CHAPTER 57: 54: FALL.

Edward jolted upright, heart racing.

He whipped his head toward the others.

Aria and Rowan were arguing mildly about mana flow. Calen stood vigil near the trees. Selene was examining glowing residue on the ground.

They looked normal.

Perfectly normal.

But his skin crawled. His breath came too fast. The whisper echoed again inside his skull—

"...not real..."

He clenched his fists, trying to steady himself.

"I’m imagining things," he muttered.

But the wind rustled again, brushing the flowers in a wave—

—and every single blossom turned toward him at once.

Just for a heartbeat.

Then forward again.

Edward couldn’t stop staring at the flowers.

He didn’t want to—god, he didn’t—but every time he tried pulling his gaze away, something tugged at the edge of his awareness, dragging his attention back to those softly swaying petals.

Just flowers, he told himself. Just the breeze. Just the grove.

But the whisper from before kept echoing in his skull, soft as breath, sharp as a needle.

don’t trust what you see...

He swallowed hard.

The others were still moving normally. Calen was sharpening his sword with careful precision, Rowan was kneeling by a tree root glowing faintly with mana, Aria was sketching something in the dirt with a stick, and Selene was documenting the mana trail on parchment.

Totally normal.

Perfectly normal.

Too normal.

Edward rubbed his arm, trying to shake off the crawling sensation under his skin. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking slow breaths.

In. Out. In—

A hand touched his shoulder.

Edward jumped so hard he nearly bit his tongue.

"Woah—easy." Rowan crouched beside him, brows raised. "You good?"

Edward stared at him. Rowan looked... fine. His hair a messy auburn curtain, eyes their usual molten gold, expression his usual mix of amusement and concern.

Except—

There was something wrong with the way the light hit him. His outline blurred faintly, like heat haze around a mirage.

Edward blinked, and it vanished.

Rowan didn’t notice.

"Aria thinks we can push another half-day if we rest fifteen more minutes," Rowan said. "We just need to—what are you looking at?"

Edward wasn’t aware he’d been staring.

He tore his gaze away.

"N-nothing. Just tired."

Rowan didn’t look convinced, but he let out a sigh and patted his shoulder. "You did almost die, you know. Twice. So... fair enough."

Edward tried to smile.

It didn’t reach his eyes.

Rowan stood and walked back to the others.

Edward watched him go—and suddenly—

Every footstep Rowan took made no sound.

None.

The ground was covered in soft moss, yes, but even then—Rowan was heavy. He always made noise when he walked.

Edward’s breath hitched.

He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the way his legs trembled. He approached the group, keeping close attention on every detail—their shadows, their expressions, the sway of their hair in the breeze.

The shadows were wrong.

They curved slightly toward him instead of away from the sun.

He felt sick.

"Edward?"

Selene turned toward him, brows furrowing.

"You look pale," she said softly.

Edward opened his mouth to speak—

—and the sunlight flickered.

Not dimmed.

Not shifted.

Flickered. Like a lantern running out of oil.

For a split second, the world dropped into darkness.

And in that half-second—

Edward saw it.

The trees were taller. The clearing was smaller. The flowers were gone. The ground was bare earth. The air was thick, suffocating, wrong.

And in the centre of the clearing—

A hulking shadow, shaped like something that should not exist, breathing quietly, tendrils crawling over the ground like roots.

Then—

Light snapped back.

Edward staggered backward, heart slamming against his ribs.

Selene reached toward him, alarm flashing through her eyes.

"Edward!"

He shook his head rapidly.

"No—no, no, no—did you see that?! Did any of you—?!"

The others looked around, confused.

"See what?" Aria asked, stepping forward. "Edward, slow down."

He pointed at the trees. "The clearing—it changed, it flickered—there was—something—something huge—!"

Calen was already at his side, steadying him by the arm. "You’re exhausted. Sit—"

"I’m not hallucinating!" Edward snapped.

Silence.

Then—

Ding.

A soft chime rippled through the air, but this time Edward didn’t hear it in his head.

Everyone heard it.

Aria stiffened. Rowan’s sword glowed faintly. Selene’s breath hitched. Calen’s grip tightened.

A shimmering ripple spread through the air around them—like a stone dropped into a perfectly still pond. The breeze stopped. Sound stopped.

The world froze.

Then a voice—not human, not beast, not anything natural—echoed through the clearing.

"Finally noticed?"

The trees around them bent—no, melted—and the sunlight shattered like glass.

Edward’s scream caught in his throat as the world peeled away like wet paint sliding down a wall.

And beneath the illusion—

Something massive opened its eyes.

Edward’s mind blanked for a heartbeat. Just one.

Then every hair on his body stood on end.

The air beneath the collapsing illusion turned colder—far colder than any forest breeze had the right to be. His skin prickled as if the world itself had taken a slow, deliberate breath right against his neck.

Aria was already shifting into a battle stance, her eyes scanning the bleeding world around them. "Defensive positions!" she barked. Her voice cracked—not with fear, but with the realization that whatever they were inside of wasn’t something even she had anticipated.

Rowan moved next, stepping in front of Edward with a speed he barely registered. His eyes glowed brighter than before—almost reptilian. "It’s trying to collapse the layer too quickly," he hissed. "It wants us disoriented."

Selene grabbed Edward’s wrist, pulling him closer. Her grip was firm, steady. "Stay with me," she whispered, and her voice—calm despite the nightmare unfolding—was somehow the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

Edward’s vision blurred around the edges as the clearing warped. Trees stretched like shadows at sunset, bending far beyond what wood should allow. The once-soft earth beneath their feet rippled like liquid.

Something moved beneath it. Slow. Massive. Aware.

Calen swore under his breath. "That... wasn’t a gravemite."

"No," Selene whispered, "it’s ancient."

Edward felt the words sink into his bones. Ancient. That meant powerful—older than the kingdom, older than their records, older than anything they were meant to encounter.

The rippling frost in the air thickened.

Then, beneath the mangled remains of the illusion, a second voice stirred.

Low. Vibrating through the dirt. Through their chests. Through their bones.

"...little dreamers...oh? that one looks promising."

Edward froze.

It wasn’t talking to them.

It was talking about them.

He felt looked at.

And as the last of the false clearing peeled away, the ground cracked open like a blinking lid—

Revealing the endless, darkness underneath, and in an instant, gravity pulled them down, making them plunge into the terrifying abyss.