The road ahead stretched toward the vast expanse of Verkes Forest, its distant treeline growing larger with every turn of the carriage wheels.
Javier sat with his back against the cushioned seat, listening to the steady rhythm of hooves against the road and the faint creaking of wood beneath him.
Across from him sat the elf they had rescued from Srivi’s underground auction.
Elyra’s long, sky-blue hair rested loosely over her shoulders, swaying gently with every uneven movement of the carriage.
Since leaving Srivi, she had barely spoken.
She answered whenever someone addressed her, but never seemed interested in starting a conversation herself.
Javier had noticed it from the beginning.
“Elyra.”
The elf slowly raised her head, her expression unreadable.
“Yes?”
“You said you came from this region.”
Elyra gave a small nod.
“My village was near Verkes Forest.”
“Near?”
“Yes. Not inside the forest.” Her gaze drifted toward the carriage window, where the distant trees were beginning to dominate the horizon.
“There was a small settlement on the outskirts. Most of the people who lived there were elves.”
Javier remained quiet for a moment.
There was something in the way her voice had changed when she mentioned the village, something subtle but heavy enough for him to notice.
“What happened to it?”
Elyra’s expression darkened.
Her fingers slowly tightened around the fabric of her clothes, gathering it between her knuckles before she answered.
“We were attacked.”
“By monsters?”
“No.” Her voice dropped.
“Humans.”
Javier’s expression shifted slightly.
“They came looking for elves they could sell.” Elyra’s eyes lowered as memories she clearly wanted buried began surfacing again.
Her jaw tightened, and the calmness she had maintained throughout the journey slowly cracked beneath something far more bitter.
“Anyone who resisted was killed. Those who survived were captured and taken away.”
Her fingers clenched harder.
“My family was there too.”
For a while, only the sound of the carriage remained between them.
Javier could hear the grief in her voice, but beneath it was something else.
Anger.
Resentment that had never truly disappeared.
He understood enough not to force her to continue, yet after a moment, he quietly asked, “What happened to your family?”
“I don’t know.”
Elyra’s voice trembled faintly.
She turned her face away, staring through the window as though it were easier than facing him.
“I was separated from them during the attack. They could still be alive…” Her lips pressed together.
“Or maybe they’re already dead.”
Javier fell silent.
He finally understood.
Since the moment they had freed her from that cage beneath Srivi, Elyra had always kept a certain distance from them.
She was never openly hostile, nor had she refused their help, but there had always been a coldness behind her words whenever humans were around.
After what had happened to her village, perhaps trust was something she could no longer give so easily.
“Then why did you agree to come with us on this mission?”
Elyra looked at him briefly before turning away again.
“I’m only repaying what I owe you.”
There was no warmth in her answer, but there was no hostility either.
It was simply the truth.
Javier leaned back against his seat and gave a slight nod.
“Alright. Beta won’t ask any more.”
Elyra said nothing.
The carriage continued forward, rocking gently beneath them.
Several moments passed before Javier spoke again, his voice quieter this time.
“But when this mission is over, I will help you find your family.”
Elyra’s head snapped toward him.
For the first time since their conversation began, the distance in her expression disappeared.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Javier, as though she were searching his face for any sign that he was merely saying it out of pity.
“But… why?”
“Because you need help.” Javier’s answer came without hesitation.
“And because you were willing to help us.”
Elyra remained silent.
“You know Verkes Forest, don’t you?”
She slowly nodded.
“I entered it several times when I was younger.”
“Even though it’s dangerous?”
A faint smile finally touched Elyra’s lips.
“I’m an elf.” She placed one hand lightly against her chest.
“And… I don’t actually know why, but the monsters inside Verkes never attacked me.”
Javier tilted his head slightly.
Elyra glanced down at her palm.
“Maybe it’s because I possess a Mana Spirit. I can’t say for certain.”
That was enough to catch Javier’s attention.
If what she said was true, then Elyra was far more valuable to this expedition than he had initially realized.
Someone who knew parts of Verkes and could move through the forest without provoking its monsters could make the difference between reaching their destination and never returning at all.
“I see.” Javier gave a slight nod.
“Then we’ll be relying on you. I asks for your cooperation.”
Elyra studied him for another moment before the tension in her shoulders finally eased.
“Alright.”
There was a softness in her eyes now that had not been there before.
The carriage continued onward, carrying them toward the enormous wall of trees ahead.
Before long, Verkes Forest consumed the entire horizon.
Ancient trunks rose from the earth like pillars, their enormous branches intertwining far above until they formed a dense canopy that seemed to separate the forest from the sky itself.
The moment the carriage crossed beneath it, everything changed.
Sunlight faded behind layers of leaves and twisted branches, leaving only thin fragments of pale light scattered across the forest floor.
The warmth of the outside world disappeared almost immediately.
The air became colder, heavier, and unnaturally still.
Even the wind seemed reluctant to follow them inside.
Javier felt the difference at once.
Then Elyra stopped moving.
Her entire body became rigid.
“Elyra?”
She didn’t answer.
Javier straightened in his seat.
Elyra’s head slowly lifted, but there was something wrong with her face.
The faint softness that had appeared moments earlier was gone.
Her expression had become completely empty.
Then her sky-blue eyes began to lose their color.
White slowly spread across them until nothing remained.
Javier’s expression hardened.
