The rumble of the airlock was still echoing when we were signaled to advance. The recruits of Omega Squad marched in silence, each swallowing their fear like a cough drop.
The capsule awaited us. A black metal cylinder, clad with reinforcements, as wide as an entire room. Its hull was engraved with strange markings, relics or symbols. It looked like a giant coffin, ready to swallow its occupants.
Asmara entered first, her chin held high, her eyes fixed straight ahead. Behind her, the veteran and the others followed mechanically. I stood for a moment at the threshold. The air coming out of the capsule had a burning smell, like a burning cable, almost like blood on rust.
Joy slapped me on the shoulder.
- Are you going up or are you staying here?
Without answering, I climbed up.
Inside the capsule
The interior was cramped, crammed with metal seats bolted to the floor. Each seat was fitted with a harness, as if preparing to face an endless fall.
I hope we don't get propelled.
We sat down in silence.
The veteran, the one who was to lead us, locked the door behind us. His face was closed, impenetrable.
- Buckle up, it's going to be rough. Leave immediately.
The sharp click of the seatbelts echoed through the capsule. I felt the vibration of the engines, and then the ground gave way beneath us. The capsule plunged into the underground rails at breakneck speed.
A constant rumble filled the air, mixed with irregular tremors. The lights crackled, casting our pale faces in intermittent flashes.
Asmara stared impassively into space. The new disgust nervously tapped her knee. Surprise bit her lip until it bled. Only the newbies had tension in their lips, including me, the ridiculous "Great Chief Roum."
I took a breath and turned to joy
- Does anyone really know what's in this forest?
A silence. Then joy answered, her voice strange:
-it seems that before our civilization very far in the past mortals thought that the earth was round and that their life was ephemeral, this forest was a place of misfortune where most perished during the war against the holy people from overseas and is therefore lama of all it is horrible thing that they did, they refused our creative mother and their soul was transformed and developed, condemned to live eternally in this form in suffering, we can say that they are the ancestors of the "Transemotional"
- Nonsense, spat Asmara without even turning her head. They're Transemotional. Nothing more.
- You know how to talk, replied the new Surprise. And those who disappear, he was like you, stupid
Asmara clenched her jaw but didn't answer.
Cracks in the group
The journey lasted a long time. Too long. The mechanical noise was becoming unbearable, like claws scraping a wall in our skulls. The heat rose to my head and made me want to vomit.
Joy leaned towards me.
- Are you okay? she whispered
"Fair enough," I breathed. "Not now."
Asmara turned her head slightly, her profile silhouetted against the flashing red light.
- Yet another useless person who wants to be a leader, she said calmly. Then prepare yourself for that role
The tension was so high that we could hear our breaths catching together.
Why does she hate me so much?
The sudden stop
Suddenly, the capsule shook violently. A dull, metallic thud echoed as if something had struck the hull.
The veteran didn't flinch. He checked his instruments, then growled:
- We're getting closer.
The speed slowed. The ground still vibrated, but less strongly. Then, a sharp thud: the capsule stopped.
The silence, after all the noise, was deafening.
The veteran stood up, his boots thumping against the floorboards. He approached the door.
- End of trip. You get off here.
- And you? Joy asked.
He turned to her, his eyes cold as two blades.
- I'm waiting. If you come back alive, I'll take you back. If not... well, I'll go home.
Without waiting, he punched the control. The door split in two, releasing a blast of icy, humid air.
I stepped out first, my legs still numb from the journey. Before me stretched a wall of black mist and trees whose tops could not be seen. The capsule had stopped on a rusted metal platform. Beyond, a ground covered with dark roots and dry leaves.
The Forest of Shadows.
It rose like a plant prison, trees so tall that their tops disappeared into the mist. The trunks almost touched each other, leaving not enough space to pass in a group. Every breath of wind made branches crack.
Joy came out in turn, her handle activated and her goggles glowing. She looked around, wary.
-We're setting up camp here.
- On this platform? protested the disgust of our squad. Right next to the capsule?
"She won't leave without us," Asmara said. "And we can venture further into the dark."
Joy gritted her teeth, but didn't answer.
Asmara's group, the Omega Squad, moved away early with Asmara in the lead, I stayed behind with the new recruits.
A fire was built as best they could. The wood seemed damp inside, but cracked like dry wood, but luckily it finally caught fire under the insistence of the sparks. The flickering light cast distorted shadows on the surrounding trunks.
I sat by the fire, staring into the flames. The air was thick with strange smells: moss, earth, and something more pungent.
Joy spoke, her voice hard.
- Rule number one: no one goes anywhere alone. Not even to pee.
She scanned the group.
- Rule number two: if you hear a call, a voice, whatever... you don't answer it. Understood, we only communicate with the microphones.
The recruits nodded, including me.
Joy glanced at me. Her lips moved soundlessly: We're going to succeed.
I didn't answer
The discomfort
Night fell quickly, at least on our watches, because the sky here as in the pit is eternally black, gray and dark. Even the fire seemed to struggle to pierce this blackness.
The recruits tried to sleep in small groups, two of them watching while the rest slept, in turns, but the incessant creaking kept us all awake. It was as if the forest was slowly closing in, tightening its grip.
Fear suddenly whispered:
- Do you hear?
We froze.
A sound came from the trees. Not a scream, not a roar. A whisper. Faint, distant, but distinct. Like a voice.
Joy jumped up, weapon pointed.
- Nobody moves. Nobody answers.
The whisper continued, slipping through the trees like a breath. It sounded like a name. Mine.
My heart stopped dead.
Joy stared at me, horrified.
- Did you hear it?
I nodded, unable to speak.
A blurry figure hidden behind the trees kept whispering, moving from left to right like a child playing hide and seek, staring at us from its hiding place.
Scary glared at me.
- ignore them.
Of course I was going to ignore him, why should I answer him.
The silence returned, heavy, suffocating. But the voice... I could still hear it, lurking deep in the forest.
I knew then that the Forest of Shadows was the worst decision I could have made. As if I didn't already know that.
We found ourselves huddled around the fire, one against the other, the capsule next to us giving us a semblance of security.