Destined to the Hellhound: BEAST

Chapter 30

The Moving Forest.

The only small comfort that I have is that the tales clearly aren't all true. If Mykle was able to enter and make it out alive, it can be done. Maybe everything about it was exaggerated. Maybe the old tales are only meant as entertainment and not a serious warning.

Even as I try to keep these optimistic thoughts at the forefront of my mind, fear nags at the base of my skull.

Pulling up above the clouds, I push myself. I don't want him to spend one minute longer in that place.

I never imagined I would be so eager to go to the worst place in the world.

With each passing second, my nervousness grows. I'm paranoid, looking over my shoulder for someone to come drag me back. I have to believe that Kat and Mykle are going to cover for me.

As the sun starts to rise on the horizon, the weight of my heavy heart drags me down. Another morning that he is trapped in that place. My dream—my nightmare—plays over and over in my mind as I race against the wind.

He's suffering. I can feel it.

I hope he can feel me too. I hope he knows that I'm coming for him.

After hours of flying, my body aches. It's as if everything is pushing me back. Even the wind is blowing, hard and with biting cold, against my face. Forcing me away.

The closer I get to the forest, the louder the thumping in my head grows. It's a slow, steady rhythm, a heartbeat. Even after flying my hardest, it's taking so long to get there that I might only have a few hours of daylight left when I reach it. The thought of being in the Moving Forest alone, in the dark, fills me with a fear so intense that it makes my body tremble uncontrollably.

When I see it in the distance, the urge to fly over it is so strong that I have to take myself out of the sky before my wings take control. I've never felt such a powerful pull, the forest wants me to attempt it, it wants me to soar over the tops of the trees. I shiver at the thought of why.

Dropping down to the ground, I hide in the tall grass, spreading the map out to try to figure out the way to the entrance.

The cold wind I've battled against all day is calmer here, a gentle breeze across the grass. Deciding to stay out of the sky, I roll up the map and walk parallel to the forest, looking for the small stream that would indicate I'm at least heading in the right direction.

Strange, unsettling sounds creep out of the darkness beyond the trees, slithering, screeching noises that make my blood run cold. It is only a matter of time before I am going to be walking among the creatures that dwell there.

He would do it for me.

Stepping closer to the trees, I search the darkness for the archway that will show that I have found the correct point of entry. Creeping nervously on tiptoes, I touch one of the trees, squinting as I look deeper.

With unsure steps, I continue walking until I see the sides of a stone archway that looks completely out of place among the untouched trees. A manmade structure in this place that looks so wild, it's unsettling.

"Don't walk through it, walk to the left," I whisper as I take a step into the tree line. Turning back, I look up at the sky, my muscles vibrating beneath my skin. After one last glance and a deep breath, I force my feet to move.

The small path through the brush is so thin that I have to walk one foot in front of the other, but I take care to do it. I don't want to touch anything, not a single leaf or blade of grass. The tales they tell of the things that move and breathe in here are worse than anything that could be conjured up by the imagination.