“Crunch!” Katherina stepped on a fallen, dead tree branch as she ran away from the kingdom, guiding Alhen with her hand, holding his.

  Looking back, at the entrance to the kingdom, people were standing inside the doors. They continued staring at them without moving a muscle.

  Their expressions showed no emotion, and the eyes fixed on their running figures offered Katherina little comfort.

  They all seemed deformed, with their faces looking weird, their arms of different lengths, and their bodies bulging beneath their skin.

  She didn’t know when or why they had appeared, but that didn’t matter right now. The men stood still, but she didn’t know whether they would chase after them.

  “A-Alhen, people are standing where we left, they are looking at us while we run. What do we do?” She asked, running for even this distance had made her tired.

  In this situation, she didn’t know what to do and could only hope that the young boy beside her had the answer she lacked.

  “Let’s keep on running,” Alhen answered. “Right now, I can’t do anything, so after we escape their sight, let’s change directions and head for the Kingdom of Yhia.”

  “Very well, but if I die, remember that I will haunt your dreams!” She exclaimed.

  “Don’t scream, we can’t give our location away for anything in the world,” Alhen said.

  Katherina realized that what he said was true and focused on getting as far away from the kingdom before the people started giving chase.

  The red trees around them grew more abundant the farther they ran, and after a while, they had run far enough to put quite a distance between them and the kingdom.

  Thankfully, the thick, abundant trees hid the moon from Katherina’s sight, making her worry less about catching a glance at it and turning into a wiht.

  The bad part was that it was now darker than normal, and she could barely see ahead of her, but her vision was starting to get used to it.

  Alhen had barely managed to avoid tripping and slowing down their speed multiple times due to his lack of vision, but he thankfully avoided that.

  Katherina had stopped to catch her breath, looking completely exhausted and ready to rest for a few minutes.

  Alhen, on the other hand, waiting patiently for the princess to compose herself without saying a word, he looked to be in perfect condition.

  “Do you not feel tired!?” Katherina exclaimed, but one look from Alhen’s dull, white eye made her clamp her mouth shut.

  “I am sorry, I forgot not to scream,” she said.

  “I train my stamina a lot. If I were tired from this much running, I would abandon the idea of being a hunter,” Alhen said with a deadpan expression, sounding like his mentor.

  Katherina nodded her head.

  “I sometimes forget that you are a hunter; you look young enough to be my little brother,” she said while shaking her head.

  Alhen sighed and didn’t comment, actively keeping an ear out for any suspicious sounds. He might be blind, but he hadn’t given up, not when they had successfully evaded that whole ordeal at the moment.

  “I have no doubts that we will be found soon enough if we stay here; we must move as soon as possible, princess,” Alhen commented with a serious expression.

  “Can we wait a few minutes? My heart rate has not gone down yet. I am afraid that if I keep running, I will collapse from exhaustion,” Katherina replied.

  Alhen gritted his teeth and maintained the same expression on the outside. He couldn’t see her, but he could hear her ragged breathing that didn’t seem to be calming down anytime soon.

  “I’m sorry, princess, but we cannot allow ourselves to remain in this location,” Alhen said before squatting on the floor and signaling for her to get on his back.

  “H-Hey! What are you planning to do? You are blind, how are you going to walk carrying me on your back with one hand? What if you trip and fall?” she questioned.

  “You are worried for nothing. If I can’t see, then be my eyes and guide me, you know the way back to the kingdom, right?” Alhen asked, ignoring the part she said about his arm.

  “Yes, but I do not feel safe being carried by you,” she replied.

  “Too bad, we have to keep moving. Even if we advance slowly, it’s still better than remaining here, start guiding my way,” Alhen ordered, his patience running thin.

  “Humph!” The princess complained, but eventually got on his back, avoiding cutting herself with his axe and started giving him directions.

  His sign glowed beneath his jacket, and the strength he lacked began to fill him in a rush.

  Katherina started juggling between breathing to regain her breath and guiding Alhen towards the kingdom.

  “Remember that we have to diversify our tracks, we cannot be walking in a straight line for long lest we are caught. Also, have an eye out for any wihts you see along the way, we cannot afford to be distracted for even a second.”

  Katherina agreed with his words and started paying attention to their surroundings.

  Aside from the dead vegetation around them and the thick smell of dead grass surrounding them, nothing seemed to be out of place for now.

  “We are still close to the kingdom, so the presence of wihts in these parts is rare. Once we walk a little further, we will encounter many of them,” Katherina commented, having a shudder at the end of her sentence.

  Alhen nodded absentmindedly in her direction. Right now, he was focused on picking up any sounds that would enter his ears.

  His walking speed remained constant, neither accelerating nor slowing down, and Katherina was surprised by it.

  “Alhen, I have one question. Are you going to be able to fight wihts in your current state?” she asked.

  Alhen kept walking without answering, causing Katherina to break out in a sweat from nervousness.

  “If we encounter wihts along the way, you will have to pray that they don’t spot us. Keep your eyes open and your ears sharp, just focus on alerting me if you see something out of place,” he replied.

