When Corvis finally opened his eyes, the world around him looked... 'wrong.' The sky above swirled with impossible colors; deep purples and blues mingling with streaks of gold and crimson, as if someone had spilled ink across the heavens. The ground shimmered beneath his feet, every blade of grass and tree branch tinged with an unnatural glow. There was no sun, no moon, and yet the world was bathed in soft, eerie light, as if lit from within by some unknown source.
For a moment, Corvis thought he was still dreaming. 'Am I dead?' He blinked, rubbing his eyes. 'Or is this... something else?'
He forced himself to sit up, every movement slow and heavy with exhaustion. Nearby, his warhorse stood tied to a tree, pawing nervously at the ground. The beast's ears twitched, its large eyes reflecting the swirling sky above. Even the horse seemed unsettled by this strange place, its muscles tense, as if ready to bolt.
'Where are we?' Corvis frowned, the fragments of an old tale flickering in his mind. He'd read stories about places like this, places where reality twisted on itself, where the rules of nature no longer applied. 'The spirit realm.' Or something dangerously close to it.
"You're awake," came a familiar voice behind him.
Corvis turned, startled. There, crouching in the strange light, was Leon, busy carving runes into the dirt with the tip of his knight's sword. His armor clinked softly with every movement, and his expression was one of focused determination.
"How do you feel?" Leon asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Can you move?"
Corvis exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat upright. "I'll live," he muttered. 'Barely.' Seeing Leon alive and unharmed was a wave of relief strong enough to bring a rare, brief smile to Corvis's lips. 'At least the rescue wasn't in vain.'
But the unfamiliar landscape gnawed at him. He scanned the towering, ethereal trees, their leaves flickering like flames. "Is this... the same forest?" he asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.
Leon shook his head, giving an awkward smile. "No. Not exactly. I brought us into the Nightmare Forest," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I... panicked."
"Wait, what?" Corvis blinked in disbelief.
"When I woke up and didn't see Amon, I thought he was still hunting us," Leon explained. "The rune on your back hadn't stopped glowing, and I didn't know how much time we had. So... I figured the safest thing was to follow through with the original plan and bring us here."
"You... dragged me into the Nightmare Forest without warning?" Corvis groaned, rubbing his temples. 'This idiot.' But the frustration melted away when he remembered how close they'd come to dying.
Leon chuckled nervously. "Hey, in my defense, it worked, didn't it? Amon's not here, and we're alive." He gestured to the runes he was carefully etching into the ground. "And with these, I'll get us out of here soon enough. Just a bit more work, and we'll be on our way."
Corvis eyed the intricate lines Leon was drawing. "Miss Lola told you how to do this?" he asked.
Leon grinned. "Yeah. She could talk again once we crossed into this place. Guess being in the Nightmare Forest loosened something up for her." His expression turned more serious for a moment. "She also said Amon's in trouble now; he can't follow us here, not in the state he's in."
"Trouble?" Corvis muttered, his brows knitting together. 'Good. But that bastard's still alive.' He instinctively touched the back of his shoulder where the tracking rune burned faintly beneath his skin. Even now, it pulsed softly, a constant reminder that Amon's presence lingered somewhere out there, waiting.
Leon noticed the motion and shrugged. "See? I wasn't wrong to be cautious. Amon was in some... weird state when I last saw him, but he's alive. And knowing him, he'll come after us the first chance he gets."
Corvis let out a slow breath, the tension in his shoulders easing just slightly. "Yeah," he admitted. "You did the right thing."
Leon grinned. "Glad you think so."
Turning back to the runes, Leon continued carving with renewed confidence. "It's like they say, once you survive the first nightmare, the next one's just practice. I'll have us out of here soon, don't worry."
Corvis couldn't help but chuckle at that, shaking his head. "You're a reckless fool, Leon."
Leon looked over his shoulder with a grin. "Yeah, but I'm your reckless fool. And I promised to get you out of here in one piece, didn't I?"
Despite everything, the exhaustion, the danger, the swirling sky above; Corvis felt a flicker of warmth in his chest. 'At least they were alive. And together.'
Whatever came next, they'd face it. 'And this time, they'd be ready.'
Corvis's skin prickled as the familiar pulse of the tracking rune burned against his back. 'It was still active.' That could only mean one thing: 'Amon was alive.'
The knowledge filled him with unease, but Leon didn't seem worried. In fact, the other boy wore a look of calm detachment, as if this was just another passing annoyance.
"If he's alive after what happened, it's hardly better than being dead," Leon muttered without even looking up from the rune he was carving into the ground. Though he hadn't seen the horrifying spectacle Miss Lola described, Leon trusted her judgment completely.
"Alive... but barely?" Corvis echoed, still trying to wrap his mind around it. He frowned, shooting Leon a sideways glance. "Was that your doing? Did you use some kind of magic other than your projection spells? I mean, I know you can fight, but this seemed... different."
Leon snorted and shook his head. "I wish I could say it was, but no. This one's on Amon himself." His fingers traced sharp, precise strokes across the dirt as he etched a new symbol, the knight's sword glinting in the strange light of the Nightmare Forest. "Maybe the guy just messed with the wrong magic. Honestly, I don't know exactly what happened."
Corvis raised an eyebrow. "You have 'no' idea what happened? Not even a guess?"
Leon shrugged, his expression indifferent. "Not really. Once we crossed into air, I blacked out. I thought Miss Lola might've saved me, again, but she denied it outright."
He paused, recalling the conversation he'd had with Lola upon waking, her voice cool and sardonic in his mind.
"What nonsense are you spouting? I can barely keep myself from fading out of existence in the mortal world, how could I possibly fend off that fool's spiritual magic on your behalf?"
The memory of her words made Leon smirk as he carved another sigil into the earth. "If it wasn't Lola, it must've been Amon. He tried to use spirit magic and bit off more than he could chew."
Corvis tilted his head. "Bit off more than he could chew?"
Leon's eyes flicked up from his work, and a hint of dark amusement curled his lips. "Yeah. According to Lola, when you mess with uncontrolled spirit magic, one of two things happens: 'Either you die... or worse."
"Worse?" Corvis asked warily, feeling the hair on his arms stand on end.
Leon stopped his carving for a moment, his gaze distant as he recounted what Lola had told him. "If you survive a failed spirit spell, it might mean you've become a beacon, something that draws demons from the spiritual world straight to you." His voice dropped, making Corvis shiver. "Or you become the rift yourself. You connect to the spirit realm like a gateway, creating a new field where the boundaries between reality and the spirit world break down."
Leon resumed his work with a grim expression. "Either way, it's not our problem. That's for the 'Kantadar lords' to deal with. Amon's their mess now."
Corvis couldn't help but grimace. "So, what you're saying is... we got lucky?"
"Yeah." Leon's voice was dry. "But luck doesn't last forever. We need to leave this forest before something worse finds us." He glanced briefly at Corvis. "The longer we stay in the Nightmare Forest, the more we risk catching the attention of things that hunt between worlds."
The silence stretched between them for a moment, thick with unspoken tension. Both of them knew that staying too long in the Nightmare Forest wasn't an option. There were creatures here, spirits, revenants, things without names; that would find them eventually if they lingered.