SHADOWS

The night was cold, and the moon cast a pale light on the path where Naru, Kaito, and their small escort were walking. The air was thick, filled with the scent of damp leaves and something reminiscent of iron—the smell of old, forgotten places.

They traveled through a dense forest, somewhere on the border between worlds, where the lines between reality and myth blurred. Their destination was an ancient temple hidden in the mountains, which Kaito claimed might hold clues about the artifact.

"I don't like these places," one of the warriors in the escort muttered. "Feels like we're being watched."

"That's because we are being watched," Kaito replied calmly, without looking back. "These are the territories of the old guardians. They may have vanished long ago, but their presence never truly fades."

Naru walked silently beside him, scanning the dark forest with his gaze. He held a weapon in his hands—a long dagger carved with intricate symbols. His sharp hearing caught every sound, every snap of a twig under unseen feet.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" he finally asked, breaking the silence.

Kaito nodded. "As sure as I can be. If the records are accurate, the temple should be somewhere in these mountains. We might not find the artifact itself, but we could find something that points us in the right direction."

Naru smirked. "You know, you could've chosen something a little less mysterious for our first joint expedition after all these years."

Kaito chuckled. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

They continued forward, and the deeper they went into the forest, the denser and heavier the air became, as if they were pushing through invisible layers of time. The escort behind them grew more tense, sensing the same unseen pressure.

"Something's not right," Naru murmured, slowing his pace.

"Yeah," Kaito agreed. "Something is shifting."

Then they heard it—a deep, muffled vibration coming from beneath their feet. As if the earth was breathing, as if something within it was awake and preparing to emerge.

Leila flipped through the dusty pages of an old book while Naru's cousin, Akihito, sat across from her, studying scrolls they had found on one of the shelves.

"So, you really came here just for work?" he asked suddenly, not lifting his eyes from the text in front of him.

"Yeah, believe it or not, it wasn't my life's ambition to end up in a yokai world, married to a prince," she answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Akihito smirked. "But now that you're here... what do you think? Is it as terrible as you expected?"

Leila paused for a moment. "Terrible? Not really. Exhausting? Absolutely. Naru constantly teases me, and on top of that, he expects me to help prove his innocence and find that damn artifact. Plus, everyone looks at me like I'm some kind of anomaly."

"Well, you are," Akihito said matter-of-factly.

Leila frowned. "Excuse me?"

He finally lifted his gaze and shrugged. "I mean, come on. You're a human in our world. And not just any human—you're the one rumored to be the key to discovering something that could change the balance of power. Of course people are watching you."

Leila sighed. "Great. Just what I need—more pressure."

They continued reading in silence, but gradually, the atmosphere became more relaxed. Akihito stopped acting like someone testing her patience, and Leila realized that beneath his slightly arrogant exterior, there was someone who was actually quite intelligent and... lonely.

"You know," she said after a while, "you and Naru should bury the hatchet."

Akihito shook his head. "It's not that simple."

"Oh, come on. Naru and I started this marriage with deception, and look at us now—we function. Sort of."

Akihito chuckled softly. "And how exactly do you plan to reconcile us?"

Leila winked at him. "I have my ways."

The ground beneath their feet trembled, and the air grew heavier, as if something invisible was pressing down on them. Naru instinctively raised his hand, signaling for everyone to stop. Kaito leaned on his sword, listening carefully.

"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly.

Naru nodded. "Something is moving beneath us."

Suddenly, the ground shuddered more violently, and from a crack between the tree roots, a thick mist began to rise. It was reddish, like the steam of boiling blood.

"This isn't natural," one of the warriors muttered.

"Of course it's not," Naru shot back, glancing at Kaito. "Still think this is just an abandoned temple?"

Kaito didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hand and traced invisible symbols in the air. A moment later, a shimmering network of magical lines appeared above the ground—a long-forgotten seal.

"Someone placed this here to protect whatever's inside," Kaito said.

"Or to keep us from entering," Naru added.

Before they could analyze further, something shifted within the mist—shadows, elongated and distorted, as if dark thoughts themselves had come to life.

"Get ready," Naru said, gripping his dagger tighter. "Looks like we're not alone."