Chapter 494

The trees stood like skeletal fingers, their branches clawing at the bruised twilight sky. Rain had slicked the forest floor, turning the path into a treacherous ribbon of mud.

Elara, her blonde hair plastered to her forehead, felt a laugh bubble up, high and brittle, a sound that seemed foreign even to her own ears. "Silly," she said to the dense undergrowth, the word tasting like ash.

Her friends, they had wanted to see if the old tales were true; the stories about the woods that devoured souls, the whispered warnings to stay away, she was dragged into the madness like always. Liam, ever the brave one, had scoffed, of course.

"Just silly myths to scare kids," he had declared. But then there was his smug look that seemed to have vanished, or did she not know where the group had gone?

Now? All were lost and they should pay. Elara's boots made squelching noises as she walked, each step echoing the hollowness that had taken root inside her.

The air was thick with the smell of wet earth and decaying leaves, and it seemed to seep into her, becoming part of her. "Where are you all?" she called out.

Silence answered her. It pressed in from all sides, an oppressive force that threatened to crush her.

This quiet was no natural thing. She remembered the last moment she'd seen any of them; Freya's bright red hair against the muted green of the trees.

Freya had giggled as they had moved on to search for other 'signs' of this forest's 'past.' A giggle now that seems almost taunting.

But it was long ago. Then there had been Ben.

Always the serious one. His constant checking of the map, never a trace of doubt.

Or was that an annoying sigh that passed from his lips? A trace of annoyance always into his pale complexion.

And poor old Sam; who seemed only to have agreed because no one was listening to him. His awkward shuffling steps seemed only for a moment, but where was he now?

Where were they all now? It had only been a few hours before.

Then. And now everything was just the deep shadows and the smell of things that died and returned.

Elara had always liked these woods, with her always returning. There was something in them, something in this specific wood that made her feel a sense of kinship, it was like an old forgotten friend.

Elara ran her fingers across the bark of an ancient oak, its surface rough and gnarled like an old woman's hand. This place… this was her place, always has been and always will be, hadn't it?

How could she have thought to bring these things here? The nerve!

The utter foolishness. It felt wrong, and these woods always have understood the weight of such an idea, so much disrespect she wouldn't forget so easily.

She started softly and turned down one of the game trails that had pulled at her mind's eye. The sound wasn't musical, just a vibration in her throat, almost feral.

A twig snapped. Her heart jumped but when her head twisted towards it, nothing was there.

"Playing games now, are we?" Elara's tone taking on a darker note. She laughed again but not the fragile, high pitched laugh, this time it was low and almost guttural.

She liked the way it felt, the power of such sound was very new, but like a part of her all along. It wasn't long before her foot found another break of twigs.

Her hand instinctively clenched the branch that had fallen and snapped clean and clear. A perfect spear it could be!

"Show yourselves, you know I'm not one to play anymore," Elara stated with newfound confidence and swagger. This woods always has changed those that have come before her and she'd be damned to think that wouldn't happen here with her.

The forest remained indifferent, the silence more pronounced after her challenge, and that silence gave something deep inside her great pleasure. She went off again and as she was moving towards a thicker patch, she saw a small red ribbon, tied to the base of a tree.

Her heart skipped a beat, recognising the ribbon. It was from Freya's favourite scarf and had gotten lose the last time.

Or at least she believed she was Freya? It felt so far away. "Found you," Elara muttered, her face drawn in a mad smile.

It was just the scarf that was here; yet her hands shook and twitched, and her mouth moved with that same sick smile. She moved further towards a stream she noticed further on and she could finally catch a small glimpse of them.

They weren't looking for her though. No no.

It appeared like they were doing some type of spell! Disgusting and disrespectful to the very heart of the woods.

She must correct them; that's all she had to do and the forest agreed. She stalked closer, staying behind the shadows like the creatures this wood bred, like her own nature which was coming to form and meet her.

It took little to weave around the old growths, the paths almost came as though they wanted her. Then, she saw them; a miserable group of huddled forms.

Liam was nervously turning towards the east, Ben still fiddling with that ridiculous map, and then there was the most infuriating one, the worst one out of all of them; it was Freya and her ridiculous hand movements.

The gestures of whatever ridiculous spell they were working. "Such a lovely little… ceremony," Elara said.

"I do hope you aren't trying to play tricks here." Elara's sound made Liam jump up from the spot.

But none of the others turned their gaze her way as their own eyes seemed far too consumed in the ceremony before them. Her lips were cracked from dryness.

