"Anyone?" Ludwig turned his head slowly as he walked forward, his boots crunching over damp underbrush and broken twigs that snapped with a brittle sound beneath his steps. A faint mist clung low to the ground, curling like pale fingers around his ankles. He cast a wary glance around the stillness.
"Creepy ass shit, for real…" he muttered under his breath, voice barely more than a whisper, as though the dark woods themselves were listening. His tone was casual, but the tension in his posture betrayed the underlying unease threading through him.
There didn't seem to be any path leading anywhere but forward. All around him, the trees towered with unnaturally long limbs, bark gnarled and mottled with pale fungus, leaves blackened like soot-stained parchment. Nothing stirred, not even a bird or insect. The silence was thick. Too thick.
"Thomas? Knight King?" he called, not stopping his stride.
