The forest seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction, its crooked trees casting twisted shadows over the narrow path that Izzy struggled to follow. Each step sank into a carpet of dead leaves, and with every rustle, it felt as though something was watching her from the darkness. She held her breath and gripped the small blade she had picked up from one of the weaker demons. Though it wasn't much, it was better than being unarmed.
She continued to push forward, determined to make it out of the forest alive. Her heart raced, but with each encounter she survived, her fear began to fade, replaced by a growing sense of confidence. She'd dispatched several smaller creatures—gnarled, imp-like beings whose only weapons were their claws and teeth. Though they came at her with snarls and hisses, she was starting to handle them more efficiently, adjusting to the hostile environment. She even found herself enjoying the rush of adrenaline and the satisfaction of emerging victorious, even if each fight left her panting for breath.
Just as she began to feel like she might actually be able to do this, a voice echoed faintly through the forest. It was soft and carried a gentle tone, like a melody on the wind. Izzy stopped in her tracks. The voice was so familiar... almost comforting. It reminded her of someone she hadn't thought about in a long time—her mother.
"Mom?" she whispered to herself, her voice trembling. She shook her head. It couldn't be. Her mother was long gone, lost in an accident years ago. Still, the voice continued, persistent and warm, calling to her. It sang a lullaby that she used to hear when she was little, the one her mother would hum whenever Izzy was scared or couldn't fall asleep.
Without thinking twice, she found herself drawn toward the sound, a pull she couldn't resist. It was as though an invisible thread connected her to the source, and she couldn't stop herself from following it deeper into the forest, away from the path she had been carefully navigating. As she wandered further, the trees seemed to close in, and a creeping fog began to rise from the ground, obscuring the trail behind her.
Meanwhile, at a reaper outpost near the forest's edge, Lucian was preoccupied with routine tasks. He had dispatched various other reapers to their assignments and was about to take a moment to rest when a younger subordinate came rushing in, breathless and pale-faced.
"Sir, we've detected a Memory Wraith in the forest!" the subordinate exclaimed, his voice laced with panic.
Lucian's heart skipped a beat. A Memory Wraith… not just any ordinary creature of Hell. They were dangerous, cunning beings that fed on memories and despair, drawing out the worst experiences a person had ever faced. The last time he had encountered one, he had been powerless to save someone dear to him. It was a loss that had haunted him for years, a driving force behind his relentless pursuit of power. He had sworn he would never let something like that happen again.
"Where exactly is it?" he demanded, his voice steady but cold, his eyes narrowing into a hard glare.
"Near the inner edges, sir. It's already begun its hunt."
Lucian's blood ran cold. He knew Izzy had been sent into that forest as part of her trial. If the Wraith had found her… He clenched his fists as a surge of emotions welled up. The sharp sting of that old failure gnawed at him, and he could feel his pulse quicken with a mix of rage and dread.
"Not again," he whispered under his breath, the words carrying a weight of both anger and desperation. "I'm not losing anyone else to that damn Wraith." He barely gave his subordinate a chance to respond before he swept past him, his dark coat billowing behind him as he left the outpost.
There was no time to waste. He had to get to Izzy before the Wraith did, before it tore her apart piece by piece. He called forth his reaper's scythe as he crossed the threshold into the forest, feeling the familiar cold steel in his grip. The reaper's magic crackled around him, but even with his power, navigating the forest was no easy task. The air felt heavy, the atmosphere laced with a dark magic that was unmistakably the Wraith's doing.
Lucian pushed forward, determined to find Izzy before it was too late. Yet, the forest seemed intent on preventing his progress. The path twisted and turned, the thick trees growing closer together, as if trying to close in on him. Fog swirled at his feet, and he could sense that the forest itself was resisting his presence, a consequence of the Wraith's influence.
He slashed at the branches that seemed to extend toward him, their gnarled tips almost grasping at his cloak. He could feel the oppressive magic thickening the air, a suffocating energy that made it hard to focus. It was as if the forest were alive, shifting and changing to confuse him, to stall him. His irritation bubbled to the surface. He had fought in Hell for centuries, faced creatures far more powerful than this. Yet, right now, the thought of losing another life, of seeing another bright spark extinguished, clawed at him in a way he had almost forgotten.
"Izzy," he murmured, his voice echoing through the silence, "hold on."
As Lucian battled his way deeper into the forest, Izzy found herself in a small clearing where the voice was the strongest. The fog had grown so thick she could barely see her own hands. But the voice... it was so close now, surrounding her.
"Izzy," it whispered, "why did you let us go?"
A chill ran down her spine. The voice was still her mother's, but there was something else beneath it—a darkness that lurked within the words, like a hidden barb. The fog seemed to pulse, and suddenly, she saw a figure standing just beyond the mist. Her mother's figure, clear as day.
"I didn't," Izzy replied, her voice barely audible, her mind racing. "I—I couldn't save you."
The figure took a step forward, and with it, the voice shifted, deepening, twisting into something unrecognizable. "You should have tried harder," it spat, the words striking like a physical blow. "You failed us. And you'll fail here too."
Izzy staggered back, clutching her head as memories flashed before her eyes—fragments of her childhood, moments of joy tainted by the bitter reminders of her losses. The Wraith's influence tightened its grip, and she could feel it clawing into her mind, drawing out the emotions she had long kept buried.
Lucian continued to cut his way through the tangled woods, his frustration mounting. He had thought his experiences would make him immune to the tricks of this forest, but the Wraith was clever, far more cunning than the last he'd faced.
He finally reached an area where the fog seemed thicker, the darkness more oppressive. His instincts screamed at him—he was close, and so was the Wraith. "Not this time," he growled under his breath, pushing forward with renewed urgency.
The chapter ends on an ominous note, with the question lingering in the air: "Will he find her before the Wraith breaks her spirit?"
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