You and Trida step out of the stone-walled chamber, and the forest air hits you like a blessing. Cool, earthy, alive. After the cramped underground space, the open sky feels almost unreal. You inhale deeply, letting the scent of pine and damp leaves wash away the claustrophobia clinging to your skin.
The two of you walk side by side through the undergrowth. Branches sway overhead, whispering secrets you can't quite catch. Your thoughts drift, tangled and restless.
"If Bradley really can use black magic," you say slowly, "wouldn't he be able to teleport? Or turn invisible? Or something like that?"
Trida glances at you, her white fur catching flecks of light. "Well… he does have a secret place too. But even I don't know where it is." Her ears flatten slightly. "Sometimes he just disappears. No warning. No sound."
She groans softly and closes her eyes, as if trying to pull a memory from deep inside. "I think it's somewhere around his house."
Your mind sparks. Somewhere around his house. Maybe even inside it. You picture the moment you first arrived—the swirling light, the strange pull, the portal that opened like a tear in reality. Could that be connected? Could Bradley have access to the same kind of magic that dragged you out of your world?
They were characters in a book. Fiction. Ink and imagination.
Yet here you are.
Breathing the same air. Walking the same forest floor. Holding a gun that shattered a chair like it was nothing.
Is it really possible they can reach into your world? And if so… how?
Your thoughts spin faster than your footsteps. The answer might be closer than you think. Maybe hidden in Bradley's house. Maybe behind a wall, a floorboard, a spell.
"Trida," you say, grounding yourself, "where are we going?"
"To my house," she replies without hesitation. "If we're gonna stop Bradley, I have the resources."
Her tone is steady, but her tail flicks with tension. She's scared. Determined. And for the first time, you feel like you're not just surviving this story—you're shaping it.
The forest path curves ahead, darker and deeper.
Whatever Trida has in her home… it might be the key.
Or the beginning of something even more dangerous.