Familiarity in the Murk

It's been 33 days since I and Marie left our home and ran inside this unknown land known as Murk. To be honest, it's getting kind of tiring now. Place after place, we wandered. Every time we decided to follow mountains, rivers, or anything, We ended up with either a dead end or a new bizarre territory to explore. It took us some time to adapt to living only on fruits and taking baths in the open air. Our clothes had started to smell, but we couldn't throw away our only option. Each step felt heavier than the last, burdened by exhaustion, and a cross thought arose: What if this place never ends and we keep wandering like this for the rest of our lives until we die? It's scary to think of that, but the only thing that kept me moving was my father's last words, which I truly believe in. He won't ask me to come here for no reason.

"When I do this, you get angry, and now you are leering at me, Elea." said Marie, sarcastically covering herself with arms.

She is completely naked, taking a bath by the waterfall in front of me, as I sat here on a rock and, without knowing it, was staring at her. Even she knows I will never look at her like that, but I was just observing something that caught my attention.

"It has grown even more since the time we came here." I said, gesturing towards her breasts.

"Really?" Marie said, holding her breasts and fondling them to check their volume from everywhere. "Then it must be DD cups now."

DD cups? How come her body is maturing so fast? Within one month, it reached one level above, and even her waist has beautiful curves around it, even though she is shorter than me in height. She'll look beautiful as a model.

"Come out now. We want to check that forest we saw in the mountains yesterday."

"Yes, just a minute."

Yesterday evening, the forest that grabbed our attention when we were at the top looked like an ancient archway, with long ivy tendrils that were twined and circled. Making it look like a proper entrance to the forest. We felt odd because we thought we saw light dimming inside of it. Every time we saw something like that, it always ended up as a new variant of some plant that glows. Let's see what it will be this time.

Marie pulls up her jeans and deftly zips them, and after lacing her shoes, she started picking up her stuff. I walked two steps ahead, but then Marie suddenly pulled me behind at her. I felt a jolt as it took me by surprise. My butt contacted her groin, and I could feel her breasts pressing on my back as she gripped me by the stomach.

"...Marie?" I said.

Marie leisurely rubs her crotch against my butt and brought her face forward from over my shoulders, gazing at me and my lips. I glanced at her too.

"What are you doin-" 

Before I could complete my sentence, I felt cold yet smooth, tender hands on my stomach, slowly climbing itself above, underneath my sweater.

"I never ask you because you always get angry. But now tell me, How many cups are these?" Marie said, groping my breasts. I was wearing Bra inside, but ignoring it, she had put her hands under them. I am feeling her hands fondling my breasts directly. She is holding them with care but isn't stopping the moments of her fingers over them, exploring it from all sides. While pressing it at intervals. It kinda tingles but I am not enjoying it as I feel like she is teasing on purpose for having lesser cups.

"**Sigh* Relax. It's not as big as yours. Just a C cup." I said it straightforwardly.

"It's not small, though."

"I know."

"Are you jealous about it, Elea?"

"Nope, why will I be?"

"I see."

"Yes. Now, can you let me go?" I said.

Letting go of my breasts, Marie slides her hands down from my stomach to my thighs. She gently moves her fingers over and then moves them behind over my butts, caressing cheeks with her palms.

"And what about here?"

*SLAP*

I straightened my clothes properly. After clearing my throat and setting my hair, I started walking.

"Yeah, so the entrance of that forest must be roughly 3 hours from here."

"Ouch! Ahh- This one was the hardest slap she has ever given me." Said Marie, picking up her bag, holding one palm on her cheek, and starts walking behind me. "I just wanted to tease her a little."

We strolled along the winding paths, laned by towering trees. It's afternoon now, but the atmosphere here is kind of gloomy. We finally reached a large fore-front of the forest that we saw yesterday.

"Damn, this sure looks like some ancient piece of work." said Marie.

"I know right." I replied. "Let's see what wonders this forest has for us."

"Yeah."

