Into The Forest Of Secrets

Chapter 5

Laxy POV

I made my way into the forest, feeling the cold air kiss my cheek. The further I went into the forest, the darker it got; looking up at the sky, a bit of light shined through the leaves. The trees were covering the sky, making sunlight unable to enter. I walked through the rocky path as Tiger stayed in front of me, being my guide. I looked around, seeing no life, just trees, an endless amount of trees. With each step, the sound of dry leaves underneath me, snow-covered random areas, and nothing but the sound of the wind. I reached a stop where branches covered the path ahead of me, which to my surprise, Tiger can crouch under the little gap they left. Extending my right hand out, I lift the branches covering the pathway as I follow Tiger. I carefully made sure they didn’t hit me in the face as I let them go. A bright light showered over us as I lifted the last branch out of the way. There was a path leading to a large clearing in the forest where a meadow lay; it didn’t reach far as more of the forest appeared in front of the meadow. Besides the trees stood two huge boulders, standing tall next to an opening leading deeper into the forest. Tiger ran in between the boulders; I smiled at his excitement as I chased after him, not wanting to lose him into the void of the forest. 

I ran through the grass, and I made my way to the boulder before facepalming a wall. I yelped in, surprised, stepping back a bit to get a better understanding. There was nothing; Tiger ran between the two boulders like no problem. There wasn’t a wall then; I frowned in confusion as I put my hands out, reaching through the air to feel around. My hands landed on an invisible barrier, stopping me from going any further into the forest; I was puzzled. Tiger just ran through. I looked around and tried going between the trees, but the barrier prevented me from touching the trees. Tiger was patiently waiting for me as his tail wagged; he was happy. 

“Go on ahead!’ I yelled at him, “I will catch up in a bit!” 

Tiger wasted no time before running and disappearing into the forest. While I stayed back, wondering if I’m going crazy. I tried going in between the boulders again, but once again, the barrier didn’t vanish; it was still there. I sighed in frustration. 

“Stupid barrier, why can’t I go in!?!” I shouted at it, hitting it as hard as I could. 

 A soft voice spoke behind me, “You ok over there?” 

 My head snapped to look at who they were, and it was Preston with his ears perked up as he stared at me, holding in a laugh. My eyes widened. What was he doing here!?! 

“Probably losing brain cells from working,” Aiden huffed as he walked over to Preston’s side, “She's just a human; I don’t expect much from her anyway.” 

My mouth fell open in shock, “Excuse me!?! Who are you to decide whether I am smart or not because I am human! Just because I don’t have special abilities like you doesn’t mean anything!” I felt rage run through me, the audacity he had to judge me without knowing anything about me! 

Aiden’s mouth twitched; he didn’t enjoy my outburst as this was my first time saying anything to him. I was so afraid of him that I kept cowering back in fear, but I had it with him and everyone thinking that humans were just weakling, that they can’t do anything because they “lack” the intelligence to do so.  

I glared at Aiden, showing him I wasn’t backing down this time; light footsteps started to approach us. The mysterious man still had his hood up, but the mask he usually wears is hanging around his neck now. He had long brown hair with blue streaks at the end of tips, his hair covered the left of his eye, his face was round, and his skin was a beige color. He had two straight cuts at the tail of his eyebrows and had two piercings on his nose and lip. 

“You two are loud….” He turned his attention to me, “What is a mere human like yourself doing here? Well, just standing in the middle of nowhere, I found it quite entertaining that you decided to yell at a forest.” 

My face beamed red in embarrassment, “I-! There is a barrier blocking my way! I couldn’t get through it, so I umm...I yelled at it in hopes it would let me in.”  

“A barrier?” A sweet voice spoke behind me as I jumped in fear; I turned around quickly to see Meg staring in between the boulders holding an ax behind her head.  

I nodded my head fast, “Y-yes, a barrier!" 

