Morning finally came, cold and dull, with a pale light pushing through the trees. Everyone slowly woke up except me—I hadn't slept at all. I spent the whole night sitting against a tree, holding the knife tightly, listening to every sound around us. My eyes were heavy and my head hurt, but I didn't want anything bad to happen while the others were sleeping.
We packed our things and started walking again. The forest path was quiet, but the silence felt different now—like the world itself was holding its breath. Our town was gone, burned down to ashes, so we had nowhere to go back to. There was no home anymore, no safety. All we had was each other.
Clem walked beside me and said softly, "You should rest when you can. You look like you're about to fall."I gave a small smile, "I'll be fine. We need to move."
We decided to return to the cave—the one with the strange metal door and the seven keyholes. Maybe the key Palash found would unlock something, or at least tell us where to go next.
Finding the cave again was harder than we expected. Every tree looked the same, and the forest felt like it was twisting in circles around us. After almost an hour of searching, Chakshu climbed up a fallen tree and pointed ahead.
"Hey! I think I found it!"
We hurried over, pushing branches aside, and finally saw the familiar rocky entrance covered with vines and snow. The cold air inside felt even sharper than before. We stepped in carefully, flashlights in hand.
There it was—the rusty metal door, huge and silent, buried partly in the stone. Seven keyholes lined across the center in a straight row, covered in dust and scratches.
Palash took the key out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment. None of us spoke. It felt like the moment was too heavy for words.
Finally, I stepped closer and placed my hand on the cold metal surface. "If this key really belongs here… then..."
We all watched as Palash pushed the key into one of the holes. It slid in smoothly, like it was meant to be there. He turned it slowly.
Click.
A deep sound echoed through the cave, like the door itself was waking up after a long sleep.
The ground shook slightly beneath our feet, dust falling from the ceiling.
As the echo of the key turning faded, a sudden grinding sound came from behind us. We spun around quickly, flashlights shaking in our hands. A section of the cave wall had shifted open slightly, dust falling around the edges. It wasn't the door that moved—it was something hidden behind us.
A narrow hidden passage stood there, dark and cold.
We looked at each other. No one needed to speak. We decided to check it out.
The passage was small, barely wide enough for us to walk through. After a few steps, we entered a hidden chamber. It was quiet—too quiet—and the air felt heavy, like no one had breathed here in years.
In the center of the chamber lay a skeleton, half covered in dust and torn clothes. One of its legs was gone, just broken bone and empty cloth left behind. It held something tightly in its hand.
A map.
I gently pulled it from its stiff fingers and unfolded it. Unlike the strange maps we saw before, this one matched our world perfectly. The rivers, the mountains, the towns—all real. Marked on the map were seven small red circles.
The exact locations of the keys.
We all stared at it, suddenly filled with hope. For the first time since all of this began, it felt like we actually had a chance.
We searched the chamber for anything else. Chakshu found a dusty old book near the skeleton. The cover was cracked and nearly falling apart.
"It looks like a diary or something," he said, handing it to me.
I opened it carefully and read the first readable page aloud:
"Everyone thinks I am a fool. They are the real fools. They never believed me."
"I found this strange map in the forest. No name, no sign of who made it. It led me to this door."
"My life is hell now. I hear whispers every night telling me to kill them. They won't stop. I can't sleep."
"The only person who believed me was my brother. He became the mayor of our town. He said he wanted to help me, so he planned a treasure hunt event to find the keys. I had the real map, but I wasn't strong enough alone."
"Each key is heavily protected… traps everywhere. I don't even know what the keys look like. I tried to get just one… and I did, but I lost my leg trying."
"I can't take this anymore."
"If anyone reads this… please…"
"If you find the key, don't put it in the door."
"This world will end if you do."
The page ended there, The rest of the book was damaged and unreadable.
We stood there frozen, Silence swallowed the room.
The door behind us seemed to grow darker, heavier than before. Something about it felt wrong now. Terribly wrong.
We looked at each other, frightened and confused.
