The moment Knight stepped off the wooden boat he had purchased back at a shop in Primotheus Capital, his stomach twisted. It felt like there were clustered headaches inside his head.
They had been voyaging the Aegean Sea for almost two days straight without stopping. He hadn't been feeling well, and neither had his men.
Werebeasts were meant to run the woods and wilderness. They weren't made to just sit, paddle the boat, and let the wind and water carry them somewhere else.
The massive waves also made navigation more difficult. But they didn't have any other choices or alternatives. They had to move forward by any means necessary.
Knight's male companions, Keller, Kingsley, and Vynn, pulled the wooden boat toward the nearby shore. Keller tied the rope around an orange tree trunk meters away from the seashore.
Harper, one of the females, was in the distance, inspecting the sand with her hands. Damien, another female, stayed close beside Knight, awaiting his orders.
Knight squinted his eyes. The dense forest ahead was utterly silent, so defeating that the hair on his arms rose with a chill. His chest tightened as the noises of his past rumbled in his head, threatening to tear his sanity apart. He hated this continent more than hell itself.
Knight despised how the giant purple plan tree standing nearby reminded him of the night he had lost her lovely scent. He also hated the glorious sun's rays melting them below. It reminded him of how it felt to be burned in a massive pit.
Knight hated how every moving shadow made him think about his long imprisonment in a nasty underground cage where shadows and silence were his sole companions.
He wondered, Is it still here? Is my cage still there somewhere?
Knight stiffened and fisted his sweaty palm. It had been almost a decade since. He had thought that by now, he could return to this place without any emotions. Indeed, he was completely wrong.
No matter how many years passed, those memories would always haunt and hurt him. The hopelessness and loneliness he had experienced as a boy came crashing back on him like a flood.
What if those witches who had captured him were still there, awaiting his return? Would they be able to fight and defeat these powerful creatures without endangering all his companions?
Knight discreetly stared at his five loyal companions, who were preoccupied with their respective tasks. Perhaps it was really a stupid idea to bring them along to the Forgotten Fjords with him.
This forsaken place was nothing but endless death and relentless chaos. And Knight seemed like the one who would bring these people to their final resting graves if he didn't plan and think accordingly. So he must.
Retrieve the Night Howler with the least casualty. How could something so simple be so difficult to accomplish?
"I wonder why the ground is red…" Knight heard Harper whisper to Damien.
He was currently analyzing the ancient map that Elder Quin had provided him. It wasn't very accurate, as it had been ages since anyone attempted to create another, and no one really knew just how massive the continent of Forgotten Fjords was. Still, it was their best guide.
Knight saw a nearby cave illustrated on the fading map. "East," he ordered everyone, and without hesitation, they moved silently.
The surrounding atmosphere was both hot and cold at the same time. With every step they took forward, Knight felt something shifting. But he didn't know what it was or if it was just a product of his own dizzying mind.
In a firm tone, Knight said, "Stay close to me and be vigilant at all times."
He led the way as the others followed. After traversing the stretch of the shores, they rose up the steep hill. It was an easy task, but after reaching the top, they were greeted only by vast wilderness. From there, everything went downhill.
Knight was well aware that Forgotten Fjords was different from the other seven continents of Qualsham, but what he saw was not what he had expected at all. It was not what he remembered from a decade ago.
After hours of a restless hike, Harper suddenly gasped behind Knight. He curiously followed her gaze and soon understood her unusual reaction.
Ahead of them stood massive trees as high as the clouds. The thick, sturdy trunks were blackened, the long branches hung wide, and the leaves, as red as blood, almost blocked the sun's rays.
They were but ants among giants.
"What is that?" There was awe and dread in Harper's stammering voice as she pointed at the flowing river a hundred meters away from where they stood.
The water was viscous and mud-like, and the current was fast and fierce, as if it was chasing the ends of the world. Various creatures were carried along, gasping for air.
"Do you hear the screams?" Harper whispered to Keller, who was standing beside her.
Harper was the youngest among the team, barely eighteen. Knight initially didn't want to bring her along on this deadly mission. However, Harper was the best healer in their pack, and her parents insisted she go.
They had said cheerily that it was an honor to serve the pack, especially when they found out the mission was for the retrieval of the greatest and most sacred artifact of their kind.
"Do you smell that?" It was Vynn this time, uttering under his breath. At the same time, the suffocating odor of a rotten animal being burned overwhelmed Knight's heightened senses.
Keller sniffed audibly and soon nodded. "There's something burning," he said and looked up at the thin smoke rising. "It is close."
Knight then told them through the Pack Link, "Let's stay on track. We can't afford detours. And never speak out loud."
Everyone nodded firmly, and not one spoke again.
They needed to be as silent as the dead. Somewhere nearby lay the witches' hideout. Knight was confident they could fight and kill them if necessary, but finding the Night Howler was the top priority, which meant they needed to stay alive as long as possible.
They moved cautiously at a steady pace for about three hours straight until Knight saw a familiar tree. It wasn't as huge as the ones they had seen earlier, but it looked hauntingly similar, just a younger one.
After they had passed it, Knight couldn't shake the feeling that the air was different. It was thinner and colder.
"The cave," Damien pointed at a small hole between two massive mountains. It wasn't on the map, and Knight hadn't seen it even with his wolflike senses.
Damien was the greatest navigator in all of Elderwood. No one else came close. She was bound to find anything before anyone else.
The cave was narrow, but just wide enough for everyone to pass through. They had to find the exit and navigate what lay beyond to search for the witches' hideout.
Cautiously, they moved forward into the darkness. What awaited them was another dense forest, but the trees were different. One tree seemed ordinary at first, but when Knight saw its trunk, he almost stepped back.
Hundreds of long tongues were attached to the trunk like snakes. They slithered and hissed, twisted and licked, and dripped green liquid all over the area.
"That's freaking sick," Keller muttered, pinching his nose in disgust as he stared at a monstrous bird lying atop the tree.
The bird had multiple small heads but only one gigantic body. Its skin was black, and its wings were white as milk. It was magnificent until they realized what it really was: teeth.
They pressed on despite the strange occurrences, remaining cautious of any potential threats. Fortunately, nothing lethal happened yet, but Knight felt eyes watching their every move from the shadows.
Knight looked back, only to see an innocent lizard staring at him sideways.
Harper, from behind, squealed with delight and said, "What a cutie!" She leaned forward to pet the tiny bluish lizard.
Suddenly, it opened its toothless mouth and spewed coughs of blazing lava.
"What the heck!" Damien shrieked as she got burned on a toe. Pissed, she stomped on the poor lizard. It flattened against her boot, and when it didn't die, she kicked it, sending it flying across the forest.
"Why did you do that?" Harper hissed, glaring furiously at Damien.
Damien only shrugged and smirked before everyone fell back into silence.
The climb was easy despite seeing worms as big as Knight's fingers wiggling out from the wet, muddy mountain. When they reached the clearing, he saw the small opening of another cave ahead.
On the way, there were piles of various stones and a trail of black, drying roses, just as Elder Quin had described.
"We're on the right path," said Knight via the Pack Link.
He halted when he heard whispers. It sounded like someone was screaming with all their might, but the voice was swallowed by the distance, even his sensitive senses couldn't pick up the words.
Knight faced the source of the noise. Keller and Vynn furiously followed suit. But then Knight's attention shifted to something warm and wet that suddenly dropped on his broad shoulder.
He furrowed his brow and looked up to find the source. All he saw were trees with leaves that looked like hair.
Knight wiped the gooey red liquid off his shoulder and went rigid. It was surprisingly sticky, so thick it felt familiar. He slowly brought it to his nose.
Blood.