“Elyra?”
She suddenly rose.
The carriage shook beneath her feet as Elyra turned toward the door without saying a word.
“Wait!”
One of the guards reacted first, reaching out and grabbing her arm.
The moment his hand closed around her wrist, Elyra violently tore herself free.
Mana burst from her body without warning, slamming into the guard and throwing him backward against the carriage wall.
“What the…?!”
Elyra didn’t even look at him.
She pushed the carriage door open.
“Halt her!”
Two guards lunged forward, but Elyra forced herself through the narrow opening before either could reach her.
Her body disappeared through the doorway and struck the ground outside while the carriage was still moving.
“ELYRA!”
The driver pulled hard on the reins.
Horses cried out as the carriage jolted violently before grinding to a halt.
Javier was already moving before the wheels had fully stopped, stepping out as the guards scrambled after him.
“What is happening?”
Elyra was already standing.
Her white eyes stared ahead without recognition.
She began walking.
Branches scraped across her skin as she entered the undergrowth.
Thorns caught against her clothes and tore thin lines across her arms, leaving trails of blood behind, but Elyra did not flinch.
She did not even seem aware that she was injured.
“Elyra!”
Javier hurried after her.
A guard approached from the side, attempting to restrain her once more, but the Mana Spirit surrounding Elyra suddenly flared.
The pressure alone forced him back several steps.
Javier stopped.
He could feel it now.
Something was wrong with her mana.
It wasn’t simply surging out of control.
The flow itself was being distorted, stretched toward something far beyond the trees as though an invisible current had wrapped itself around Elyra and was slowly dragging her deeper into Verkes.
This wasn’t her own will.
“Don’t restrain her!”
The guards froze at Javier’s command.
He stepped closer and reached for Elyra himself, closing his hand around her arm.
Javier’s body stiffened.
The sensation was unlike anything he had expected.
Elyra’s mana wasn’t merely unstable.
Something was pulling it, continuously and relentlessly, toward a presence hidden somewhere deep within the forest.
Javier tightened his grip for another second, trying to understand the strange current.
She’s being pulled.
It didn’t feel human.
It didn’t feel like any monster he knew either.
Whatever was doing this was farther inside.
Much farther.
Elyra suddenly lurched forward again.
The force behind her movement nearly dragged Javier with her, forcing him to release her arm.
She continued walking without once looking back.
Javier turned toward the others.
“Follow her.”
Hans immediately dismounted from his horse.
His eyes followed Elyra’s disappearing figure between the trees, his usual calm expression sharpening as he sensed the sudden tension among the group.
The guards exchanged uneasy glances, but none questioned Javier’s order.
Within moments, they abandoned the carriage and horses behind and followed Elyra into the depths of Verkes.
There was no path.
No trail.
Nothing on their maps suggested that anything existed in the direction Elyra was taking them.
Yet she moved with frightening certainty, stepping over roots and forcing her way through dense vegetation as though something ahead were guiding every movement of her body.
Branches struck her face.
Thorns sliced through her sleeves.
Small cuts multiplied across her skin, yet not once did she slow down.
“Clear the way!”
Several guards rushed ahead, cutting through vines and low branches before they could strike Elyra again.
Hans and his men followed closely behind while Javier remained only a short distance from her, keeping his senses focused on every fluctuation in her mana.
The deeper they travelled, the more oppressive the forest became.
Jason eventually moved closer to Javier, one hand resting near his weapon as his eyes scanned the darkness between the trees.
“What exactly is happening, Lord Javier?”
Javier kept his attention on Elyra.
“Beta doesn’t know.”
His voice remained calm, but the tension beneath it was unmistakable.
“It feels as though something inside this forest is forcing Elyra to come to it.”
Jason’s gaze immediately shifted toward the darkness ahead.
“Then shouldn’t we stop her?”
“No.”
Javier shook his head.
“We follow her.”
Jason stared at him.
“Are you certain, Lord Javier?”
Javier gave a slow nod.
His fingers curled around the hilt of his sword as he sensed Elyra’s mana being drawn farther and farther ahead.
“If whatever is calling her wants Elyra badly enough to do this…” His grip tightened.
“Then i wants to know what it is.”
Hans looked toward his brother.
Their gazes met only briefly before Hans gave a small nod.
He understood.
They would follow her.
The group continued deeper into Verkes.
With every step, the forest seemed to grow darker and older.
The trunks surrounding them became wider, their roots twisting through the earth like enormous veins, while the canopy above thickened until even the remaining traces of daylight struggled to reach them.
And Elyra’s mana continued to grow stronger.
Javier could feel something within those strange currents now.
Not clearly enough to identify it, nor close enough to determine where it was, but the sensation refused to disappear.
The deeper Elyra led them, the more it felt as though they were approaching something that had been there long before they entered the forest.
Something that had been waiting.
Something that seemed to recognize Elyra.
Javier’s attention remained fixed on the elf walking silently ahead of them.
Only a short while ago, she had been sitting across from him in the carriage, speaking about her family and the village she had lost.
Now she walked through the darkness with empty white eyes, pulled toward a destination none of them knew.
They had barely entered Verkes, yet the forest had already begun revealing how little they understood about it.
Javier’s fingers tightened around his sword.
Elyra…
A single question remained in his mind as he followed her deeper into the shadows.
Who are you, really?