Andreas turned to look at the blond girl with deep blue eyes on the verge of crying.
The girl's lip quivered. She began to tremble. The innocent confusion on her face dissolved into a desperate grimace as tears spilled freely, tracing lines down her pale cheeks. Her voice cracked, laced with a pleading anguish that seemed far too old for her frame.
"Kind sir... please save me. Shield me from this accursèd place! I—I know not what evil holds me here!" She clutched her small hands together. "Please, I am begging you... deliver me !"
He stared at her, silent. Something twisted in his chest—something he thought he'd buried long ago.
What am I supposed to do with this? He wondered. A child begging for salvation in a world that's already rotting from the core.
He tightened his grip on the sword's hilt—and the forest responded.
The trees groaned, their twisted trunks bending subtly inward, as though drawn toward him. Branches strained, wood popping and splintering with unnatural stiffness, like knuckles cracking in reverse. The sound was everywhere: dry bark rasping, the hiss of unseen things shifting in the underbrush, the low moan of the wind slithering through hollow boughs.
It wasn't just the trees moving. It was as if the forest itself had taken a breath, and now held it."
Not noticing the odd behavior of the forest he stared at her for a long moment, the wind brushing past them like a whisper from something old and watching. The sword in his hand felt too heavy for what it was.
"I... I don't know what's going on," he muttered, voice low and uncertain.
This place... makes me feel a foreigner somehow.
The girl sobbed quietly, her small hands clenched against her chest. Something in him twisted again—unfamiliar, uncomfortable.
"But you're scared. I get that much." He looked away, jaw tightening. "And I guess... I'll be scared too. If I was in your shoes."
He stepped closer, knelt then awkwardly offered his hand—hesitant, stiff, but genuine.
"I'm not good at this kind of thing. Protecting people. Saying the right stuff."
He forms an awkward smile, trying his best to show confidence.
"But I won't leave you here. You've got my word."
His eyes met hers, uncertain but steady.
"Whatever this place is... we'll figure it out. Together."
The girl grasps the knight's hand and her weeping softens little by little.
The girl's tears had stopped with her reddened eyes she looked at the knight's eyes.
"I am most grateful, kind sir."
"Don't thank me yet. Wait until I've saved you." He paused, his gaze steady. "So, tell me—what did you mean by accursèd place?"
The girl lowered her gaze, as though pulling words from the depths of a long-forgotten dream. When she spoke, her voice was soft, distant—tinged with something that felt older than she was.
"This place is called the Hollow Trails of Ruhnwood," she said softly. "A prison not of stone, but of the foreboding will of the trees and the earth itself. Naught may leave it... save through trial."
Trails? Do you know how we're supposed to do them?"
"I... I do not know what it means exactly, but I was given a riddle. It goes like this:
'Tread the path laid by fate. Cross the hollow river, where the sound of rushing waters flows from no spring. Take that which is not yours, and seek the tree most marred by time.'
"Well then, it seems we have a trail to follow."
"..."
"Oh, by the way, I'm Andreas Stahl. You can call me Andy if you'd like."
She gently withdrew her hand from Andy's and offered a graceful curtsy, her posture poised with practiced elegance.
I am Lady Lilith Leicester. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
***
"Sir Andreas, are you sure we should be going along this path?"
"…No, not really. But you saw it yourself, didn't you? The path ahead is forming on its own. Normally, I'd never follow something that screams death trap."
"Then, sir, if it is as you say, why do we continue?"
"... Because according to the riddle, we're supposed to walk the path laid by fate. And this? This feels weirdly poetic in exactly that way."
The knight and the girl continued to walk along the path as the trees bent toward them, almost as if they were watching—listening.
"…"
Andreas stops and shoots an irritated glance at the trees bending to his left.
"Seriously, as if walking down a self-forming path isn't weird enough."
He exhaled sharply, then looked back over his shoulder.
"…Hey, uh… Lilith, right? Aren't you getting tired of walking?"
"I… I am getting a bit tired, but—"
"Great. If you don't mind, let me carry you."
"O-Okay, sir."
Andreas knelt, allowing Lilith to climb onto his back.
…So embarrassing. I've never been carried like this. Not even by my father.
But… this must be necessary. If Sir Andreas suggested it… yes! It must be so we don't stay in one place for too long. Yes, surely, we don't want those monsters to find us.
"You should hold on tight, okay?"
Lilith wraps her arms even tighter around Andreas's neck.
At first, Andreas simply ran—but within seconds, his pace accelerated to an impossible speed. Trees blurred into streaks of brown and green, and the wind blew so fiercely that Lilith could barely keep her eyes open. The sheer force of motion threatened to rip her from his back. It was as if he was sprinting faster than any horse and any machine Lilith knew of.
***
After what seemed to have been hours the duo came to a halt. Stopping at a place where the large trees and the bushes were so lush that their green and brown colors seemed saturated. The path had now become concrete and odd symbols similar to marks on all the trees flew out of the ground like fireflies.
While carrying Lilith on his back, Andreas walked slowly along the now-concrete path. Almost immediately, the deafening roar of a raging torrent echoed from all directions.
Andreas's face twisted in disgust at the sound.
No way I'm continuing. I should rethink my life choices before doing this.
He turned to leave, prepared to abandon what was a death trap. But that thought was short-lived—the path behind them had vanished entirely, swallowed by the dark.
His face reddened, contorting into a foul expression of discomfort.
I'm not gonna let Lilith die like this. Am I really that stupid? That I didn't even stop to weigh the pros and cons of walking into this death trap of a path? Of course, only an idiot like me could do this. It would have been easier to accept my death if she wasn't here. Fucking hell... Wait... didn't I die before?
"Sir Andreas," Lilith said softly.
"Huh? What is it?" he snapped, still scowling, his face flushed with frustration.
"Look over there."
She pointed toward a cluster of glowing, floating symbols that had begun to form a path—one that led toward a dry riverbed only a few meters away.
"...Well done, Lilith. For a second, I thought that was the end."
"Please, Sir, do not speak of our circumstances like that."
"Hmm, I goes your right. Sorry for that. You good to walk from here?"
"...Yes."
She untangled her arms and slid off his back.
When the duo arrived at the riverside, Andreas placed his hand right where the water should've been.
"Whoa, this is kind of cool. I can feel some sort of liquid flowing through my fingers… Is this what we're supposed to take?"
Feeling an odd sensation at the back of her neck, Lilith reached for Andreas's arm—and with just a moment of contact, a cold, invisible, liquid-like substance wrapped around them both and pulled them within the hollow river.
As they plunged into the invisible current, the river turned pitch black. Voices in many unknown languages echoed in their minds. They struggled against the pull of the dark water—until at last, they emerged on the opposite side.
Now, Andreas was clad in heavy armor, as black as the river itself.
"Note to self, think before you take a breath son of a bicht Andreas."
Panting heavily, Andreas turned toward Lilith, who lay beside him. Through the narrow slits of his helmet, he saw her—lit ablaze.
"What????"