As soon as we started walking inside for the first time, I got an uneasy feeling about this forest. As if we are close to something. The path had little weeds growing but felt as if it had been made for travel purposes in the past.

"Elea.." Marie said, walking beside me.

"Yes?"

"Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in you and what your dad said, but what if this place never ends and we keep wandering like this forever? I mean, what if we never find what your dad wants us to find?"

She is having the same doubt as I was having in the morning. That's pretty understandable considering that she hasn't said anything like this in 33 days.

"I understand you, Marie. Even I was having that same doubt a while ago."

"I see."

"But you know, Marie, it's more than just what Dad said that pulls me ahead."

"Ohho, what is it?"

"I always wanted to explore Murk." I said.

"I know; you've said it multiple times in the past."

"Yeah, I used to say this since I was a child. Even when everyone used to say that people disappeared there, they never returned. Lost in an endless maze. Blah Blah, you know all sorts of rumours around this place."

"Yes."

"Then Elyana and I used to sit with books and talk about mysteries that must be lying here."

"I knew it. Both of you sisters were weird, but to this extent." Marie slides her laugh with that.

"Oiii, what do you mean?" I replied and continued. "So basically, no matter what we read or studied, there's one thing that was always confirmed in every story, every rumour, and every piece of writing that existed. Philosophers back in the very early days said this line.

"Which line?"

I stopped two steps ahead and turned my face towards Marie.

"Everything that has a beginning must also have an end." I said.

Marie looked at me for a few seconds with a warm smile, as if she saw a new light ahead of her.

"So don't worry. This place must end too, as nothing in the physical realm can go on forever in this universe." I said, patting Marie on her shoulders.

"Right."

"Let's move now."

"So comforting and motivating after slapping me first in the morning." Marie said, sarcastically remembering the slap she received after the tease she pulled on me.

"Haha. Do something like that again, and it'll be a punch next time." I replied.

"Ouch*"

Barely thirty minutes into our journey, the fog had begun to coil around us, slightly shrouding the path ahead of us.

"And here we go again: the rise of the Murkie fogie fwooosh swooosh."

Mari said, with her arms flying, circling in the air. She has started to do this like it's some ritual, every time the fog begins to rise, and I can't help but laugh at her every time she does that.

It didn't take much time for me, but as I was wearing a sweater, it suddenly hit me.

"Marie, Am I getting sick? Or the air here feels kind of humid or has too much moisture in it."

"Yes, now that you mention it, even I am feeling hot." Said Marie, shaking her collars of the hoodie.

Just then, I halted in my tracks, transfixed by something that I saw around us.

"Marie..." I said.

"Umm..what happened? Why did you stop?" Marie replied, looking confused. But it didn't take her a second to realise why I stopped. Even her eyes were filled with surprise.

The entirety of our journey so far in this untamed land, we had encountered no other living soul—no humans, no animals, no fish, no insects—yet suddenly, as if summoned by some unseen force, the fireflies rose into existence, illuminating our surroundings with their ethereal glow.

"Is this for real?" I said.

"Oh, my god. I can't believe my eyes." Marie expressed herself by walking around.

I gently lay my index finger ahead, hanging in the air. One of the fireflies lands on it with its lower abdomen glowing. I gazed at the fly for a few seconds, properly observing it as it sat still.

"It is real." I slowly murmured.

"..lea." Said Marie, "Elea!"

Lost in thought, I was jolted back to reality by the distant call of Marie, echoing faintly through the dense mist as she had walked a little bit further in excitement of fireflies.

"Yes, what happened.?" I walked quickly to her.

I saw her back from behind, frozen by witnessing something ahead.

"Look." said Marie, pointing her finger ahead.

"Wha-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I gulped in my words. It was in the heart of this forest that something familiar greeted our weary eyes.

"A rail track..." I said.

We see a rail track beginning in the middle of nowhere. From the overgrown greenery, its rusty surface is filled with moisture and tangled weeds. We slowly walked towards it, and not far away in the mist, we see an abandoned shed silently standing beside the rail tracks covered in foilage, with its windows shattered, giving off an eerie chill.