Three days had passed since we left the Mourner's Tomb. Three days of constant travel, taking us ever deeper into the heart of this wilderness. The terrain changed once again. The arid pebble field was far behind, giving way to another forest, but this one was unlike any we had passed through.
If the Bone Forest was a place of eerie stillness and the silk maze a place of lurking silence, this place was a realm of absolute muteness.
Kael had called it the "Whispering Forest," but the name was a cruel irony, because there wasn't a single sound here. No birdsong, no buzzing insects, no wind whistling through the leaves. Even our footsteps on the thick, damp layer of leaves were strangely muffled, as if an invisible curtain was absorbing all sound. This silence was even more oppressive than the stillness of the Silent Garden. It wasn't natural. It was an emptiness, a terrifying absence.
The trees here were tall and straight, with canopies of dark green, almost black, leaves, woven so densely that they blocked out nearly all sunlight. The forest floor was plunged into a state of perpetual twilight. A thin, cold mist always hovered about a meter off the ground, making the scenery even more gloomy and spectral. The air was damp and smelled of mold and cold earth.
The strangest part was the "whispers." They weren't real sounds the ear could hear. They were thoughts, fragments of memories, and stray emotions that crept directly into your mind. They were like psychic static, the echoes of countless beings who had once lived and died here.
"So cold..." a faint voice echoed in my head.
"Where is it? I can't see it..." another, filled with panic.
"Mommy..." the whimpering cry of a child.
"Run... hurry..." a desperate warning.
These whispers repeated, overlapping one another, a chaotic chorus of fear, loss, and pain. They invaded the mind without warning, trying to draw out our deepest fears.
Kael and Elara were suffering, too. Kael, who was used to the silence of the wilderness, looked the most uncomfortable. He kept shaking his head as if trying to fling off the invisible sounds. I saw him muttering names, perhaps those of comrades fallen in the past, as the whispers dredged up his painful memories.
Elara seemed to be coping slightly better. She had woven small charms from grass and twigs, which she fastened in her hair and gave one to both Kael and me. These charms created a weak mental shield, not blocking the whispers completely, but making them more distant, like echoes from another room instead of voices right inside your head.
"Trapped spirits," she explained through gestures and by scribbling on a piece of bark. "This forest... it feeds on the memories of those who come here. It holds the final emotions of every creature that dies here. We must keep our minds strong, or we will become trapped too, just another whisper."
Her warning sent a chill down my spine. I tried to focus on the "Heart of the Forest." Its warmth was a solid anchor in the chaotic sea of emotions. My internal map was also affected. The path of blue light now flickered constantly, bright one moment and dim the next, like a candle in the wind. The entire Whispering Forest was covered in an ash-gray color, the color of apathy and despair.
Moving through this forest was mental torture. We didn't talk to each other; there was no need. We could feel each other's presence and emotions clearly. I could feel Kael's iron-clad determination, hidden beneath a shell of frustration. I could feel Elara's intense concentration as she used her will to maintain the magic shields. And I was sure they could feel my fatigue and fear.
After three days of struggling with the silence and the whispers, we were at our limit. We needed to rest, but sleeping in a place like this was unthinkable. The nightmares would become more vivid than ever when our minds were unguarded.
On the evening of the third day, we found a giant tree that had been struck by lightning, creating a large hollow at its base. It wasn't an ideal shelter, but it at least offered a sense of being enclosed. We sat huddled together in the hollow, sharing the last scraps of our food. The silence and the whispers seemed to grow even more intense in the darkness.
"I can't take this anymore," Kael suddenly said, his voice hoarse and weary. He hadn't spoken a word in nearly two days. "These voices... they're driving me mad." He buried his face in his hands, his broad shoulders shaking.
Seeing the strongest warrior I had ever known break down like that, a sense of despair began to creep into me. If Kael couldn't endure it, how could we?
Elara placed a hand on Kael's shoulder. She said nothing, just transmitted a sense of calm and empathy. Then, she looked at me. Her gaze was clear: "Do something. Use your stone."
I knew she was right. I couldn't just rely on it for directions. I had to learn to use it, to control it. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and focused my entire mind on the "Heart of the Forest." Instead of just passively observing the map, I actively searched for a solution. "Silence," I commanded in my mind. "Give us silence. A refuge from the echoes."
The stone grew intensely warm, almost searing hot. The map in my mind vibrated. I pushed my will deeper into it, past the ash-gray fog. I searched, not for a blue or white light, but for a void, a "blind spot" in this field of psychic interference.
And I found it. A small area, not far from where we were, that was completely black on my map. An emptiness, a dead zone.
I opened my eyes, sweat pouring down my forehead. "Over there," I gasped, pointing in a direction in the darkness. "There's a place. No whispers."
Kael lifted his head, a flicker of hope in his eyes. No one questioned it. We immediately got up and followed my lead. We moved faster, driven by the promise of release, however temporary.
After about fifteen minutes, we arrived. It was a small clearing, physically unremarkable. The trees were still dense, the mist still hung in the air. But the difference was unmistakable.
The moment we stepped into that zone, the whispers abruptly cut off. Severed. As if someone had just switched off a noisy radio. Real silence, a natural quiet, enveloped us. For the first time in three days, I could hear my own breathing, the actual rustle of leaves underfoot. It was the sweetest sound in the world.
All three of us let out sighs of relief. The invisible weight on our shoulders was lifted. Kael slumped down at the base of a tree, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes, savoring the peace. Elara smiled at me, a genuine smile full of gratitude.
We realized that in the center of this clearing was a flat, black rock, about hip-high. It was unremarkable, just an ordinary-looking basalt stone. But when I placed my hand on it, I felt it was strangely cold, and it seemed to be pulling in the energy from its surroundings.
"A Null-Stone," Elara realized. "A rare type of rock that neutralizes all forms of magical and psychic energy in a small radius. It creates a 'mute' zone around itself. It's unbelievable you found it."
That night, we had our first real sleep in days, right beside the Null-Stone. For the first time, we built a small fire, not for warmth, but for light and a sense of security. The dancing flames chased away the shadows, and the peaceful silence allowed our minds to finally rest.
We sat around the fire, not speaking much, but the silence this time was a comfortable companionship. Kael was cleaning his axe, a habit that calmed him. Elara was reorganizing her pouches of herbs. I simply stared into the flames, letting their warmth chase away the chill that had seeped deep into my bones over the last three days.
The confrontation with the Whispering Forest had taught us another important lesson. The enemy wasn't always a monster with fangs and claws. Sometimes, the most dangerous enemy was the weakness within our own minds. And to defeat it, we needed to rely on each other, not just for physical strength, but for mental fortitude as well.
The next morning, as we prepared to leave our oasis of peace to once again face the whispers, our mood was completely different. We were rested. We were recharged. And most importantly, we knew we could get through it.
Before leaving, Kael placed his hand on the Null-Stone. "Takk," he said quietly, not to a god, but to the stone itself. A simple gesture, but it showed the change in him. He was learning to respect the unseen powers of this world.
As we stepped out of the 'mute' zone and the whispers returned, they were no longer as terrifying. They were still there, annoying and somber, but they had lost their power to stir fear within us. We had faced them and found a refuge. Now, they were just background noise, a part of the journey we knew we would overcome. The path of blue light in my mind had also become more stable. I could see the way out of this forest, only about half a day's journey more.
We continued walking, Kael in the lead, Elara at the rear, and me in the middle. Three figures moving silently through the twilight forest, no longer swayed by the echoes of the past, but heading toward the future, toward Tel'Adria.