  Katherina swallowed audibly, and Alhen could feel her body shaking in his embrace.

  A few minutes had passed since they started walking, and the forest’s silence began to unsettle them.

  “Alhen, is it normal for the forest to be this quiet? I heard that when the forest is quiet, it’s because there is a strong wiht that drew the weaker ones away,” the princess commented as her gaze darted around the place.

  He didn’t know what to say; he had not been in the forests too often.

  He remembered, however, his own experience with the siblings when the forest had been full of the sounds of lower-ranked wihts.

  “Don’t think about these things. Even if it’s possible, there’s no way to tell for sure if that’s what’s happening right now. Don’t stress yourself out and just focus on keeping an eye out.” Alhen reminded.

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  The princess nodded, and they walked for a few more minutes. Katherina kept her eyes open, searching for something out of place before Alhen stopped.

  She looked confusedly at Alhen, who had stayed still with his sole blind eye, looking lost straight ahead.

  “Did-” She didn’t have time to finish her line of questioning when Alhen turned to look at her with a serious expression that promised pain if she kept talking.

  Katherina realized that Alhen had noticed something and decided to remain silent lest she attract whatever he had noticed.

  Her heart shook, and she held Alhen tightly from behind. She began to look around her, moving quickly, trying to spot the danger.

  “Find a hiding place, now!” Alhen urged in a barely audible whisper.

  Katherina got off his back without saying a word and took his hand, guiding him slowly to a nearby bush for cover.

  None of them talked, and they were close enough to feel each other’s warm breaths.

  A few seconds passed before Katherina heard whatever had alerted Alhen; it was a pained voice, barely audible, but when she heard it, her hair stood on end.

  “Help?” It moaned, over and over again.

  The voice kept getting louder over time and approached their location. It sounded all sorts of wrong, like a creature had learned to talk the previous cycle, not at all sounding like a human.

  Alhen and Katherina were frozen solid, not daring to move a muscle or breathe audibly.

  ‘It is the first time that I hear a wiht talk, could it be that it is way more powerful than the rest?’ Alhen wondered.

  The constant darkness and pressure were starting to play with his mind, and a crushing fear gripped his heart.

  This was the first time that Alhen felt so powerless. Without his vision, he didn’t know how he would survive if the wiht found them.

  ‘There are wihts that have a great sense of smell or hearing, if this is one of those wihts, then I’m afraid that we might not be able to survive,’

  He gritted his teeth, and the only thing he could think of was holding Katherina tightly so she would not move or say a word. He had already heard how talkative she was, and he wouldn’t let that ruin their chances of survival.

  Katherina didn’t fight his grip, but came closer and hugged him tightly. From inside the bush, she had a limited range of motion and sight.

  If any of them moved even a little, the leaves would rustle loudly. Her gaze could barely see outside clearly, something Katherina labeled good after a short time.

  If she couldn’t see well outside, the wiht could also not see them inside.

  “Help?” The creature moaned again, this time being almost next to them.

  Katherina’s heart picked up the pace, and Alhen on the side tensed further.

  Alhen wanted to communicate many things with Katherina, such as what to do if they were found out or how to alert him if things took a turn for the worse, but was unable to do so.

  The feeling of not being in control started to drive him insane, but he held on with a shaking heart.

  He wanted to release Katherina and reach out for his revolver, but he was afraid that she would get them found out if he took his attention away from her for even a second.

  In the end, he decided not to move unless he got a signal that they had been discovered.

  ‘I will survive this, and when I do, we will get out of this forest as fast as possible. Many dangers are lurking around; we can’t afford to stay here for long,’ Alhen thought.

  In his mind, he knew it was more complicated than that, but it was nice to have hope in such despairing situations.

  The time it would take them to arrive in the Kingdom of Yhia was roughly the same as when they came to the Kingdom of Levex.

  The carriage they used was moving at walking speed, as people protected it from the outside, which meant it would take them two or three cycles to return.

  Alhen’s attention was taken away from his thoughts when he heard crying beside him.

  It was faint at first, but it grew stronger over a short period.

  At first, he thought it was Katherina, but she was currently holding him and was close enough that he could sense if she moved.

  The sound came from beside them; it was very close, as if right next to them.

  Katherina tensed in his embrace, not daring to turn to face the sound. She trembled uncontrollably, but did everything in her power not to make a noise.

  She noticed Alhen retracting his hand from her back and slowly creeping it towards his revolver.

  As the sound beside them grew louder, they could hear that something was wrong with the weeping.

  It was definitely not human; it sounded like a creature trying to imitate one, but failing, which left an uncanny feeling in his heart.

  As he took the revolver in his hand, the weeping ceased, leaving him in complete silence.

  The only thing comforting him was Katherina, who hugged him closely and made him feel something apart from his own heartbeat.

  The sudden stillness started playing with his mind, at least with the weeping, he knew that there was something near them.

  Without the sound, there were many unanswered questions that Alhen didn’t like one bit.

  The silence didn’t last long, however, as they both heard footsteps getting away from their location.

