For the rest of the day we all keep travelling throughout the forest. This time instead of travelling in the same direction like before, this time we see if the opposing direction will still loop us back to the same place. All of us continue to mindlessly walk as a group, Sofia lagging behind the rest. No one speaks the entire time. No one thinks. We just move, we don't know where are going, but sitting in the same place as where our friends died doesn't seem right. Soren walks slightly in front of everyone, 'I can't even tell where I am going'

  'This has to be a form of magic, but shit all we did in that castle for two years is just cultivating our own magic pathway to try and advance to rank 2. Our knowledge of this world is still too small! They never let us out of that castle even if it was for our own safety'

  Needless thoughts

  We'd fallen into a rhythm - if you could call it that. Walking without speaking. Not looking at each other. Just putting one foot in front of the other like that alone counted as surviving. I mean what else can we do. Our only hope is to just wander around and search for anything, something. Just until night when it appears again toying with us and leaves

  'I won't be next. I refuse. One by one we keep dying, it's only killing one of us each time. Even if I am the last one I will survive. Is this selfish to value your own life above others? To choose yourself over others even if you call them your friends, your family? I say no. How can one criticise another for putting themselves above others without even being in their shoes. Everyone has their own desires, their own struggles so if choosing myself make me selfish. Then I will be selfish'

  Slowly all of their minds are corroding, the pre existing cracks getting larger, getting more apparent. Suppressed, dark thoughts that are hidden away from the world, even to the person themselves are being revealed, escaping from the darkest depths from where they have been locked away. Some coming to light more than others

  Normal teenagers ripped from their world, taken from their friends and family and told you will never be able to see them again and now their only connections from their world are being killed one by one in front of their eyes. Soren who had no family, or as he believes it so doesn't harbour this emotional burden, but the rest do. Connections you have spent your entire life building, a future you have spent years chasing, dreaming about destroyed in the matter of a few seconds. For people not even adults to go through this it's a miracle they still appear to be sane. Well most of them do anyway

  Adrian jumps at every sound now. Even his own footsteps seem to startle him. His hands shake when he thinks no one is looking. Sometimes his lips move like he's arguing with someone who isn't there. Vera hides it better. She forces control into every movement, every breath. But control cracks. I've seen it in her eyes. The way they flick to the trees too quickly, the way she presses her jaw so tight it trembles. Lukas keeps looking over his shoulder. Not because he expects the monster. But because he expects someone to be missing.

  And Sofia

  Sofia doesn't look broken. She looks finished. That thought unsettles me more than the others. Because broken people cling. Finished people let go

  Soren was so similar yet so different from the rest. His heart still jumped at every snapped twig. His breath still shortened when the forest went too quiet. He still saw Elena's pitiful state in flashes when he blinked too slowly. But where the others cracked outwardly, Soren folded inward. He didn't think about home. He didn't think about friends he might never see again. He thought about probability. One at a time. That's how it was killing them. One at a time. That meant something no matter how small it meant something. A pattern, one that can be exploited for just a moment to live another day. Soren hated how quickly his mind accepted that logic. He didn't want to be the kind of person who calculated survival like that. But he was

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  They all feared dying, but Soren feared it the most. 'If someone had to be next-'

  No

  He shut the thought down immediately

  But it had already surfaced

  Already existed

  A quiet voice whispered

  ''Sofia''

  ''Better her than me''

  ''At least it'll take her before you''

  Disgusting thoughts. But are they? He hated himself for thinking it. But he never disagreed

  The sun was dipping low, brushing the forest canopy with streaks of orange and crimson. Shadows lengthened between the twisted trunks, and the air felt heavier, warmer, suffocating even. Soren didn't notice the colours at first. His mind was occupied. ''Sofia''

  He couldn't shake the thought of her. The way she had been trailing behind all day, silent, distant… and the look in her eyes when she hadn't responded to him earlier. The thought twisted his stomach, a mix of dread and irritation

  Without thinking, Soren's steps slowed. His eyes scanned the path behind the group, scanning the trees, the shadows, the movement of the others ahead. And then he saw it

  A flicker

  Not with the group. Not moving in rhythm with their trudging march. Sofia's silhouette lingered behind, just far enough that the shifting light of the sunset cast her in an elongated, eerie shadow. She wasn't walking. She was wandering, detached, almost drifting

  Soren's chest tightened. He couldn't explain why, but a low, urgent pull ran through him. He broke from the line of the group and moved toward her, branches snagging at his clothes, twigs snapping beneath his boots. His breath came in quick, shallow bursts, half from exertion, half from fear

  "Sofia," he muttered under his breath, not wanting to call too loudly. "Sofia, wait…"

  She didn't respond. She hadn't even noticed him. And the further he got, the more the rest of the group seemed like a distant memory, swallowed by the forest's growing shadows

  Something in him urged him forward, and he kept going, unaware of the fading sun behind him, unaware that the forest was shifting in ways that would not let him, or anyone leave once they stepped too far

  The group trudged forward, each step heavier than the last as the sun sank lower, bleeding streaks of orange and red through the dense canopy. The forest seemed quieter now, the earlier chaos replaced by a suffocating stillness. Shadows stretched unnaturally, twisting across the ground like dark fingers

  Then someone noticed

  "Wait… where's Sofia?" Adrian's voice trembled, barely audible over the crunch of leaves beneath their boots

  "She was just behind us," Vera replied, her eyes scanning the fading light desperately

  Panic began to ripple through the group. They spread out, calling her name, their voices harsh in the thickening air. Lukas ran ahead, his footsteps uneven, tripping over roots, hands clutching branches as he peered into every shadow. Adrian's breathing was ragged, frantic, as he shouted, "Sofia! Where are you?!"

  Soren's chest tightened, a low dread settling in his stomach. He pushed forward, scanning the gaps between the trees, the slivers of sunlight left before night fully claimed the forest. And then he saw it

  A shape, barely visible against a massive tree trunk, hanging silently. The wind shifted, and for a fraction of a second, the orange light of the sunset caught the curve of her body, swaying slightly

  "Sofia…" Soren whispered, his voice cracking. Every step toward her felt like wading through water, his stomach twisting violently

  The rest of the group stumbled into view behind him, their shouts catching in their throats as they realized what they were looking at. Adrian covered her mouth, stumbling backward, tears streaming freely. Vera's breath hitched, her hands trembling as she tried to reach her, but didn't dare move closer and Lukas sank to the ground, his lips trembling, tears plummeting down his face

  ''Y-You said you'd give my belt back''