Or were they bleeding? "Elara!" Liam exclaimed, clearly relieved by her sight as she approached them all.

The relief washed from his face as her smile only widened, her eyes had a glassy look that held something akin to joy. "Liam, stop staring at me, I'm not one for such nonsense," Elara said.

"Focus, be with us. We've finally decided to become whole," Elara's eyes swept over the group, assessing the weak links with distaste.

"Isn't that right my old friends?" She tapped the spear in the mud, showing how it looked so refined, with a natural grace. Freya finally lifted her head and shook her bright red locks.

"Elara… what are you talking about? Let's go home." She looked like she'd just swallowed something sour and had taken another swig.

"You'd rather go back? Back to that world?" she tilted her head, an action like a mockingbird.

Elara laughed at them again. A dry sound that spoke of malice and anger that was more directed inwards.

"I refuse that fate for any of us now! My friends" She placed a hand over her heart as though some profound sorrow had found its home there.

Then it quickly, back to the joy. Before they could make sense of the madness that seemed to surround Elara, she moved.

There was no sound to announce it, she was on top of the Freya and plunged the spear right through her exposed rib cage. The others did not seem like they could see anything at that moment.

It was pure horror upon their faces and nothing more. Elara giggled.

"You should be honored." Freya gargled a gurgled scream and collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, her limbs at unnatural angles, a disturbing, twisted tableau.

Elara looked on like an artist viewing her final stroke and moved, swift and sudden to where Liam was only able to take a small stumble back before her next move. She buried her hand into his mouth and pulled him towards her as she shoved her weapon in through the side of his neck.

Almost separating his spine from the skull. Ben screamed.

A moment ago. They had been her friends.

What a joke it is to say such things; had this been it? Had they ever been friends?

"Are we nearly whole, yet?" Her voice barely contained the savage excitement; this must be why they told all those tales.

This power and knowledge seemed divine. But maybe she has reached a new divinity?

Is that possible? Maybe! Ben, the final one, his mouth gaped, eyes filled with the understanding of the depths of Elara's transformation.

A from something mundane to some unholy terror. "Elara… please" he stammered, words choked with disbelief.

He tried to make some type of space between them, only to end up tumbling down on to some jagged rocks, injuring his ankle severely. "Please?" she mirrored.

She enjoyed the sound, savoring each inflection. Her steps seemed calculated as though she wanted it to prolong in his agony.

"How sad." She moved in what seemed like a calm methodical manner to Ben, his broken leg only a small barrier for such a newfound presence.

She put her hand upon his head and began stroking it, looking towards him with what could be considered some pity but really just some sad and sick joke to an awful cosmic being who had put such a pathetic excuse before her. And then, without another word, she impaled him.

He let out his last breath of desperate pain and his body started twitching in the earth beneath her; as a final insult, she left the spear in him, enjoying every drop of life from each and every body she decided needed her so much.

And felt so grateful to accept the embrace of such kindness that came with true form. She tilted her head once again and made eye contact with the nothing of this forest.

And saw it turn and face the direction she could almost believe they still sat, waiting to be made into more of the heart. Hours later, as the moon took its hold over the now empty scene, a single bird sat on one of the tall skeletal branches.

Making no song and letting no sound leave, yet every soul, tree, bush, or thing within these woods understood; they knew Elara was changing again and that a deeper part had awoken inside her with a force that not even this earth has ever witnessed.

She walked on into the depths, knowing she finally found herself; but that is how all tragic tales happen. It was finally all made sense; for those tales were not the true horror and these tales here had shown it, they would speak of it now too.

But how could she believe a simple 'bad end' as something bad? How arrogant it would be to dismiss all of these great heights for such pathetic, human 'bad' terms.

The sky turned a pale, sickly yellow as dawn approached; she seemed taller and stronger as she slowly turned toward what lay behind. What had called to her earlier.

Something called as though it could make something, almost as good as what had just been done, but for herself? The possibilities were finally known, she could shape it into everything she'd always wanted and would make others, so jealous of her.

As her power spread wide into the forests. She looked up and she understood finally the vast scale of how grand everything is, all that can become everything else and finally understood all this.

This new skin of her nature felt so good. The birds stopped their calling and an almost oppressive silence hung and she finally stepped inside.

As though the trees around parted the ways. This was her now and not even the depths of the world around here could stop it, as it welcomed what was a part of its heart from the start, back into what made it finally understand.

This is only the beginning of her story and nothing else would happen here. But it has now understood that only the beginning.

Her life, her tale of terror is only finally at the starting point of greatness. Finally.

Finally.