We walk on and I still see almost nothing. We have arrived at the dark forest. "It's usually not very safe here, but everyone should be at the palace by now, so we're not going to see much," says Willow. We walk on and my eyes have already gotten used to the dark, so I start to see small figures. The trees are tall and they are slanted so that neither sunlight nor moonlight shines through. A gentle wind blows through my hair that feels cold. Jaden comes out tired and probably very hungry. "Shall we rest for a while and look for food?" I suggest. Jaden immediately agrees and sounds relieved. "We have no time to lose," Willow says. She's starting to get on my nerves and I'm not afraid to open my mouth. "I don't care, we're both tired and hungry. If we don't rest, we'll never get to the palace," I say briefly. Willow sighs and says, "All right, but when the black cloud passes us, you're on your own." She throws a fire starter at us. "I'll look for food, and you can make a fire," Willow says.
After a long time of trying, we were able to make the fire. I remember we learned this at survival camp when we were 10 years old. We learned which plants are edible and how to survive in nature. "You were always better at making fire than I was," Jaden laughs. "I remember you were jealous because I got a sticker for making a fire earlier," I say with a smile on my face. Now that we have light, I see that the forest looks terrifying. The grass looks so dark green that its almost looks black. The leaves of the trees are immensely long, making it seem as if there are spirits floating in the air. "If you were born into this world, what creature would you be?" asks Jaden suddenly. I'm confused by his question, it's so random. "What, why" I laugh loudly. "Just, I'm genuinely curious about it," he says with a laugh. Come to think of it, I have no idea. "I think Willow is really cool, I'd like to be a moon elf but I know I'm not that cool," I say. Jaden nods "Indeed, you're not that cool at all." he says with a laugh. "I'd be the queen anyway," I say, laughing. "I do see you as a queen, cunning and cruel," Jaden says sarcastically. I give him a pat on the shoulder. Willow suddenly appears with a handful of small berries. They look like blackberries but they are much smaller and blacker. Jaden grabs a lot of berries. I grab a few because I don't have much appetite. They taste great. "What is this?" I ask Willow. "I have no idea, those berries haven't been around that long at all," she says. I don't understand what she means by that. "The dark forest started to develop not so long ago. This was the home of wood elves. They lived in small huts, but a few years ago they started to behave differently. The trees began to grow together and the grass grew darker. All kinds of dark creatures started to settle here and from then on it is called the dark forest," she says.
I pretend I'm sleeping; Willow is on the other side and Jaden is sleeping close to me. I still can't sleep a wink and somehow, I still don't feel tired. I turn around and suddenly see that Willow is sitting up straight and warming herself by the fire. I didn't know she's not sleeping either. I sit up and clear my throat. She looks at me and asks why I don't sleep. "From the moment I got here, I can't sleep," I say. I ask the same question, to which she replies that moon elves only sleep during a full moon. They don't need as much sleep. Suddenly, there was silence. "Why aren't you welcome in the palace" I ask to fill the silence. She first looks at the ground and then looks into my eyes. She opens her mouth to say something but then stops immediately. I give her some time to give her space. Many creatures have begged the queen to close off the dark forest, to have it removed. She never did it because, according to her, it had a natural cause. It has long been said that the creatures that entered the dark forest never returned. My best friend had no choice, she had to pass through the dark forest to get to me. She never arrived. Many think that the creatures that entered the forest turned into dark creatures. Out of anger I tried to set fire to part of the forest. It never worked out and the queen banned me from the palace because of it." Willow says. I didn't expect this to be her story, she was unjustly condemned and only wanted to do good. "I'm sorry about your friend," I say comfortingly. I can see that it affects her very much. She looks down and there is a very big silence, not a loud silence, a comfortable silence. I watch the flames of the fire dance with the wind.
Suddenly, I hear a very loud noise, I can't place where it came from. Willow heard it too and looks at me anxiously. I wake up Jaden who was sleeping peacefully. From the moment I touch him, he wakes up. Willow reaches for her dagger and looks around. I felt the earth tremble, it was getting harder and harder. The dark forest begins to lighten with the trees falling in the distance. "Run," Willow shouts loudly. Jaden jumps up and we start running. Willow knows her way; she runs between trees. Suddenly we come to a big straight road. "This way," Willow shouts. Jaden and I follow her, my brain can't follow the movement of my legs. Several other creatures appear on the path running in the same direction. Suddenly, I hear a loud ringing in my ears. It resembles the sound of screeching birds. I cover my ears and try to continue running. I can't take it anymore and fall to the ground. The sound makes my body unable to move. It hurts so much. All I hear is the screeching and my image goes black. Jaden turns around and sees that I'm lying on the floor. Without hesitation, he turns around and runs back. He calls out to Willow for help and she hesitates but eventually runs in my direction. "Levana, what's the matter?" says Jaden, worried and anxious. I can't answer, I close my eyes and hope that the pain will subside. "Help me pick her up," Jaden shouts. They lift me up and put my arms around their shoulders.
Near the end of the forest, Willow stumbles and we all fall to the ground. The screeching in my ears and the pain have stopped. The cloud is coming straight at us. Its time, were going to die. The cloud will turn us into ashes at any moment. Willow closes her eyes and holds both hands in front of her face. But nothing happens... The black cloud forms like a bubble around the dark forest. It stands still in the same position for a moment and suddenly it disappears. Everyone sighs out of relief. All I see is a large black field of ash. Jaden creeps closer to me. "Levana, what happened?" he says worriedly. I don't understand. "Didn't you hear the screams?" I ask. Willow looks at me questioningly and has no idea what I'm talking about. Jaden makes a confused face. "It felt like thousands of needles poking into my ears. The sound sounded like screaming creatures turning to ashes," I say stuttering. Willow looks at me questioningly and steps over to pull me up. "You have to get to the palace as soon as possible," she says. I'm tired of the mysterious stuff. No one tells me what really is going on. Why do I have to go to the palace, why do the creatures know my name out of nowhere, and why did I hear the screams? Jaden started to get angry. "I'm not leaving without you telling me what's going on here. The only thing everyone keeps saying is that Levana needs to get to the palace as soon as possible and no one is telling us why." He speaks. Willow looks at him annoyed and says "those are orders from the Queen that we have to follow." Jaden sighs loudly and shouts that the queen can fuck off. "Let's keep going," I say.
Willow walks in front and Jaden and I walk a few meters behind her. Jaden doesn't say much but looks at me every now and then to check if I'm okay. I can't enjoy this place anymore. Even though it's beautiful, all I can think about is the suffering.