  Whatever had left had not been inconspicuous about it, stepping on dead branches and making much noise when it walked.

  Alhen and Katherina waited for a few minutes after the sound had ceased to be completely sure that it had left.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Alhen whispered.

  Katherina didn’t want to leave the safe feeling the bush gave her, but she had no choice. Against her better judgment, she started leaving the bush when she stopped abruptly.

  Alhen felt her body stop just before exiting and wondered if something had happened. He was about to call her out when he decided against it in case she had spotted danger.

  He waited patiently for the princess to make a move, but no matter how much time passed, she didn’t move.

  Alhen started to worry and lightly touched her shoulder from behind, but received no response.

  He focused more closely on her body and noticed she was trembling. He gritted his teeth and wondered what she saw to make her so scared.

  Alhen gripped his revolver with a steel grip and waited patiently for something to happen.

  He didn’t want to be careless now that he was blind.

  Even if Katherina had spotted something, it would take a few seconds for it to reach them, and he was going to use that opportunity to kill it when it was making the most sound.

  ‘Even if I’m blind, it doesn’t mean that I can’t use my other senses to my advantage. I will have to keep an ear out for any foreign sounds and be prepared to take action if necessary,’ Alhen thought.

  Katherina, in front of Alhen, had her gaze fixed on something. Through the gaps of the bush, she saw something staring right at her, unmoving.

  A pale, bald head poked out of a tree, staring right at the bush where they were hiding. The wiht had its hand, which had long fingernails, holding the side of the tree.

  Its eyes were wide open, and even when it had been more than a minute since they had been locked in a staredown, she hadn’t seen it blink even once.

  The wiht was tall, but not overly tall, and it had thin lips which contrasted with his big, wide eyes. It had no nose, and its expression revealed nothing about his intentions.

  Katherina was sure she was starting to hyperventilate. She had to take deep, slow breaths to calm herself lest she draw the creature’s ire.

  In a moment of distraction, she blinked, and the creature in front of her disappeared. It just vanished, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  Her gaze frantically moved around the place, trying to locate it, but she was unable to.

  In a way, having the creature in her sight was better, since now it could be looking straight at them, and she wouldn’t know.

  Katherina finally noticed a familiar feeling on his back that had slipped her mind since she was staring at the wiht.

  Alhen was holding her back, and he had no idea what was happening. She approached him and leaned close to his ear, telling him what had happened.

  “It saw us,” she whispered.

  Alhen had goosebumps hearing her words. The content was short, but it was enough to make him tense.

  He gripped his revolver even tighter and sharpened his ears.

  “Where?” Alhen asked in a low voice, and Katherina responded, “I do not know.”

  Alhen gritted his teeth.

  ‘What happened? Katherina saw the creature, but now she doesn’t know where it is? How did that happen? What did it look like?’

  He had many questions, but they would have to remain unanswered for now.

  He had no idea whether the wiht was dangerous or not, but according to Katherina, it had spotted them, and that was enough to put him on high alert.

  “There’s no point in hiding anymore that it saw us, let’s leave the bush and stand in the open, it would be better for us if you have a view of it before it can reach us,” Alhen commented.

  Katherina agreed with his words, but she didn’t want to move even a centimeter.

  Ultimately, Alhen had to force her to move. They were not safe where they were, and Alhen had to make sure to increase their chances of survival in case something happened.

  Katherina left the bush first, and Alhen followed closely behind her.

  Now that they stood in the open, the tension increased. Katherina didn’t dare leave Alhen’s side despite his youth and small stature; she felt safer around him.

  She was prepared to warn Alhen in case she saw anything out of place.

  The still forest had a more dangerous look in her eyes, and the absence of sound apart from their own breathing and footsteps unsettled Alhen.

  They slowly walked towards the kingdom of Yhia, constantly on the alert.

  Katherina held Alhen’s jacket; she would pull on it if something were to happen.

  More minutes passed without sight of the wiht, and the princess started to relax somewhat. Looking ahead, however, she stopped and reflexively pulled on the jacket.

  The pale wiht was behind a tree, looking straight at them. Its body was positioned in a way so it remained hidden from view, but the tree it was hiding behind wasn’t thick enough to conceal its frame.

  The creature’s wide eyes were fixated on Katherina and didn’t move.

  Alhen, feeling Katherina’s tug, immediately raised his revolver and aimed in front of him, but didn’t fire.

  “I-It is in front of you,” she said with her voice shaking.

  Alhen wasn’t in a hurry to take action; he waited patiently for the moment that the creature would give its position away by making a sound.

  If he weren’t blind, maybe he would have shot his bullet right about now, but now, he had to play the game differently.

  His heart felt as if it wanted to escape his chest, but he breathed deeply and calmed it down.

  Katherina tried her best not to take her eyes off the creature as she had last time, but she was human and needed to blink.

  Once she did, the wiht disappeared, and she warned Alhen in a hurry.

  “It disappeared!” She whispered.

  Alhen tensed and didn’t move a muscle; he hadn’t heard its movements at all!

  Katherina looked to the sides and finally behind her, only to find the wihts face inches away from her.

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