Preston walked over, putting his hand out to feel around for a barrier; his eyebrow rose in confusion, and he took a step between the boulders, an action that I wasn’t allowed to take. My jaw fell open. He went through with no problem! 

“I don’t see a barrier?” He spoke slightly, annoyed that I somewhat lied to him.

“N-No! There was a barrier!” I yelled back. 

I made my way to Preston; before reaching him, I was stopped by the barrier again, unable to move forward. This forest is just playing games with me at this point.  

The mysterious man stared at me, smirking in amusement, “Well, I just won the bet that anyone working under Aiden starts going crazy because you lose brain cells just talking to him.” 

Aiden glared at him in hatred, but I am more concerned they are finding this as a game! What kind of person makes a bet like that! 

“I’m not going crazy! I really can’t go through it! I don’t know how he went through, but there is a barrier blocking my way!” I hit the barrier as hard as I could, shrieking in pain. 

Meg’s ears perked up; she walked over to Preston, passing through the barrier. She looked over at me as her head tilted in confusion. My jaw fell open as I felt my blood boil in frustration; the forest just decided to block me from entering. 

The mysterious man stared at me, amusing as my shocked face, “It might be because you are a hu-” He was cut off as the ground underneath us started to shake, and the boulders started to move.  

The boulders formed legs as they stood up, arms started to form. I felt fear struck within me as I stared wide-eyed at the boulders coming to life. The boulders turned to us; they had round faces with sharp teeth made out of rocks, his hands had sharp claws. They seemed strong enough to kill one of us, they had holes for eyes empty inside, and they weren’t happy to see us, especially me. The boulder on the left turned his attention to me as he swung his hand. I was in a frozen state, unable to move or process it. 

“Watch out!” I heard Preston scream before being pushed to the ground dodging the hand. 

I snapped out my daze as Preston helped me up; he grabbed my wrist, starting to run away from the boulders. Everything was happening fast. 

“Head back to the entrance!” Aiden yelled at us as he grabbed Meg running ahead of us. 

Preston held my wrist as I ran behind him, the loud footsteps following behind us as the boulders tried to chase us down. I heard my heart beating in my ears as we tried to reach back to the entrance running through the meadow. The boulders let out a roar; I looked behind me to see one of the boulders picking up a tree throwing it at us. 

“Be careful!” I yelled at the others to warn them about the tree. 

The mysterious man turned around before saying words I couldn’t understand, but I saw it done before; he cast a spell. The mysterious man used his magic and pushed the tree away, protecting us from the impact. We continued running as we reached the entrance. The sound of footsteps started to die down. I looked behind us and watched as the boulders stood still in their place. Their eyes weren’t empty anymore. Instead, it was filled with a cloud of red as if something was controlling them. The boulders slowly walked back to their positions, returning to lifeless rocks. 

I looked at the others as we ran far from the meadow before coming to a stop to where the forest began. I leaned against a tree, panting as I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. 

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Aiden said, out of breath. 

Meg’s tail was wagging in excitement as she cheered, “Can we go again!?! I didn’t have time to try and fight it!” 

My eyes snapped open as I stared at her, “F-Fight it!?! What do you mean to fight it!? We could have died back there!” 

Meg looked at me as she shrugged, not caring about the words coming out of my mouth, “The more danger, the more fun.” 

I couldn’t believe her; she is serious about going to fight that monster. This woman lives up to her name, and she is insane.  

“Don’t bother fighting her,” The mysterious man scoffed, “The forest was blocking you because you were human.” 

I looked at him, confused at his point; why would it matter if I am human? 

The mysterious man rolled his eyes, “Exactly why humans are low ranks; they are dumb. The forest doesn’t let humans in because humans have nothing special about them. At least we have some unique thing to exist about.” 

I felt insulted. Who is he to judge me like that? I glared at him in hatred but refused to say anything. I just wanted to rest for today and nothing more, and I needed to find a new way around to enter the forest. I looked at the four in front of me; maybe it’s time to make some new friends.