The eerie sounds and creeping cold were Forbidden Forest’s main characteristics. But today the night was completely uneventful, very unlike the day. Aside from an owl's ‘hoo-hoo’ and wind rustle, it was calm. The calm before the storm. The moonlight filtering through the trees that night was unusually bright.

  Liz couldn’t enjoy the tranquil night. Every time she tried to sleep, nightmares turned it apart. But, before the night, she was too anxious about the day ahead, so even going to sleep was unfeasible. Anticipation was killing her, and she was also really scared. She wanted to avenge her friends, but all she could think of was how the demon was going to kill her. When she pictured, in her head, facing a demon, it shook her to the soul. The last time she saw one was in the tent, when the demon tried to kill her in her mother’s appearance.

  Her thoughts jumped back and forth between facing the demon and the mutilated bodies of her friends. She couldn’t sleep in that condition. Every sudden rustle or crack of the campfire made her twitch.

  Her companion, on the other hand, slept like a baby. She hated how it seemed not to face him at all. She was wondering what his life was like to be so cold to people. Why was he so sure of his strength? How could he not doubt himself in one bit? Liz tried to replace the thought that scared her with every little thing she resented in him. Somehow it worked, and she was able to fall asleep for a couple of hours.

  When she woke up, her companion was already up. He was eating the breakfast he made. While she was asleep, he got some eggs. He made fried eggs with some fried mushrooms. He made her eat even though she tried to refuse, saying she wasn’t hungry, but he wouldn’t listen.

  “Sooooo, what's the plan?” Liz asked as nonchalantly as she could. She was really nervous about the whole thing, so she sounded really strange.

  “Well, you won’t like it.”

  She could've guessed that was what was going to happen, but she still hoped there was some better way to do this.

  “Why?”

  “We need to follow the steps. So we're going to see even more blood today.” He was nervously poking the fire with the stick in his hand, “You sure you can handle it?”

  She hesitated before she answered: “I’m ready.”

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  He didn’t really believe her, but he couldn't just leave her. There was a high chance she could find the demon alone, which wouldn't be ideal, to say the least.

  “So, are you gonna give me my cloak back, or what?” he said cheekily.

  The blood rushed to her cheeks, and she instantly looked down. She was wearing his cloak the whole night. While her face was burning, she slowly took it off and gave it back to him. That was one more time when she embarrassed herself before him. Being the lady of ancient times, Liz had a very hard time exposing any part of herself before men, and doing it so many times made her want to die of awkwardness.

  It was time for the hunt. They packed up their stuff, put out the fire, and checked the supplies. There was enough water for the day, some nuts, and berries for the snack. It could be a long journey. They weren’t sure if the demon had been here by chance or if it was here because those things find their way to navigate in the forest. If it were the second option, it might have already left, but that also wouldn't make any sense. Why disturb the exam and give humans intel about their ability to cross the forest? But on the other hand, it was a very demon-like thing to do. They are extremely prideful creatures. It would be an excellent way to show their dominance, to strip away the last hope from the mire humans.

  First, they returned to the last place they visited. This time, when Liz saw the cave, she didn’t want to go anywhere near it. Thankfully, it wasn’t needed. They passed the narrow river and went deeper into the forest.

  After about an hour of walking, the Hat Man found more bodies. This time, the scene was even more disturbing than before. There was a large group of eight people, all teens, all dead. Some even looked as if they were much younger than Liz.

  Her heart rate rose so high. She saw herself in them. Young, inexperienced, or maybe even delusional kids with big dreams and ambition. You could see the struggle. They tried to fight back, but the monster crushed their bones, skulls, and even their soles. They were so scared, she could see the stains on their clothes. Some of them had peed their pants.

  This time, they just walked by, not even trying to gather them together or pay their respects. If they did that every time they found dead bodies, they would never catch the demon. So they just kept walking, heading somewhere where her companion led her. He could see the demon's footprints. When she tried to look for them herself, they were so faint, like they were doing it on purpose, or they had weighed as much as the feather.

  She wondered where he learned all of that, and she began to suspect that he was a demon hunter. But if he was, how did he get lost in the forest? He was supposed to know it on the back of his head. It started to hurt her head to think about all of that. She knew she needed to focus. It was a really dangerous place now, and even without that, she needed to learn as much as she could from that situation.

  Shortly after, they found one more body, a girl. She was blonde, shorter than Liz, who was taller than the other girls since she could remember. That girl was probably part of the previous group and tried to run away, but the monster found her anyway.