We left the chamber slowly, holding the map and the diary tightly. None of us spoke as we walked back into the main cave. The metal door stood in front of us again, silent and cold, but now it felt different—like something alive was waiting behind it.
We sat down on the ground in a small circle, tired and shaken. The silence between us was heavy. Every one of us was thinking the same thing.
We had already placed one key.
The diary's words kept echoing in my head:
"If you find the key, don't put it in the door.""This world will end if you do."
I looked at the others, taking a slow breath.
"We already put one key in… what if we just started something we can't stop?"
Chakshu rubbed his face with both hands, stressed and scared.
"Bro, what if that crazy guy was telling the truth? What if we just woke up something horrible?"
Palash shook his head, trying to stay calm but clearly shaken.
"Or what if he was just insane? Losing a leg, hearing whispers—maybe it messed up his mind. Maybe this door doesn't end the world. Maybe it's something important. Something we need."
Clem looked straight at the metal door, her voice quiet but firm.
"What if both things are true? What if the treasure is real… but dangerous? My town was destroyed too. People are killing each other for this thing. Something is wrong here."
Living finally spoke, his voice soft but steady.
"The key is already inside. We can't take it out now. So the real question is… do we continue, or do we run?"
We all went silent again.
The truth was painful—we didn't have a choice. Everyone was hunting us. Our town was gone. We had nowhere to return to. If we ran, we'd still be hunted. If we continued… we might end the world. Or save it. No one knew.
I looked at the map with all seven red circles and said:
"We're already in this. And we can't stop now. We just have to be smart. We find the next key, and we try to understand what we're dealing with before doing anything else."
Everyone nodded slowly.
We stood up together, once again facing the unknown.
The path ahead was terrifying… but it was the only path left.
We packed our things again and prepared to leave the cave. The map with the marked locations was now the most important thing we had. But the air felt heavier than before, and something unspoken hung between us.
As we started walking toward the exit, Palash slowed down behind us. His voice was low and tense.
"Guys… are we sure we're doing the right thing?"
We stopped and turned to look at him. His hands were shaking slightly, and he avoided eye contact.
"We just heard that opening this door could end the world," he continued. "And we already put one key in. What if every step we take is a mistake? What if we're helping something terrible?"
Chakshu sighed and rubbed his eyes."Dude, we don't have another option. We can't go back. Everyone is after these keys, and we don't even know why."
Palash looked frustrated, tired, and afraid."Maybe we should just destroy the map and stop. Let the world figure itself out."
Clem's voice cut through the air—sharp and serious."And then what? Hide? Run until they catch us? My brother died because of this. Your town burned because of this. Stopping won't fix anything."
I took a breath and stepped closer."Palash… I get it. I really do. But we're already inside the storm. Going back won't change what's already done."
He stared at us for a long moment, then exhaled slowly and nodded, though he still looked unsure.
"Okay… but if things get worse, we stop. We stop and... just go somewhere else."
"Somewhere else? brother look, our houses are burned, our town is destroyed, we have nowhere to go!" I said.
"But..." palash said hopelessly.
we heard something.
Voices. Footsteps. near us.The sound of crunching leaves and snapping twigs from multiple directions.
We froze instantly, hearts racing.
Clem whispered, gripping her gun tightly,"Someone followed us…"
Living turned off his flashlight. We crouched down behind a rock and listened carefully. More footsteps. At least six or seven people. They were getting closer—fast.
Chakshu whispered,"We need to move. Now."
We slipped out of the cave quietly, trying not to make a sound, and hurried deeper into the woods, staying low and moving fast.
We didn't stop until the voices faded far behind us.
Everyone was breathing hard. My chest felt tight, and my legs shook from exhaustion and fear. But we were safe—for now.
I unfolded the map and pointed to the closest red circle.
"The nearest key is near Blackridge Hill," I said. "It's about half a day from here if we keep walking."
Clem nodded and took the lead."Then let's go before those people catch us again."
Without another word, we started walking through the forest, sticking close together, stepping over roots and rocks, the wind cold against our faces.
None of us knew what waited for us ahead.
But we walked anyway.
Because this journey was now our only path.