"Help!"
The voice echoed through the forest.
Nobody moved.
The desperate cry sounded real.
Someone was in danger.
Someone needed help.
But after everything they had experienced...
Nobody trusted it.
Oliver stared toward the trees.
"That sounded like someone was actually hurt."
Thomas kept his weapon raised.
"Which is exactly why we can't rush in."
The group remained together.
No one separated.
No one followed the voice.
A few days ago, they would have already run toward it.
That was what climbers were supposed to do.
But this forest had already taught them something.
A sound could lie.
A direction could lie.
A familiar face could lie.
Jack slowly looked around.
The false search party.
The voices calling from nowhere.
The village that appeared in the middle of the forest.
The paths that seemed to change whenever they weren't looking.
The forest was not simply trapping them.
It was making them make mistakes.
"They are trying to make us move."
Oliver looked at him.
"They?"
Jack looked toward the trees.
"Whatever is controlling this."
Nobody answered.
Because they had all reached the same conclusion.
Something was playing with them.
Thomas tightened his grip.
"Then we stop reacting."
Jack nodded.
"We test it."
Oliver frowned.
"Test it?"
Jack looked toward the direction of the voice.
"If it wants us to believe something is there..."
He paused.
"Then we need to see how it behaves when we don't follow."
Thomas understood.
"What are you thinking?"
"Call back."
Everyone looked at him.
Oliver blinked.
"Call back?"
Jack nodded.
"If it is a person, they should respond naturally."
He looked toward the forest.
"But if it is only copying what we expect..."
He did not finish.
Oliver took a breath.
Then shouted.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Hello!"
His voice echoed through the trees.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then—
"Hello..."
The forest replied.
Everyone froze.
Oliver's expression changed.
"That sounded like me."
Jack shook his head.
"No."
He listened carefully.
"It sounded like something trying to be you."
The voice returned.
"Hello..."
Same word.
Same tone.
Same distance.
Again.
And again.
Thomas frowned.
"It is repeating."
Jack nodded.
"It isn't answering."
The forest became silent.
Then the voice changed.
"Help..."
Everyone turned.
The voice sounded like Mia.
Both Mias.
The group immediately looked between them.
Neither spoke.
That silence was more disturbing than the voice itself.
The forest was learning what they reacted to.
First, a search party.
Then, a village.
Now...
Someone they trusted.
"We move."
Thomas looked at Jack.
"Toward the voice?"
Jack shook his head.
"No."
He looked deeper into the forest.
"Away from it."
The others followed.
Not because they knew where to go.
But because they finally understood something.
The forest wanted them to choose.
And the safest choice was not always the obvious one.
They continued walking.
Minutes passed.
Then Jack stopped.
The others immediately noticed.
"What is it?"
Thomas asked.
Jack looked at the trees.
The markings.
The signs they had left behind.
They were there again.
The same scratches.
The same broken branches.
Oliver's face changed.
"Wait..."
Jack crouched beside one of the markings.
"We passed this place."
Thomas looked around.
"So we are going in circles?"
Jack shook his head.
"Not exactly."
He stood.
"A normal maze traps you by blocking the path."
He looked at the forest.
"This one traps you by making you believe you are moving forward."
Nobody spoke.
The forest was not just hiding the way out.
It was changing their understanding of where they were.
Jack stared into the trees.
The pieces were connecting.
The voices.
The direction changes.
The false locations.
The way they could not trust their own senses.
Jack spoke hesitantly.
"It may be a tikbalang."
The others looked at him.
Oliver tilted his head.
"Tikbalang?"
Thomas frowned.
"Is that a creature?"
Jack nodded.
"An old legend I know."
He carefully chose his words.
"The descriptions are different depending on the story."
He looked deeper into the forest.
"But it is commonly described as a creature with a horse-like appearance and a humanoid form."
Oliver blinked.
"A horse?"
Jack nodded.
