Chapter 3 — The Cracks of Light
The three friends walked deeper into the forest, searching for any sign of a path.
But every direction looked the same—tall trees, thick roots, and strange silence.
It felt like the forest had swallowed them.
Max wiped sweat from his forehead.
"We just need to keep walking straight. We'll hit the edge eventually."
Ella shook her head.
"What if the forest doesn't have an edge?"
Leo didn't say anything, but he felt the same fear rising inside him.
Something was wrong here.
Wrong in a way that felt too big to understand.
Then, it happened.
A soft white spark appeared in the air beside a tree.
Just a small point of light at first.
Ella noticed it first.
"What… is that?"
They approached slowly.
The spark grew into a thin crack —
like someone had cut the air with a glowing knife.
The crack stretched sideways, gently shaking like a thread of lightning trapped in place.
Max whispered,
"This is not normal…"
More cracks appeared.
Soft glowing lines formed between the trees, floating with no support.
They crossed each other, forming shapes and symbols.
Leo's heart pounded.
He had drawn these shapes before.
Every single one.
They lived inside his sketchbook, in the margins of his school notes, even on the back of old receipts.
He stepped forward without realizing.
Ella grabbed his hand.
"Leo, wait."
But he didn't stop.
His hand lifted slowly, like something was guiding it.
He reached toward one glowing crack.
Just before he touched it—
The air shook.
The ground trembled.
The sky flickered like a broken lightbulb.
Ella screamed and stumbled back.
Max shouted,
"Leo, get away from it!"
But Leo couldn't move.
His body felt frozen, locked in place.
The crack expanded suddenly—
stretching into a long glowing line, then bending and curling like a living creature.
More cracks burst open all around them.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Lines of pure light.
Symbols from Leo's drawings.
Shapes that felt ancient, powerful, and far beyond human understanding.
Ella covered her ears as a humming sound filled the air.
Max pulled her close, fear clear in his eyes.
Leo felt something different.
He wasn't scared.
He felt… recognized.
Like the symbols were calling out to him.
Like they knew him.
His chest tightened.
Something deep inside him whispered—
"You've seen this before…"
The cracks expanded again, brighter and brighter, forming a strange pattern in the air —
a circular arc, almost like a doorway.
Ella whispered shakily:
"What… what is happening to us?"
Max stepped forward, angry and scared.
"Leo, tell me you don't know what this is!"
Leo didn't answer.
Because part of him did know.
Not a memory—
a feeling.
A pull.
A welcome.
A connection older than his own life.
The cracks grew one last time…
And a soft wind blew from them, carrying the scent of something not from this world.
Ella clutched Leo's arm tightly.
"Leo… I'm scared."
Leo swallowed hard.
"I think… something is trying to show us the way."
And the glowing cracks pulsed, as if responding to him.
Whatever was about to happen,
their journey had already begun.