WHISPERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CREATURES: The Shattered Path

Chapter 32: The Shattered Path

The words clung to the air like frost.

A place no one returns from.

The Hall fell silent. Even the air seemed to hesitate.

Lila's gaze remained locked on the spot where the figure had vanished, her mind unraveling with questions, fears, and something deeper—resolve.

Thorne stepped beside her. "We can find another way."

"No," Lila said quietly, but firmly. "There's no turning back now. I did break the Veil. I did change everything. Running won't undo that."

"But the Shattered Path" Niall began, his voice taut with worry.

"is my path now," she finished.

A beat passed. Then two.

"Then we're going with you," Niall said, eyes fierce.

Lila turned to him, emotion prickling her chest. "This isn't your burden."

Thorne's staff struck the floor with a soft thud. "No, child. It's all of ours. You may be the key, but we are not blind to the lock."

They stood together, a circle of purpose amidst a world unraveling.

Hours later...

The portal shimmered like cracked glass. Spidery lines of raw magic ran through it, pulsing with unstable light. It hissed when Thorne whispered the incantation, reluctantly opening.

"The Shattered Path," she murmured, "exists between time and truth. It bends memory. It warps reality. You must anchor yourself with something strong... or you'll lose who you are."

Lila nodded, gripping the pendant her mother had once given her. The one thing that had never lied.

She stepped through first.

And the world dissolved.

Darkness. Then sound. Then light.

But it wasn't light like sunlight. It flickered, dim and artificial, bleeding color like oil in water.

Lila landed hard on stone. Cold, wet, pulsing stone. Niall and Thorne tumbled in behind her, groaning.

They stood up slowly, the air heavy and thick with whispers.

They were in a corridor—no, a tunnel. Jagged carvings lined the walls, writhing when you looked too long. Doors pulsed with veins of light. Behind one, Lila could hear something breathing.

"Is this… time?" Niall whispered.

"No," Thorne said, her voice shaken. "It's between time."

The corridor seemed to twist as they walked, the floor tilting, shifting. The air grew colder. The whispers louder.

Then they reached a door.

This one had no carvings. No light. Just blackness.

Lila reached for it and her hand passed through.

A pulse of pain shot through her skull. Visions. So many...

Children crying. The Forgotten King on his knees. Herself, standing in two places at once.

"LILA!" Niall's voice yanked her back.

She gasped, stumbling backward. "It showed me... things. I don't think this place wants to hurt us. I think it wants to reveal us."

Thorne looked grim. "Then we must be careful. Truth is the sharpest blade."