Chapter 17
"Whispers of the Shattered Forest"
The Mist Peaks loomed ahead, cold and silent, wrapped in ancient clouds.
But before Sora and his group could reach them, they had to cross the Shattered Forest —
a place where even time itself seemed broken.
It wasn't just a forest.
It was something older.
Something that remembered things even the earth had forgotten.
---
Entering the Deadwood
The first steps into the Shattered Forest felt like stepping into another world.
The trees here were wrong.
Their bark was black and cracked, like they had been burned from the inside out.
No leaves grew, yet an unnatural mist clung to their branches.
The air was heavy — hard to breathe.
Even Yuno, who normally chirped and played, stayed deathly silent, his wide blue eyes scanning every shadow.
"Stay close," Sora said, voice low.
The ground beneath their feet was soft, almost spongy.
Sometimes it gave way slightly, making Mira and Arin flinch.
In the distance, sounds echoed —
whispers?
footsteps?
Or just the forest playing tricks on them?
No one knew.
But none of them dared to call out.
---
A Forest That Watches
Hours passed, or maybe days — it was impossible to tell in the endless twilight of the Deadwood.
Everything looked the same.
Every tree, every broken stump, every mist-covered path.
The only thing that seemed to change... was the feeling.
At first, it was just unease.
Then fear.
Then the bone-deep certainty that they were being hunted.
Sometimes, out of the corner of their eyes, they saw shapes between the trees —
tall, thin shadows moving unnaturally fast.
Whenever they turned to look —
Nothing.
But Yuno would growl softly, his tiny body tensed, fur standing on end.
---
First Encounter
They came to a clearing — if it could be called that — where the trees thinned slightly.
At the center, there was an old stone well.
Dry and cracked.
Sora stepped forward carefully.
The ground around the well was marked — old battle scars, swords rusted into the earth, shattered shields.
Something terrible had happened here long ago.
Clang.
A faint metallic sound behind them.
The group spun around — weapons drawn — but there was nothing there.
Only the forest, silent and watching.
Clang. Clang.
Louder now — like armored footsteps dragging across stone.
Then — it appeared.
From between the trees emerged a figure —
a knight, clad in black armor, rusted and broken.
No flesh showed — only darkness seeping through the cracks.
In its hand, a sword longer than a man was wide.
And on its chest, barely visible through the rust and bloodstains —
The mark: 0169.
But Sora didn't notice it yet — not truly.
Only a flicker of strange familiarity sparked deep inside him.
"Get ready!" Arin shouted.
The black knight let out a sound —
not a roar, not a scream — something more like mourning.
A hollow, broken wail that made the air itself tremble.
And then —
It charged.
---
Battle in the Mist
The knight moved with terrifying speed for something so large.
Arin blocked the first swing with his shield, the force of it knocking him to his knees.
Lyra's arrows bounced harmlessly off its armor.
Mira tried casting a light spell — but the spell fizzled in the dead air of the Shattered Forest.
"Nothing works here!" she cried.
Sora gritted his teeth.
He gripped his sword tighter — the strange sword he'd found in the ruins a few chapters ago.
The sword that sometimes hummed softly when he was afraid.
Now, it pulsed — faintly, like a heartbeat.
The knight raised its blade — aiming for Arin's head.
Sora moved without thinking.
He threw himself forward, swinging his sword with all his strength.
The two blades clashed —
and to everyone's shock —
Sora's blade cracked the black knight's sword.
Not much.
Just a small crack.
But it was enough.
The knight recoiled, the hollow wail twisting into something almost like... surprise.
"It's vulnerable!" Lyra shouted.
They attacked together — carefully, relentlessly.
Mira used her light to blind it temporarily.
Arin struck its knees to slow it down.
Lyra shot her arrows at the cracks in its armor.
And Sora —
Sora focused everything he had into breaking that blade.
Finally —
with a great, shattering sound —
Sora's sword cut through the knight's arm, sending the massive black weapon flying.
The knight staggered back.
And then —
it simply collapsed into dust.
---
What Was Left Behind
Where the knight fell, nothing remained except:
A broken piece of its armor.
A small, glowing stone — pulsing softly with blue light.
Sora picked up the stone carefully.
As he touched it — a vision flashed in his mind:
> A massive army.
A war that tore the heavens apart.
Cities crumbling into the sea.
A woman standing at the heart of it all —
holding a child with a strange, blue mark on his hand.
And the whispers:
"Protect the Vessel. Save the Light."
The vision ended as quickly as it had come.
Sora staggered back, gasping.
The others stared at him — worried, confused.
But Sora said nothing.
Not yet.
He slipped the stone into his pocket.
Something told him this was just the first of many such stones.
Each one a key to understanding the truth behind the world's ruin.
And his own destiny.
---
Deeper into the Forest
The group pressed onward.
Deeper into the Shattered Forest.
Deeper into mystery.
Strange things began happening:
Time seemed to skip — hours lost in an instant.
They heard voices calling their names from the trees.
Once, they came across a mirror standing alone in the mist — but their reflections were wrong somehow, older, sadder.
Sora could feel it.
The world was changing.
And somewhere far ahead — hidden in the shadows of the Mist Peaks —
something waited for him.
Something ancient.
Something tied to the number 0169.
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