"Listen, Elina."
Nuri took a deep, shaky breath, forcing himself to calm his racing thoughts and think clearly. "If the God of Sacrifice is truly gone, then this forest is no longer protected."
Elina's expression slowly changed as she listened to him. She immediately understood exactly where he was going with this.
"This forest was originally filled with monsters," Nuri continued, his voice tight. "The god's blessing kept them away. If that protection vanished..."
"...then the monsters would return."
Nuri nodded grimly. "And if something strong enough settled here, it could easily avoid our detection."
For a long moment, neither of them spoke a word. Everything suddenly made perfect, horrifying sense. The sudden disappearances. The strange, suffocating atmosphere. The way their magic completely seemed to fail whenever they got too close to the river.
"But even if you're right," Elina said, crossing her arms tightly as she looked down the deserted street, "how do we find it?"
That was the real problem they faced. Knowing a threat existed and actually finding its hidden lair were two completely different things.
Nuri bit his nail nervously, pacing a small circle. "My guess is the river."
"The river?"
"Our magic stopped working properly there."
Elina frowned, turning the theory over in her mind. Before either of them could continue the conversation
"Meow."
The two of them turned simultaneously. The black cat had appeared again out of nowhere. For a split second, Nuri genuinely wondered if the creature spent its entire day spying on them from the shadows.
"Why are you outside again?!" a familiar voice shouted.
Simon emerged from his dilapidated house and hurried over to them. The cat calmly ignored him, just as it usually did. Simon picked the animal up and awkwardly scratched it behind its ears. For a moment, he looked incredibly hesitant, as if debating internally whether he should say something more to them.
Then, he let out a heavy sigh. "You," he said, pointing directly at Nuri. "I think I can help this much."
Nuri blinked in surprise. "My cat knows where the disappearances are coming from."
A dead silence fell over the street. Elina stared. Nuri stared. Even the cat looked entirely unimpressed.
"It's special," Simon continued quickly, his voice rising defensively. "It can sense things normal people can't." His grip on the feline tightened slightly. "I tried telling the villagers. No one listened. I told them something was wrong with the river." A bitter smile appeared on his face. "But nobody believed me."
For a moment, nobody spoke. Then, Simon carefully placed the cat back down on the dirt ground. "Take it."
The cat immediately sat down, doing absolutely nothing. After several incredibly awkward seconds, the creature finally stood up on its paws. Simon pointed dramatically at it. "See? It's helping already."
Nuri wasn't entirely convinced by the display. Still, they had absolutely no better lead to follow. Suddenly, the cat's ears twitched. It perked up, alert, and then it began walking directly toward the river. This time, it moved without a single shred of hesitation. Nuri and Elina immediately fell into step behind it.
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As they hurried after the animal, Elina glanced sideways toward Nuri. "What exactly do you think that cat is?"
Nuri watched the swinging black tail carefully. "I think it was blessed by a god."
Elina nearly tripped over her own boots. "A god?"
"It would explain why it can sense things we can't," Nuri hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "Whatever blessed it is probably stronger in this specific area than the God of Sacrifice."
Elina looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. "You're telling me there's a god out there stronger than Fate or War?"
"No, no," Nuri shook his head frantically, waving his hands. "Not stronger like that." He searched his mind for the right theological concept. "Gods divide their power among their followers."
Elina blinked, starting to follow his logic. "So a god with fewer followers can grant stronger blessings?"
"Exactly," Nuri pointed excitedly. "Captain Caelen's God of Harmony has very few believers. That's why his blessings are so powerful."
Elina slowly nodded. That actually made sense. Unfortunately, it didn't solve their immediate, glaring problem. "Then how do we fight the monster?"
Nuri became entirely silent. Then, a small smile tugged at his lips. "We don't."
Elina stared at him blankly. "What?"
"We can't," Nuri looked ahead toward the tree line. "But Alina can." A strange, unyielding confidence appeared in his eyes. "She just needs a little push."
Before Elina could ask what on earth he meant by that, the cat suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. The two knights froze right behind it.
In front of them stood a massive oak tree, growing directly from the very middle of the flowing river. It towered magnificently over everything else around it, its thick roots twisting beneath the current like enormous, submerged serpents.
Most importantly, it felt wrong. Very wrong.
Even without the cat guiding them, anyone could tell this tree was explicitly connected to the disappearances. The air surrounding it felt unnaturally cold, as if life itself was actively being drained away into the bark.
The cat sat down on the bank. Its job was apparently finished.
"That's definitely suspicious," Elina pointed toward the giant tree.
Nuri nodded. For once, there was absolutely no room left for debate.
The two of them stepped off the bank and into the river. Immediately, icy water wrapped around their legs. Nuri shivered violently; the cold wasn't natural. It felt dead, like something sleeping deep beneath the current was waiting for them to draw near. The massive tree stood silently before them, watching, waiting.
"Now what?" Elina asked, her voice echoing over the water. "I understand this is connected to Alina, but it's still just a tree."
She reached out and placed a hand firmly against the rough bark. The moment her palm touched it
WHOOSH!
The world twisted violently. The river vanished in a flash. The morning sky disappeared entirely. Both of them were aggressively pulled forward by an invisible vortex.
"SHIT!"
Neither of them knew who had shouted it. At that exact moment, both were thinking the exact same thing.
CRASH!
They hit solid ground hard. Nuri groaned, rubbing his shoulder. Everything hurt. Elina quickly scrambled to her feet and helped him stand up.
"Where are we?"
Nuri looked around, and his stomach immediately dropped into a cold void. A cave. A gigantic, sprawling underground cave. Strangely, it wasn't pitch dark inside. Thousands of glowing crystals illuminated the rock walls, casting a pale blue light across the cavern. The sight was undeniably beautiful, almost magical.
"Those crystals..." Elina stepped a bit closer to the wall. "They're pretty."
Nuri's face turned white. Very white.
"Nuri?"
When he spoke, his voice came out barely above a terrified whisper. "I know what those are."
The casual smile vanished from Elina's face instantly. "What?"
Nuri slowly approached the nearest crystal, his hand trembling as he reached out toward it. "Soul Stones."
The cave suddenly felt ten times colder. Elina frowned, confused. "That doesn't sound bad."
"It is," Nuri swallowed hard. "Despite the beautiful name, Soul Stones are created from living beings."
Elina froze completely. "What?"
"Life essence," his eyes remained fixed on the glowing facets of the crystals. "Plants. Animals. Monsters." His voice became even quieter, dropping to a hollow whisper. "People."
The beautiful crystals suddenly looked utterly horrifying. Nuri stared at the countless stones covering the cave walls, a terrible realization forming in his mind.
"I've read about these things before," Nuri explained, his chest tightening. "Normally, they are created by GrossRoses. Carnivorous flowers. They absorb tiny amounts of magic from insects and small forest creatures." He pointed toward one of the nearest crystals. "But they never become this large."
The crystal he was pointing at was nearly the size of a grown person.
A heavy, suffocating silence filled the vast cave. Slowly, Elina looked around. Then around again. Then around a third time, her eyes widening in sheer panic. Because suddenly, she noticed the true scale of the cavern. The cave wasn't filled with dozens of Soul Stones. It wasn't even filled with hundreds.
It was filled with thousands of them.
Nuri followed her horrified gaze up to the high ceiling. The last bit of color drained from his face. At that exact moment, both of them understood the same terrifying truth.
Whatever monster lived down here, had been feeding for a very, very long time.