THE FOREST
765 Words
MIDNIGHT — THE PALACE
Xena’s eyes suddenly opened.
They glowed faintly in the darkness.
The chain around her neck began to shine, its light pulsing softly against her skin.
Xena slowly sat upright.
Then something lifted her.
Her feet left the floor as though an invisible force had taken hold of her. She rose from the bed without resistance, her face expressionless.
Across the room, the compass on the table began to click.
Click. Click. Click.
Xena’s hand reached toward it.
She picked it up and opened it.
The needle spun wildly before suddenly pointing in one direction.
Xena stood.
She walked toward the door.
She didn’t speak.
She didn’t seem awake.
Her footsteps were completely silent as she moved through the palace and disappeared into the night.
⸻
ANNA’S ROOM
At that same moment, Anna lay asleep in her bed.
Her eyes remained closed.
Slowly, her body began to rise.
An unseen force carried her from the bed, through her room, and beyond her house walls.
She continued moving toward the woods.
Still asleep.
Still unaware.
Branches shifted as she passed.
Leaves rustled beneath her feet.
Yet Anna never woke.
Something was leading her deeper into the darkness.
⸻
THE FOREST
Far inside the woods, another girl suddenly opened her eyes.
She had lived in the forest all her life.
She knew every sound, every path, every change in the wind.
But something was different tonight.
The air had shifted.
The animals had gone quiet.
A strange chill moved through the trees.
The Forest Girl slowly crawled out from her hidden shelter.
She looked toward the east.
Then she saw Anna.
Again.
The Forest Girl had seen her many times before.
Always from a distance.
Always appearing where she shouldn’t be.
But tonight was different.
Anna wasn’t simply wandering through the forest.
She was being led.
The Forest Girl watched carefully as Anna moved eastward, her eyes closed, her body seemingly guided by something she could not see.
The Forest Girl followed.
Silently.
Keeping herself hidden among the trees.
Anna continued deeper into the darkness without waking.
⸻
THE FOREST OF NAPASAFIT
The farther they went, the stranger the forest became.
The Forest Girl suddenly stopped.
She felt something approaching from the north.
A faint glow appeared between the trees.
Her eyes narrowed.
She quickly hid behind the thick roots of an ancient tree.
Anna stopped.
Her body became completely still.
Then another figure emerged from the darkness.
Xena.
The chain around her neck glowed brightly.
She moved toward Anna as though pulled by an invisible command.
Slowly, she came to stand beside her.
The Forest Girl watched from hiding.
Her attention shifted between the two girls.
She knew Anna.
But she had never seen this other girl before.
And whatever had brought Xena here was different from anything she had witnessed before.
Then—
The glow disappeared.
Silence.
The wind stopped.
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
For several seconds, nothing moved.
Then Anna gasped.
Her eyes snapped open.
She stumbled backward, breathing heavily.
She looked around.
The towering trees.
The darkness.
The strange silence.
None of it made sense.
She looked down at herself.
Leaves clung to her clothes.
Her feet were covered with earth.
“What…?”
She tried to remember how she had gotten there.
Her room.
Her bed.
Then nothing.
Anna slowly turned in a circle.
“Where am I?”
Her voice disappeared into the forest.
Then she noticed someone standing beside her.
A girl.
Anna froze.
She had never seen her before.
It was Xena.
But Anna didn’t know her name.
She took a cautious step backward.
“Who are you?”
Xena didn’t answer.
She looked just as confused, her expression distant, as though she were only beginning to return to herself.
Anna looked around nervously.
“Why are you here?”
Still no answer.
Then—
A branch cracked.
Anna spun around.
Her eyes searched the darkness.
Nothing.
But someone was watching.
Hidden behind the ancient tree, the Forest Girl remained perfectly still.
She had watched Anna many times before.
She had seen her enter the forest.
She had seen her leave.
But she had never seen Anna arrive with someone else.
And she had never seen the forest bring two people together like this.
Her eyes moved from Anna to Xena.
Something had changed.
Something had begun.
And deep within Napasafit, something seemed to be waiting for them.
The Forest Girl knew one thing for certain.
Tonight was not like the other nights.
Tonight, the forest had brought them together for a reason.
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