"Not an ordinary one."
His expression became serious.
"The stories describe it as something that lives in forests and misleads travelers."
"It confuses their sense of direction."
"It makes people follow things that are not real."
The group became quiet.
The false village.
The voices.
The shifting paths.
It matched.
Almost perfectly.
Thomas crossed his arms.
"So you think this creature is doing all of this?"
Jack hesitated.
"I think it is possible."
A pause.
"But I need to test something."
The others watched him.
Jack searched through his memories.
Not battle strategies.
Not monster weaknesses.
Stories.
Things people passed down.
Warnings from travelers.
According to some Filipino stories, a person trapped by a Tikbalang's illusions could escape by doing something unusual.
Something simple.
Turning their clothes inside out.
Jack grabbed the edge of his shirt.
"According to the stories..."
Everyone looked at him.
"Turning your clothes inside out can break the illusion."
Oliver stared.
"That is the solution?"
Jack nodded.
"That is what the stories say."
Thomas looked doubtful.
"How would that even work?"
Jack looked at the forest around them.
"I don't know."
A pause.
"But the idea is that the creature is affecting how we perceive reality."
He looked down at his clothing.
"Changing something about ourselves might disrupt the trick."
Nobody moved.
The explanation was strange.
But so was everything else they had experienced.
Jack slowly began removing his shirt.
The others watched.
Nobody followed immediately.
The idea was too ridiculous.
A creature capable of controlling their senses...
Could really be affected by something so simple?
Jack continued.
The forest remained unchanged.
The voices continued in the distance.
The trees stayed still.
Nothing happened.
Jack slowly pulled his shirt upward towards his head.
Then—
A sudden movement.
"Jack!"
The Mia beside him moved.
Too fast.
Before anyone could react, she charged forward.
She slammed into Jack.
The impact knocked him to the ground.
His shirt slipped from his hands.
Everyone raised their weapons.
But nobody attacked.
Because something was wrong.
The Mia that pushed Jack stood there.
But the way she moved...
That was not human.
Her speed.
Her strength.
Jack slowly looked up.
The creature wearing Mia's face stared back.
Then the disguise began to fade.
The familiar appearance twisted.
The human shape stretched.
The illusion peeled away.
The creature beneath revealed itself.
It was the horse.
The same horse that had charged at them earlier.
The creature they had mistaken for another abnormal animal outside the academy.
But this time...
It was not on all fours.
It stood almost upright.
Towering over them.
Almost three meters tall.
Its body carried a strange mixture of beast and humanoid features.
Its torso was human-like, muscular but unnaturally lean, built with a powerful frame hidden beneath a rough layer of dark hair.
Its arms were long and thin, stretching far beyond normal human proportions.
At the ends of those arms were claw-like hands.
Not human fingers.
Sharp, curved claws capable of tearing and grabbing.
Its legs remained powerful and horse-like.
Long, strong limbs designed for incredible speed.
Large equine hooves struck the ground beneath it.
The same hooves that had carried it through the forest like a normal horse.
But the most terrifying feature was its head.
A horse's head.
A dark mane flowed around its neck and face with some golden strands that seem to shine.
Large ears twitched as it watched them.
Its eyes burned with an unnatural intensity.
Not the eyes of an animal.
The eyes of something intelligent.
Something that understood them.
The creature lowered itself slightly.
Its long limbs bent strangely.
A shape that looked impossible.
Not fully human.
Not fully beast.
A creature between two forms.
Nobody spoke.
Because the answer had been in front of them from the beginning.
The horse.
The forest tricks.
The stolen face.
All of it was the same creature.
Jack slowly pushed himself up.
The legends had been right.
A Tikbalang.
A creature known for leading travelers astray.
A creature that turned forests into places where nothing could be trusted.
The students raised their weapons.
For the first time since entering the forest...
They were no longer fighting an unknown threat.
They knew what stood before them.
And now...
They had to survive it.