The chant pressed in on all sides.
It rose from the villagers like a living thing, beating against the walls of the square, drumming into Ash's bones. The ground shimmered with the twisting black line that wound away into the misty forest.
Mira's lips were pale. "Do we… do we actually walk that?"
"Looks like we don't have a choice," Jayden muttered, his grin nervous
Windy shook her head hard, her eyes wide. "No... No way. This is messed up. We can't just..."
"We have to," Leo cut her off, though his voice cracked. His fists clenched at his sides. "You see them? They'll never let us leave if we don't."
Ash stared at the path. It wasn't just dark it pulsed faintly, like veins beneath skin, like water carrying something beneath it. Every instinct in him screamed to turn away. And yet the crowd's chanting pressed him forward.
The girl's warning rang in his head: Don't step where the shadows fall. That's where it waits.
But the villagers were watching. The mayor's eyes gleamed, Shulu's too-wide smile stretched across his face, and hundreds of pale masks bobbed with expectation.
Mira stepped first. Her foot hovered above the dark line, trembling, then pressed down.
The ground rippled. A faint hiss echoed through the square, like breath drawn into lungs.
Mira shivered but kept walking.
The others followed, one by one. Jayden muttered a curse under his breath, Leo's jaw was tight, and Windy moved stiffly, as though every step was against her will. Ash went last, his skin crawling as his boot touched the strange surface.
The moment he stepped on, the chant stopped.
Silence crashed over the square. The villagers stood still, masks tilted toward the group. Then, slowly, they bowed in unison, a single wave of bodies bending like reeds in the wind.
The saka raised his hands. "The path has accepted them. May the island guide their steps."
The crowd echoed the words, a low murmur. Then they fell silent again, watching.
Shulu gestured forward. "Walk, Do not look back."
So they did.
*******
The path wound through the village, cutting between houses, then sloping downward toward the forest. The mist thickened as they walked, curling around their ankles. The air smelled damp, heavy with earth and salt.
No one spoke for a long time. The only sound was their footsteps, echoing strangely on the dark line.
Finally Jayden broke the silence. "Okay, so… anyone else feel like this thing is alive?"
Windy hugged her cloak tighter. "Stop talking."
Mira glanced over her shoulder nervously. "They're still watching."
Ash turned. She was right.
At the edge of the square, the villagers hadn't moved. They stood perfectly still, pale masks glowing faintly in the mist, their faces turned toward the group. Even from this distance, Ash felt the weight of their gaze.
He faced forward again quickly.
The path led them into the trees. The forest swallowed them whole branches arching above like ribs, leaves dripping with mist. The further they walked, the darker it became.
That was when Ash noticed something strange.
The shadows didn't fall right.
Branches moved in the wind, but the shadows they cast didn't match. Some bent in the wrong direction. Some lingered too long after the branch had swayed away. And some didn't belong to branches at all.
He stopped, heart hammering.
The girl's voice echoed in his head: Don't step where the shadows fall.
"Ash?" Mira whispered. "What is it?"
He shook his head quickly. "Nothing. Just… keep walking."
But his eyes stayed fixed on the ground.
The shadows pulsed faintly, like breathing.
****
They walked for what felt like hours. The path twisted deeper into the forest, always shifting just enough that Ash lost all sense of direction. The mist grew thicker until the trees ahead were just silhouettes.
Windy broke first.
"This is insane," she snapped, her voice shaking. "We can't just keep walking into nowhere! What if this doesn't even end? What if this is just some… some trick?"
"No trick," Jayden said, though his voice lacked conviction. "They wouldn't.." He cut himself off, glancing at Ash.
Ash knew what he had almost said: They wouldn't send us to die.
But the truth was, none of them could be sure.
Mira's hands tightened on her cloak. "Maybe if we keep going, we'll find out what this is about."
"Yeah, or maybe we'll find out what's waiting for us," Windy muttered.
As if summoned by her words, the forest shifted.
The chanting began again faint, distant, carried on the mist. But it wasn't behind them. It was ahead.
Ash froze. The others did too.
The sound was low, rhythmic, the same words the villagers had spoken in the square. But now it was warped, slower, deeper, like it was coming from beneath the ground.
Then the shadows moved.
They stretched across the path, long and sharp, though no branches swayed above. They pooled together, blacker than the soil, forming shapes that almost looked like hands.
Ash's breath caught.
"Don't step where the shadows falls," he whispered.
The others looked at him sharply.
"What?" Mira asked.
Ash swallowed. "Someone… someone warned me last night. Said not to step in the shadows. Said that's where it waits."
Windy's face drained of color. "It?"
Leo's fists clenched. "We don't have time for riddles. Either we keep going, or we turn back."
"We can't turn back," Mira said softly. "Didn't you see them? They would never let us."
The chanting grew louder, surrounding them. The shadows rippled again.
Ash's throat tightened. He knew they had to move. But now every step was a choice light or dark, safe or doom.
And as the path stretched deeper into the mist, he couldn't shake the feeling that something beneath it was waiting for them to make the wrong move.
****
The group pressed on, the forest closing tighter around them.
And somewhere in the distance, faint but clear, came the sound of water rushing.
Not a river. Not the sea. Something heavier, slower, like the endless weight of black water rising to the surface.
Ash's skin crawled.
Whatever waited for them, the path was leading straight to it.