The forest was silent.
Not peaceful.
Silent.
The kind of silence that made every breath feel too loud.
The four students stood in the clearing.
Two Mias stood before them.
Both looked real.
Both sounded real.
Both carried the same expression of confusion and concern.
And that was the problem.
If one of them had acted differently, they would have noticed.
If one of them had hesitated.
If one of them had reacted unnaturally.
They would have had an answer.
But both of them acted exactly like Mia.
Oliver slowly lowered his weapon.
"Okay."
He looked between the two girls.
"Does anyone have a plan?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Thomas kept his eyes on both Mias.
"We cannot decide based on appearance."
Jack nodded.
"The forest already proved that our senses cannot always be trusted."
The Mia beside Jack looked at him.
"You think whatever did this can change what we see?"
Jack looked toward the trees.
"I think we need to understand what we are dealing with first."
He looked back at the two Mias.
"We ask questions."
Oliver blinked.
"Questions?"
"Not simple ones."
Jack's expression remained serious.
"Things only someone who experienced this with us would know."
Neither Mia objected.
That made the situation even more unsettling.
Thomas stepped forward.
"First question."
He looked at the Mia standing beside Jack.
"What is the main threat inside Ceduz?"
The answer came immediately.
"The Ancient Aswang King."
She continued.
"He commands the Aswang forces occupying Ceduz."
"He is the reason the Guild considers the mission a high-level threat"
"And we were given thirty days to prepare"
The group remained silent.
The answer was correct.
Jack watched her carefully.
That was something Mia should know.
Something anyone involved in their discussions should know.
Stolen novel; please report.
For a brief moment, their suspicion shifted.
Maybe this was the real Mia.
Then Thomas turned toward the other Mia.
"Your turn."
"What is our role in the mission?"
This question was different.
The first tested whether she understood the enemy.
This tested whether she understood why they were being sent.
The second Mia answered without hesitation.
"We are not expected to defeat the Ancient Aswang King."
"Our purpose is to stall him."
"We will fight alongside Miss Eva and Captain Aldren."
"Our objective is to survive against him."
The clearing became silent.
That answer was different.
It was not just information about Ceduz.
It was their personal assignment.
The reason they will been given thirty days of specialized training.
The reason they had been chosen to stand against something far beyond their current level.
Oliver looked between the two Mias.
"How does she know that?"
Nobody answered.
Because that was the problem.
The answer was not something someone could easily guess.
Jack stared at the second Mia.
"If she isn't the real Mia..."
A pause.
"Then how does she know something only Mia should know?"
Thomas's expression darkened.
"Memories."
The word lingered.
But they needed proof.
Jack looked at both Mias.
"One more test."
He turned toward the first Mia.
"Who trained us yesterday?"
The answer came immediately.
"Miss Eva."
Jack nodded.
Then he turned toward the other Mia.
"What is the inheritance of that trainer?"
The answer came just as quickly.
"Harpy."
Silence.
Those questions were different.
They were not about the mission.
They were not details that could be overheard.
They were personal.
Recent.
Memories.
Oliver's grip tightened around his weapon.
"So..."
He looked between the two Mias.
"It can copy memories?"
Jack did not answer immediately.
Because if that was true...
Then the situation was worse than they thought.
A creature that copied appearances was dangerous.
A creature that copied voices was dangerous.
But a creature that copied memories...
That could become someone completely.
The forest remained quiet.
Then suddenly—
Footsteps.
Everyone turned.
The sound came from deeper within the trees.
Many footsteps.
Armor moving.
Voices calling out.
"Over here!"
A distant voice shouted.
"Search the area!"
Oliver's expression changed.
"Explorers?"
For a moment, relief appeared.
A search party.
Someone had found them.
Then Thomas raised his hand.
"Wait."
Everyone stopped.
Jack listened.
The footsteps continued.
But something felt wrong.
The same rhythm.
The same number of steps.
The same distance.
Again.
And again.
"They aren't getting closer."
Oliver frowned.
"But they sound closer."
Jack opened his eyes.
"That's the trick."
The voices shifted.
The footsteps moved.
But nothing actually approached.
Thomas looked around.
"The forest is changing our perception."
Jack nodded.
"It is making us believe something is somewhere when it isn't."
The students looked around the trees.
The forest was not simply hiding the way forward.
It was creating false ones.
They moved again.
But this time, differently.
Nobody walked alone.
Nobody followed a sound without the others.
Both Mias stayed inside their formation.
They continued deeper into the forest.
At first, the silence returned.
Then...
They heard voices.
Laughter.
Conversations.
The sound of people moving.
Oliver stopped.
"Wait."
Everyone looked ahead.
Through the trees, they heard what sounded like a settlement.
A village.
The smell of food drifted through the air.
Wood burning.
People talking.
Someone calling out from a distance.
For a moment, relief appeared on their faces.
"A town..."
Oliver whispered.
After everything they had experienced, the sound of civilization felt impossible to ignore.
They moved closer.
Carefully.
Then Jack stopped.
Something was wrong.
A child's laughter repeated.
The same laugh.
The same timing.
The same distance.
A voice spoke.
Then moments later...
The exact same words repeated.
Jack's expression changed.
"This isn't real."
Everyone looked at him.
Thomas frowned.
"How do you know?"
Jack looked around the forest.
"Because it's not behaving like a place."
He listened.
"It's behaving like something trying to imitate one."
The sounds disappeared.
The forest became silent again.
Then...
"Help!"
Everyone froze.
A voice.
A desperate voice.
Someone crying out from somewhere nearby.
Oliver immediately turned.
"Someone is there."
But nobody moved.
Because they had learned.
A sound could lie.
A direction could lie.
A familiar voice could lie.
Jack remained still.
His mind was racing.
Trying to deduce an answer.
Not for an answer from this world.
But from another.
His old world.
Stories.
Legends.
Folklore.
A creature that misled travelers.
A creature that twisted paths.
A creature that turned forests into places where people could no longer trust what they saw or heard.
Then, he remembered something.
A Tikbalang.
A creature from the folklore of the Philippines, a country from Jack's previous life.
Jack remembered the legend.
A towering being with the head and features of a horse.
A creature said to dwell in forests and mountains.
A creature known for confusing travelers, leading them astray, and making them wander.
Some stories even described Tikbalang taking the appearance of others.
Using familiar faces to deceive travelers.
Jack looked at the two Mias.
The false village.
The fake voices.
The shifting paths.
The disguise.
It matched.
Almost perfectly.
But then Jack remembered something.
Tikbalang could deceive the senses.
It could imitate appearances.
But memories?
That was different.
The questions they had asked.
The mission details.
Eva's training.
The information only their group should know.
Jack frowned.
Either the legends from his old world were incomplete...
Or the creatures of this world were different from the stories he remembered.
Because if this really was a Tikbalang...
Then why did it know things it should never have known?
Jack tightened his grip.
The forest was behaving like a legend from his old world.
But the answer...
Was something he had never encountered before.