes narrowed slightly as she scanned the mist.
"…Something strong."
A pause.
"Close."
The mist thickened around them.
It curled tighter.
Lower.
Like it was reacting.
Thalia's lips moved silently; counting, focusing...
Then in one swift motion, she pulled an arrow from her hand and threw it upward.
The arrow spun into the air;
Then dropped uselessly to the ground.
A dull clink.
Thalia cursed under her breath.
"…Damn it. Without the bow…"
Frustration flickered across her face.
"…it's useless."
Leah nodded quickly.
"Forget it. We move."
There was no time to hesitate.
No strength to waste.
They pushed forward.
Step by step.
The mist shifted.
A sound.
Faint.
Sharp.
Crack… crackle…
They froze.
Leah raised the dagger instinctively.
Henry moved closer behind her.
"What is that…?" he whispered.
Ahead.....
Something flickered.
A faint glow.
Barely visible through the mist.
Unstable.
Like light struggling to exist.
The mist curled away from it slowly.
Revealing more.
A distortion.
A tear in the air itself.
Energy sparked along its edges; thin strands snapping and collapsing inward, shrinking, pulsing.
Unstable.
Dying.
Thalia raised her hand slowly.
Pointing.
"That's it."
Leah stepped forward slightly, eyes fixed on it.
"It looks like… a portal."
Hope.
Dangerous.
Fragile.
"…Maybe it can take us back," she continued, quieter now.
"Back to the forest."
Thalia didn't argue.
She just nodded once.
Henry stared at it like it was the only real thing left in the world.
"…Home…" he whispered weakly.
He ran.
Suddenly.
Desperately.
"I'm going!"
"Henry.....WAIT!" Thalia shouted.
She tried to move;
But her body failed her.
Her legs trembled.
She staggered forward instead of sprinting.
Exhaustion hit her hard.
Leah noticed instantly.
She turned;
Saw Thalia struggling.
Then looked back at Henry.
"Henry, slow down!" she shouted.
"Your sister; she's exhausted!"
Henry faltered slightly.
Just enough to glance back.
Thalia straightened, forcing herself upright.
"I'm fine," she said through clenched teeth.
"Go. Go to him."
Leah hesitated;
Then nodded.
She turned and began moving faster toward Henry.
Not a sprint.
But close.
The portal flickered violently now.
Smaller.
Crackling louder.
Henry pushed harder.
"I'm almost there!" he shouted.
His voice filled with desperate hope.
The glow reflected in his eyes.
Unsteady.
Breaking.
He was close.
So close.
The mist near the portal twisted violently now, churning in unnatural currents.
Nothing beyond it was visible; only the violent glow clawing against the dark.
"Henry...careful!" Leah shouted. "We don't know what it is!"
He didn't listen.
He jumped.
His body lifted into the air....arms reaching forward, fingers stretched toward the collapsing light.
Something moved.
Not in front of him.
Behind.
A shape sliding sideways through the mist.
From the moment he was almost at the portal;
Everything broke.
The light was right there.
Close enough to touch.
Close enough to escape.
Henry's fingers stretched forward, trembling, desperate to grasp something that felt real; something that wasn't rot and mist and death.
The glow burned against his skin.
He could feel it.
Warm.
Alive.
For the first time since entering this nightmare;
Hope.
"I made it!"
He never finished.
Something slammed into his back.
Not like a strike.
Not like a blade.
Like the world itself had driven a spike through him.
A deafening crack tore through his armor;
Then through him.
Three long, jagged claws punched out of his chest.
Violently.
Explosively.
Metal plates split open like paper, curling outward as the claws forced their way through bone and flesh. Fragments of shattered armor burst into the air along with chunks of something darker;
Something wet.
Henry's body jerked mid-air.
Frozen.
The force stopped him completely.
His voice died in his throat.....
Replaced by a wet, choking gasp.
For a single second;
Silence.
Then the blood came.
Not a trickle.
A violent spray erupted from his chest, splattering across his face, his eyes still wide open. Droplets hit his lips; warm, metallic....before more followed, heavier, thicker.
He looked down.
Slowly.
Like his body didn't belong to him anymore.
Three claws.
Black.
Too long.
Too deep.
Protruding through his chest.
Twitching.
Moving.
Still pushing forward, grinding through what remained of his ribs with a sickening, splintering crunch.
His breath hitched;
Then broke.
A bubbling sound escaped his throat as blood flooded upward, spilling from his mouth in thick, dark streams.
The claws shifted.
Pulled slightly;
Then drove wider.
Tearing him open from the inside.
You could hear it.
The wet rip of muscle separating.
The brittle snap of bone giving way.
The hollow collapse of something vital being destroyed.
Henry's body convulsed violently.
Still suspended.
Still held in place.
Then....
The claws dragged back.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Not releasing him;
Ripping through him.
His torso split further as the claws tore backward, carving deep, vertical wounds from chest to abdomen. Flesh peeled open in strips, armor shredding apart with it, metal snapping and scraping against exposed bone.
Blood didn't spray anymore.
It poured.
A thick, unstoppable flood spilling out into the air, trailing behind him in heavy strands.
The pull.
Sudden.
Brutal.
His entire body was yanked backward like a ragdoll.
The claws tore through him as he moved, widening the wounds, dragging pieces of him apart as if he were nothing but soft resistance.
A final, violent rip;
And he was free.
For a fraction of a second;
Weightless.
Broken.
His body hung in the air.
Chest torn open.
Armor destroyed.
Blood pouring endlessly from three massive wounds that no longer even looked like punctures; just ruin.
Then he saw it.
Behind him.
The creature.
Floating sideways through the mist.
Its cloak clung to its form like soaked skin, dripping darkness instead of water. Its arms were stretched outward unnaturally, long and thin;
Ending in those claws.
Still wet.
Still dripping.
Thick strands of Henry's blood slid down their length, falling in slow, heavy drops into the mist below.
The creature tilted slightly.
Watching.
Not rushing.
Not hunting.
Just… observing.
As if this;
This destruction;
Meant nothing.
Henry's body began to fall.
Slow at first.
Then faster.
Spinning slightly as gravity reclaimed what little control remained.
Blood scattered from him in all directions, flinging outward like a storm of dark rain.
The portal flickered one last time;
Right in front of him.
So close.
Still out of reach.