Chapter 47 

Lisa’s POV 

We couldn’t go back. 

We couldn’t go forward, either. 

The River of Blood had made sure of that. 

I sat beside the water for a long time. I was shaking while watching the place where I had fallen in. The red 

current rolled on. It was innocent and cruel all at once, as if it hadn’t tried to drown me… as if it hadn’t 

screamed into my mind and shown me the shadows of wolves with bones for teeth. 

My ankle still throbbed. Angry red marks circled the skin like a brand. 

“We need to keep moving,” Rylan said gently and crouched beside me. His voice was soft, but there was 

tension in his eyes. Like he was holding something back. “We can’t stay near the river. Not after what 

happened.” 

I nodded slowly, though every part of me still trembled. I felt like the ghosts were clinging to my skin. 

“But where?” I whispered. “There’s no bridge. No crossing.” 

He pointed down the edge of the river. “The river flows west. If we follow it long enough, it’ll empty into 

the sea. When the current weakens near the mouth, we’ll be able to cross safely. It’ll take longer, but it’s the only way.” 

“How long?” 

“A few hours. Maybe more.” 

My heart sank. “Hours?” 

“I know you’re tired,” he said. “I am too. But this is the only way forward. We can’t turn back.” 

I looked behind us, the way we came, and saw nothing but endless trees. 

I took a deep breath. 

Then I stood. 

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.” 

We walked for hours. 

The land was wild and twisted, like it had forgotten what peace looked like. The trees grew closer together the farther we went, their branches tangled above our heads like bony fingers reaching for the sky. The ground beneath our feet was uneven, sometimes muddy, sometimes dry and cracked. The atmosphere was always silent. 

Except for the wind. 

 

The wind made strange sounds in this part of the forest. 

Not just rustling. 

It sighed. 

It whispered. 

Sometimes I could’ve sworn I heard voices, faint and broken, like echoes of something ancient. 

Rylan noticed it too. I could tell by the way his shoulders tightened, how his hand drifted toward the 

dagger strapped to his side even though no threat had appeared. 

“What is this place?” I asked after a long stretch of silence. 

He paused and looked around, his eyes narrowing. 

“I’m not sure,” he said slowly. “But… I think this might be it.” 

“It?” 

“One of the places the Seer spoke of,” he said. “Where the wind sings in forgotten tongues… and the trees 

whisper secrets only the dead can hear.” 

I stopped walking. 

I listened. 

And I heard it. 

The wind was stronger here. It was threading through the trees in long and sad sighs. The branches 

creaked and groaned, not from weight or storm, but like they were speaking. The forest felt… aware. Not just alive. It was watching us. 

I shivered and clutched my arms. 

“I don’t like this place.” 

“Neither do I,” Rylan admitted. “But it means we’re close. Nightcrest can’t be far now.” 

We kept walking. 

The forest gave way to stone. 

The trees grew thinner until they were behind us, and ahead stretched what looked like the skeletal remains of a village, 

Charred buildings leaned like crooked teeth against the sky. Roofs were collapsed. Ash coated the earth like snow, turning everything gray and lifeless. Weeds pushed up through the cracks in the old cobblestones. Some stones were cracked open, as if clawed apart. 

I stopped at the edge of the ruins. 

Rylan stepped beside me. 

 

“This is it,” he said quietly. “Nightcrest.” 

I stared at the destruction. 

Everything was gone. 

Only bones of buildings remained. They were empty and hollow. As if no life had ever been here at all. 

“I thought… I thought there would be something left,” I whispered. “Some sign. Some clue.” 

“There might still be,” Rylan said, though he didn’t sound sure. “Let’s look around carefully.” 

We stepped into the ruins together. 

My boots crunched over broken glass and ash. My heart felt heavy in my chest. 

This was supposed to be a place of answers. But all I saw was ruin. 

The silence here was different than in the forest. It was heavier like the earth was holding its breath. I 

passed the skeleton of a fountain and what might have been a meeting hall. They were nothing but 

blackened beams now. 

I turned a corner and stopped short. 

There was something standing among the ruins. 

A statue. 

Unlike the rest, it hadn’t crumbled. It was cracked and scorched. But still standing. 

I stepped closer. 

It was a woman. 

Or it had been. Her features were half-melted, as if fire had tried to erase her. One side of her face was 

smooth and beautiful, with high cheekbones and closed eyes. The other was twisted, damaged, melted 

and broken. 

But it was her expression that stopped me. 

There was sadness on her face. 

So much sorrow. 

Like she had seen something she could never unsee. 

At the base of the statue was a single word. 

Carved into the stone, it was worn and faded, but still legible. 

Althea. 

My breath caught. 

I stared at the name. 

 

It pulled at something inside me. A memory. A whisper. A word I had heard once. But I couldn’t place it. 

Althea… 

Why did it feel so familiar? 

Why did it make my skin prickle? 

I reached out and touched the stone. It was cold beneath my fingertips. 

“Lisa?” Rylan’s voice broke into my thoughts. “Did you find something?” 

I turned slowly. 

He approached me through the rubble. His face was grim. 

“There’s nothing,” he said. “Every building’s destroyed. The records, the homes… everything’s gone.” 

I looked back at the statue. 

“She’s still here,” I murmured. 

“What?” 

“The statue,” I said, stepping back. “She wasn’t destroyed.” 

He frowned. “Maybe she was protected somehow. Or maybe… maybe whoever attacked didn’t think she 

was important.” 

“She was important,” I said, my voice firm. “I can feel it.” 

He studied me for a moment, then looked around. 

“This place was full of life once,” he said. “Children. Warriors. Elders. All gone. Burned. Wiped from history.” 

“Why?” I whispered. “Why would anyone do this?” 

“I don’t know,” he said. “But someone wanted to bury whatever this pack was. Bury it so deep no one 

would ever remember.” 

Tears burned my eyes. 

“We came all this way,” I said. “And it’s just ashes. Just ghosts. I thought… I thought maybe we would find something. Answers. A reason.” 

Rylan stepped closer. 

“We will,” he said softly. “Sometimes the answers don’t scream. Sometimes they whisper.” 

I looked up at him. My heart was aching. 

“But what if we’re wrong? What if we risked everything… for nothing?”. 

“You’re not nothing,” he said firmly. “You’re the reason we came. You’re the key. We’ll find the truth. Even if 

we have to dig through every ruin to find it.” 

 

His words were warm, but the cold inside me didn’t leave. 

I turned back to the statue. 

Althea… 

That name echoed in my mind again. 

Where had I heard it? 

It was like a ghost brushing the edge of my thoughts, just out of reach. 

The wind rose behind us, swirling through the broken village like a sigh. 

I stared at the disfigured face of the woman in stone. Her expression hadn’t changed. Still sorrowful. Still 

waiting. 

And the name on the base burned into my mind like fire. 

Althea. 

I’ve heard that name before… 

My heart beat faster. 

Where? 

The answer was there. Somewhere in the shadows of my memory. 

I closed my eyes. 

Who are you, Althea? 

And why… why did her name feel like the beginning of everything?