The House of Xudel

Chapter Four: Friend or Foe

Aksana opened her eyes and saw Polly sitting infront of her. Huseinova still laying on the far side of the rock, using his hands as pillows. "Polly" Aksana whispered as softly as she could, but Huseinova heard the whisper and jumped out of bed. "Well it's time to get going guys, wash your face and let's go!" he said with a creepy, mysterious and sinister look on his face. For some reason, Polly and Aksana listened to him and did just as he said "It's too early for this" groaned Aksana. In nearly no time everyone was ready to start their journey through the forest. There was a small dirt pathway leading into the forest. A sign saying" Warning: Danger ahead, venture at your own risk " was nailed to a tree. Large beechwood trees extended from the ground, these trees where dark and decaying away into nothingness, they where filled with cobwebs and nests. In between them where smaller but just as creepy Elmwood trees, the combination of these two trees covered the forest with darkness. The pathway that the gang was following lead into nothing but darkness, dark as a sullen cloud before the sun. This morning, a thick blood colored fog had sat upon the forest. You could only see up to 7 metres infront of you. Finally, stepping into the forest, Polly said with her voice trembling a bit knowing that she might not survive "let our adventure" she paused for a second, then said in a loud whispering voice "start."
Huseinova started walking infront of them, telling them stories about his childhood, about his mother and father, how they abandoned him. While Huseinova kept on ranting on about his life, Polly turned away from him and looked at Aksana "How much longer of this must we endure?" she said with a annoyed and tired tone. Aksana shrugged and they looked back forward. He was gone. Dissapeared into the forest. Nowhere to be seen. Looking around, they heard noises of crickets and owls, the wind and the trees, the howl of a wolf. A fox in the distance, crossing the path. The trees too thick for moonlight to reach them. Everything stopped. No noise to be heard. No fox to be seen. Not even the howling of a wolf at the full moon. They stood there, stunned at what's happening. Panicking at what can happen. The air getting thinner as if they are climbing a mountain. Darkness...
Darkness. A heartbeat, pulsing through the forest. Every heartbeat, a shockwave of wind knocking them back. A screech could be heard but halfway through... It stopped. Everything stopped, again. From above, Huseinova came floating down. His eyes closed, arms spread. A metre off the ground, stuck in the air. Opening his eyes which shone black, and In a deep and booming voice, he exclaimed "the middle of the forest is an enigmatic place, magical for some. You are not welcome, and for that you will be terminated" as soon as he finished speaking, he sped down and towards Polly and Aksana which jumped out of the way as fast as they could, Polly landing in a Bush and Aksana only missing a tree by a hair. They got up and started running in two different directions, effectively losing eachother. Huseinova went after Polly, flying behind her trying to catch up. Jumping over stumps, she started to get tired, she hadn't run like this for weeks. She looked behind her, he was still there, flying behind her, breaking branches and bushes. Infront of her, a big branch, which hit her right in the head, knocking her out.
Opening her eyes to a familiar sight, Aksana.She went to rub her head where she hit it, but found her hands handcuffed to a tree. Aksana was still unconscious, but was also cuffed to a tree. Out of the shadows, he steps out. "You shouldn't have come here" a deep and stuttering voice said, "it's dangerous" his words echoed, it was like a million voices spoke at once. Scared, Polly screamed. Aksana woke up, saw him standing there, and fainted. "You have an hour to leave the forest, otherwise..." he paused "You... Shall... Die..." and having said that, he vanished. Into the thick air that was embedded in this forest. The soft wind sounding like a whistle, pushing the leaves surrounding Aksana. Polly came back to her senses, and started struggling to get out of the handcuffs. To her surprise, they where unlocked. Crawling over to Aksana, she whispers in short bursts "Hey, hey Askana. Wake up. Please, wake up. We need to hurry." opening her eyes, Aksana spoke. "I just had the weirdest dre-" cutting her off, Polly quickly said "it wasn't a dream and we need to get out of here". Aksana stood up in panic, and they both started to run. Searching for a path. Tree after tree. Bush after Bush. They ran. They reached a thick and dark tree, it seemed to be the biggest tree in the world. Spiders crawling all over it, holes, cobwebs. A sharp turn at the edge of the tree, as soon as they turned, huseinova popped up. Polly imidiately punched him in the face. Falling back and holding his face, he questioned, "wh-what was that for?" shocked, Polly answered in a serious way "you turned into some sort of demon thing and chased us around the forest". The constant smile on huseinova's face turned into a frown. "I did it again. I'm sorry for all the trouble I put you through. I didn't mean for it to happen, I just can't control th-" he stopped. "the what?" Aksana was quick to question. "You won't understand. I'm gonna have to leave you. You have to go that way" he pointed to the right, and ran off. Confused, Polly and Aksana looked at eachother. Then shrugged it off and walked in the direction huseinova pointed in. "That was quite an adventure wasn't it?" Polly said, in a sarcastic, yet surprised tone. "haha, no." Aksana answered.