Chapter 531: Forest of the Dead

Fog, that was the first thing that came to mind whenever he first saw the forest, and it was hard not to; the place was filled with it... which made sense, knowing what kind of things it usually did. Its desire to trap people inside; it must be satisfied because of it.

The trees, he could barely figure them out, but they looked strangely shaped; the wood was dark and curved a lot, and there were also no leaves, hollow on the upper side.

The grass’s color seemed to change whenever you entered the forest, turning to a darker purple.

’Scary-looking forest, what can I say.’ He was quite happy he had nothing to do with it, and that he didn’t have to enter it. Since it really just didn’t match his mood at the moment, it was too ugly for his liking,

’But no, seriously, I’m very happy that I don’t have to enter this wicked thing. Who knows what kind of people it was going to force me to talk to.’ He could already imagine it, meeting someone from his past, it made him shiver slightly.

Keres took Sofia and some others before entering the forest.

And that was it, at least for them; all they had to do now was rest. And wait for them to return, and that was exactly what Aether was going to do; he sat down on the floor, closing his eyes.

...

Last night he wasn’t able to sleep that well, so getting some rest now would be nice.

...

The only bad part? Was that he could hear a voice from the forest; it was nasty, how its powers worked even at this distance. He wondered if others were also affected by the Forest, or if it had just targeted him because it saw his mind was in a more vulnerable state.

Bad luck for it, since while he wasn’t going to deny his mental state, he knew how to make the difference between the words of something evil trying to mimic someone he knew, and he knew even better not to listen to it.

So he kept his eyes closed, trying to get some sleep, but luck wasn’t on his side, as he was awakened by a scene inside the camp. Opening his eyes, he saw a man being helped by the others, while he tried to get away, staring into the forest. He pushed the others away before rushing into the forest like an idiot.

The others just watched, not daring to follow.

He wondered if the man had seen something, or if the idea of seeing something was the thing that made him make such a reckless decision... ’By how his face looked, that desperation in his eyes, it looked more like the former than the latter; it was too passionate, and his eyes were almost tearing, something that would never happen for the latter.

It was sad; he was probably going to die without anyone going in after him to save him. But at the same time, who the heck would risk their life to save the life of another, and more importantly, someone they considered stupid?

’I wonder how many of the people here know that all these are probably illusions? Are they even aware of what this forest is? Or have they just mindlessly followed Keres.’

Either way, whatever it was... no one seemed to go after him, meaning

... He was probably going to die.

...

He bit his lip, feeling the fire from before burn slightly in his chest, as he started into the fog, where the man had disappeared.

...

’Fuck it.’ He thought, getting up and rushing into the forest after the man. The fog made it very hard for him to see; however, since he had Eden, he didn’t have to use his eyes, his vision, so he was able to navigate quite well.

He was the man, talking to a woman; if he had to guess, it was probably family, and since she looked on the older side, he could go and say that it was his wife. And since she was here, she was probably dead.

Aether approached the man. He took his hood off to show that he was human, and he shook his shoulder to get his attention, angering the mimic, which shortly after tried to slash him, but he dodged it, finding its attack a lot slower than anything he had faced so far in this place. Summoning his blade, he killed it easily.

The man didn’t take it so well, but after he explained to him what this forest was, and what happened inside of it, he understood, going back to their party.

He... has saved a human life. He didn’t need to do so, and he had put his life at risk; even if in reality it was no big deal, he couldn’t have known what was going to go on inside the forest. He was surprised at himself; he didn’t expect to do such a thing. After all, he gained nothing from him.

And those kinds of things he didn’t do often.

He had done it more out of impulse; he felt that fire once more... and this time, it gave him a lot of motivation, weirdly, and fired him up to do what he had just done. It made him wonder what it was and how it was going to affect his life if it continued like this.

’Either way... it’s good to know he’s safe.’ He took a deep breath, as he was about to leave himself, after all, he saw no reason to stay in this place for much longer, he had no intention of letting mimics to get to him, and try to speak to him.

He had said it once, and he was saying it again.

Walking forward, he prepared to leave, but as he did, he suddenly heard a voice from behind calling for him.

"Aether?"

It was Sofia’s voice, coming from behind him.