Keave, his gaze sharp with thought, looked at Rudra and Drace. "Our three friends… they've gotten separated from us in this strange forest. We have to find them."
A puzzled frown creasing his furrowed face, Keave added, "You all spread out to the other side of the forest. I'll search this side."
Without a second thought, Rudra's lips moved. "Are you some child of Captain America? You're really going to search for them alone in this strange forest? We'll all find them together.
Drace and I will come with you."
The sounds were growing louder, so much so that from all around the forest, piercing cries could be heard, as if the jungle itself was deliberately echoing these noises to confuse and mislead them.
Amid the tangled branches, the rustling that resonated deep within the heart continued to grow and spread.
Keave, with a steady expression and a deep voice, said, "Roxana is my responsibility. I don't want anything to happen to you because of us!"
Conflicting emotions surged in Rudra's delicate eyes. In a thin, strained voice, he said, "You don't consider us friends? Just because we've been apart for so many years doesn't mean we are nothing. Roxana was my friend first, and that gives me the right to find her first."
Keave's lips were trembling as if trying to form words… but all that remained was the trembling itself.
Mave said, "Vale and Casisan were my first enemies. I'll be the first to go find them."
Thursday's lips instinctively turned toward helping, but she had to lower them, seeing the dire situation unfolding.
With urgency, Thursday said, "We need to go in all four directions of the forest. We should split into four groups to search. Adrein and I will go to the right side of that strange mushroom-looking area in the forest, while Mave and Liam will go to the left. Keave, Drace, and Rudra will head toward the opposite side of the mushroom."
Liam's lips moved, "But who will go beyond the mushroom to the other side?"
Thursday's mind was stuck on the same thought. Suddenly, her lips trembled at the question, "Hnnnn… we'll need one more person, then we can split into two groups. But unfortunately, we're short by one."
Assuming she had misspoken, no one said anything to her laughing face.
Drace, expanding on the idea, said, "We should search the first three directions first. No one should go too deep into the forest because this place is strange. It would be alarming if any of you got lost. But Roxana, Vale, and Casisan are gone, and I'm confident they'll be fine."
Adrien, hearing Drace's words, nodded in agreement first.
"None of us will go alone in any direction. We'll need something that can leave a mark so we don't get lost," he said.
Keave, interrupting, asked, "Yes! But how will we leave a mark? We don't even have anything as bags."
tuned in the Understanding the matter point of urgency, Rudra and Mave said together, "You're right!"
Rudra muttered, "Is there anything we can use as a mark? Anything will do."
Adrien's ears were listening to everything. His eyes scanned the forest in all directions, thinking. He noticed that all the trees were covered with long, sharp thorns.
The pupils said, "The trees are covered with long, sharp thorns."
At the dolls' request, he took small, careful steps backward, approaching the tree. His soft fingers began to move forward to touch the thorn-covered bark… but suddenly, the metal bracelet hanging on his wrist struck the corner of the tree. The thorns dug into the metal
Suddenly, Adrien felt a heavy force push against his chest, as if some medium power had shoved him backward. His steps faltered, and for a moment, his mind went blank. The dolls moved toward the very tree he had stepped away from.
Some of the tree's surfaces had now bloomed. The thorns that scraped against his metal bracelet seemed to twist and transform into faceless, balloon-like shapes deep crimson and pulsating. Inside them, a strange motion continued endlessly. Eyes—countless eyes, half black, half red—blinked repeatedly across their surfaces. Around the "faces," petal-like shapes spread out like a strange flower.
Adrien stared closely, and horror dawned on him: it was a flower, but with human-like eyes and even a head. The sight shocked him so completely that a sharp, involuntary sound escaped his mouth.
"What… what is this?" he whispered, heart pounding.