Chapter 163: She would wait.
~Raphael's POV~
I could hardly believe it. We were really walking away from that nightmare forest. The bright light ahead of us felt too good to be true. After three weeks and four days trapped in this cursed place, freedom seemed impossible.
My feet moved forward, but my mind kept waiting. Waiting for another lizard creature to jump out from behind a tree. Waiting for that face-stealing guardian to rise from the dirt and attack us again. Waiting for something, anything, to drag us back into the darkness.
But nothing came.
Caleb walked beside me, his steps steady now. Gemma stumbled along behind us, still weak but alive and she hasn't said anything. Isla stayed close, her eyes darting around like she expected trouble too or maybe she was inviting the trouble but I didn't bother read through her mind.
The forest grew lighter with each step. Real sunlight broke through the trees, warm on my skin. I had almost forgotten what real light felt like. The cursed forest had been all mists and tricks.
Even with these new events, my mind would not let me rest.
Thoughts of Darius filled my head. My cousin. The man I had killed with my own hands because he was too dangerous to live. He had threatened innocent people.
But in that dark forest, I had seen him. Clear as day. He had stood there, laughing at me, telling me he was not really dead. His voice had been so real. His face exactly as I remembered.
Was it real? Or had the forest played another trick on my mind?
I shook my head, trying to push the memory away. Darius was dead. I had made sure of that. The forest just wanted to mess with my head, make me doubt myself.
Then there was Alasia. The woman who had started all this trouble. She was the reason we were trapped in this cursed land. I knew we were walking into a trap but I didn't know, it would something this huge.
Had she been watching us fight? Was this all part of her plan? Even now, as we walked toward hope, I wondered if we were walking into another trap.
"Caleb," I said quietly, not wanting to alarm the others.
He looked at me. His eyes were clear now, not the empty stare he had worn for so long.
"Are you really back?" I asked. "I mean, really back. Is your mind your own again?"
Caleb was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. "Yes. When that creature attacked, something broke inside my head. Like a chain breaking. Queen Isla's hold on me is gone."
I studied his face, looking for any sign of lies or confusion. But he seemed solid. Present. Like the old Caleb I remembered.
"Good," I said. "We will need you to be yourself when we get home."
Home. The word felt strange in my mouth. After so long in that twisted place, I had started to wonder if home was real. If Ava was real. If anything outside the forest existed.
We kept walking toward the light. It grew brighter and warmer.
My thoughts turned to Ava. My beautiful, stubborn, brave mate. How long had it been since I held her? Since I heard her laugh? The forest had made time feel wrong.
I missed the way she looked at me in the morning, her hair messy from sleep. I missed how she would argue with me about silly things, her cheeks getting red when she was mad. I missed the way she fit perfectly in my arms, like she was made just for me.
Was she waiting for me? Did she know I was coming home? Or did she think I was dead?
The thought made my chest tight. What if she had given up on me? What if she thought I was never coming back?
"No," I said out loud, not meaning to.
"What?" Isla asked, looking back at me.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "Just talking to myself."
But inside, I made myself a promise. Ava had not given up on me. She was strong, stronger than anyone I knew. She would wait. She would know I was coming back to her.
The light ahead was getting closer. I could see the edge of the forest now, where the trees ended and open sky began. Real sky, blue and clear, not the weird colors we had seen before.
"Is that it?" Gemma asked, her voice weak but hopeful. "Are we really getting out?"
"Looks like it," I said, but I still did not trust it completely.
Part of me expected the light to disappear when we got close. Or for the trees to close behind us, trapping us again. The forest had played so many tricks on us. Why would it let us go now?
But we kept walking, and the light kept getting closer.
"What do you think happened while we were gone?" Caleb asked.
I had been wondering the same thing. Time felt wrong in the forest. Days seemed like weeks, and weeks felt like days. How much time had really passed in the real world?
"I do not know," I said. "But we will find out soon."
Isla had been quiet for a while. Now she spoke up. "The forest tested us. All of us. We passed, so it let us go."
"What kind of test?" I asked.
"Different tests for different people," she said. "Yours was about mercy. Mine was about truth. Caleb's was about freedom."
I thought about that. The guardian with my face. The choice to kill it or show mercy. Maybe Isla was right. Maybe the whole forest was one big test.
But why? Who would set up such a test? And why us?
Before I could ask, we reached the edge of the trees. The light was so bright I had to cover my eyes. After so long in darkness, real sunlight felt like fire on my skin.
Slowly, my eyes got used to the light. I lowered my hand and looked around.
We were standing on a hill. Below us spread a valley I did not recognize. Green grass, a river winding through the middle, mountains in the distance. It was beautiful, but it was not home.
"Where are we?" Gemma asked, echoing my thoughts.
I looked around, trying to find something familiar. But nothing looked right. This was not my kingdom. This was not anywhere I had ever been.
"I do not know," I said. "But at least we are out of the forest."
Behind us, the dark trees still stood. But they looked normal now, just regular trees in regular shade. The cursed feeling was gone.
Caleb pointed to the valley. "Look. There is smoke over there. Someone has a fire."
He was right. A thin line of smoke rose from somewhere near the river. People. Maybe they could tell us where we were. Maybe they could help us get home.
"Come on," I said. "Let us go find out who our neighbors are."
Somewhere in the distance, I heard a sound that made my blood run cold.
A dragon's roar.
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