The Spiral of Night

We left the clearing of the standing stones behind, but the forest grew no kinder. If anything, it seemed angrier, the trees bending low as though trying to crush us beneath their twisted limbs. The whispers became a symphony of torment, rising and falling like a macabre melody.

I concentrated on the faint pulse of the shard in my pack, steady and grounding in its rhythm, though its glow had dulled since the last battle. Whatever power it contained, I was afraid it wasn't infinite.

Lira urged us onward, her voice a sharp contrast to the murmurs of the Wraithwood. "Eyes forward. Keep your formations tight. We'll make it through this."

None of us believed that anymore.

As the way twisted on, the air thickened with oppressive darkness. The light from the soldiers' torches barely penetrated the gloom, and even Lira seemed to falter.

Then we heard it—a sound unlike any we had encountered in the forest so far. It was deep, resonant, and mournful, like a horn blowing from the heart of the world.

"What was that?" Rykard asked, his hand tight on the hilt of his sword.

Lira didn't answer right away. She scanned the darkness, her face unreadable. "It's a warning," she said finally.

"A warning from what?" I asked, though I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to hear it.

Before she could get it out, the ground was shuddering beneath our feet.

"Move!" she shouted.

We pushed forward, the ground lurching as the earth seemed alive. Behind, the shadows were coming, coalescing into form. It stood monstrous size, vaguely human in shape but long-limbed and worse, a void where a mouth should have been.

The doppelganger spirits, frightening as they had been, were nothing by comparison to that.

"Run!" Lira shouted.

We followed, running down the trail as the beast gained upon us. Its step was slow, but purposeful, and with every step, the ground shook as in an earthquake.

The path led us to another clearing, but this one offered no refuge. In the center was a pool of dark water; its surface was perfectly still, though chaos swirled around us. The whispers turned to screams, telling us to turn back, to give up our journey.

There was no turning back.

Lira stopped with a skid, her eyes flicking between pool and advancing creature. "We make our stand here," she said, drawing sword.

"Against that?" Rykard said, pointing. "Are you mad?"

"We don't have a choice," I said, pulling shard from pack. Its glow flared briefly, but it felt weaker than before.

The creature reached the edge of the clearing, its void-like face turning toward us. It let out a low, guttural sound that made my teeth ache.

"Spread out!" Lira commanded. "Keep it distracted!"

The soldiers fanned out, their weapons at the ready. Lira and I moved toward the pool, its surface rippling faintly as we approached.

"What are we doing?" I asked, my voice tight with fear.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But that pool… it's connected to this thing. I can feel it."

The creature lunged, one of its massive limbs slamming into the ground where Rykard had stood moments before. He rolled to the side, barely avoiding being crushed.

I knelt by the pool, holding the shard over its surface. The water responded, glowing faintly as if in recognition.

"Lira," I said, "I think this is its anchor."

"Then destroy it," she said, blocking one of the creature's limbs with her sword.

I hesitated. The shard trembled in my hand, its light flickering. Destroying the pool might end the creature, but it could also unleash something worse.

"Do it!" Lira shouted.

Gritting my teeth, I plunged the shard into the water.

The effect was instantaneous. The pool erupted in a column of light, the energy ripping through the clearing. The creature let out an ear-shattering roar; its form unraveling into a twisting mass of darkness.

Soldiers fell to the ground; shielding their eyes from the brightness. I felt a stream of power course through me and the shard's energy merge into my own.

When the light faded, the pool was gone, leaving only a patch of scorched earth. The creature had vanished, its presence erased.

But the forest remained.

Lira helped me to my feet, her expression grim. "That was only one of them," she said.

I nodded, my grip on the shard tightening. The Wraithwood wasn't done with us yet.

And neither were the horrors it held.