They heard the howls again, multiple this ti. Not just one or two but a chorus of direwolves, all crying out from different corners of the forest.
It wasn't night yet. The sun still filtered dimly through the thick canopy, yet the air felt colder, heavier, as if dusk had suddenly fallen over their path.
Jan's hand moved without thought. In one fluid motion he reached over his shoulder, grabbed an arrow, and nocked it to his bowstring. Years of practice had made it effortless like his second nature. His fingers were steady. His eyes now already sharper than ever looking around.
Hund's hand gripped the hilt of his sword again, the blade already half-drawn from its sheath. The burn of his earlier injuries didn't matter now. All that mattered was what might co next.
Esther stood upright, her hands already beginning to glow faintly as she called Magic back to her fingers, ready to conjure if needed.
"What the hell's going on?!" Hund growled, his voice low but tense. He had fought direwolves before. But they never howled like this and never during daylight. This was sothing else.
He half-expected to see dozens of them co sprinting from between the trees, leaping from the shadows in one synchronized ambush. But none ca.
"They shouldn't be active yet," Esther muttered, echoing Hund's thoughts. "They're nocturnal. This makes no sense."
Jan said nothing. His ears twitched at every branch that creaked and every rustle of wind. Still, no sign of movent nearby. Were they far away? Were they calling to each other? Was this a coincidence that they just ca out of the forest?
His gut said no.
Nothing was ever coincidence in places like this. Not when an ancient temple had just stirred sothing back to life.
"We need to move. Fast," he said with sharp urgency.
No one questioned him. They took off imdiately, sprinting through the winding paths as fast as their legs could carry them. No longer trying to be silent just moving as fast as they can.
Their boots thudded against roots and moss-covered ground, breaths coming faster, the air thick with a rising tension none of them could shake.
Eventually, the trees began to thin. The overwhelming pressure of the deeper forest faded behind them, replaced by more familiar signs. They can see cleared trails, broken twigs from recent passage, and the faint sound of voices. They had made it to the safer outskirts.
Other adventurers were there, scattered along the trail in small groups. So tending fires already, others checking equipnt or looking over maps. When they noticed Jan's party charging out of the treeline, all eyes turned to them.
"Hey… Jan?" one adventurer called out. "Did you hear that howling?"
"Where were you guys?" another asked. "That ca from the north. Did sothing happen?"
But when they saw the pale expressions on Jan's party — especially Esther's drained face, the fresh bandages on Hund, and Jan's drawn bow still clutched tightly in his hands — questions faded into uneasy silence.
Jan gave a single nod, still breathless, his voice low and urgent. "You should all go. Now."
That was all he said.
But it was enough.
The groups exchanged uneasy glances. So murmured to their companions. Others were already packing. No one laughed. No one dismissed it. If Jan said to go, they'd better go.
Within minutes, the once-busy trail began to clear. Adventurers moving in pairs or trios, so casting wary glances over their shoulders.
Whatever it was that had stirred the direwolves this early deeper in the woods, none of them wanted to be the last to find out.
---
Erend still crouched low as he heaved another chunk of broken stone aside. Then he suddenly froze. His fingers tightened around the jagged rubble but he didn't lift it.
Sothing inside him had shifted, an unease, cold and sharp, running down his spine.
He slowly straightened up, his eyes narrowing as he turned to the east. The sun hadn't set yet but the golden light was dimr now, hidden behind a veil of distant haze.
It wasn't just the ti of day that felt off. The world itself had gone quiet for him. The kind of silence that made you feel like you were being watched.
Then it happened.
A flash of text blinked into existence in front of him, suspended in the air.
[ Main Quest Updated! ]
His heart thumped harder. He blinked, and the notification expanded.
[ Main Quest: The Forest Awakens! ]
[Description: A mysterious force has stirred deep within the ancient forest bordering the northern edge of the Qomore Kingdom. Creatures long dormant now cry out under the and the veil between nature and sothing older begins to thin. Investigate the source of this disturbance before it spreads.]
Erend stared at the notification, brows furrowing as his heartbeat pounded in his ears.
"What is this?" he thought. "Does it have anything to do with what I found in the laptop... or sothing else entirely?"
He clenched his fists, thoughts racing. But the answer didn't matter for now. What mattered was that the system gave him this quest. And when the system spoke, it never wasted his ti.
That ant this was important.
Without another word, Erend bent back down and started moving the rubble faster, each movent tighter and more deliberate than before.
His urgency wasn't subtle. The nearby Elves exchanged glances, so frowning at his sudden change in deanor. One of them, a young guard, stepped closer.
"Are you all right?" he asked carefully.
"I just want to finish early," Erend said quickly, voice low and focused. "Need so rest. That's all."
The Elf hesitated but nodded, stepping back. No one pressed him further.
Stone by stone, Erend cleared the remaining debris in half the ti he'd taken earlier. Sweat clung to his skin and dust clung to his arms, but he didn't stop until the task was done.
Then, without another word, he made his way back into the palace.
He entered his chamber and shut the door behind him with a soft click and dropping onto the edge of the bed. The softness of it barely registered. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the wooden floor beneath him, his fingers twitching.
"I need to go et my family first, then go to that place. What was that? Qomore kingdom?"
---
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