Whispers of the Forgotten Pines

The silence after the door slammed shut was deafening.

Ethan's breath came in sharp, uneven gasps as he pressed his back against the cold stone. Lillian stood beside him, hands braced on her knees, her body trembling from the sprint.

The air in this new space was different. Heavy. Charged. Like they had stepped into a room where time had forgotten to move forward.

Ethan swallowed hard and took a cautious step forward. The glow from the symbols on the door had faded, leaving only the faint flicker of torches lining the walls. The chamber was vast, stretching far beyond where the torchlight reached. Ancient pillars stood like silent sentinels, their bases cracked with age.

"Where… are we?" Lillian whispered.

Ethan didn't answer. Instead, he turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in.

That's when he saw them.

The statues.

Rows of them, stretching along the walls, hundreds of stone figures frozen in eerie stillness. Their faces were carved with expressions of anguish—some screaming, some weeping, others looking as though they had been cut off mid-plea.

A chill crawled down Ethan's spine. They weren't just statues.

They had once been people.

Lillian must have come to the same realization because she whispered, "Oh my god."

Ethan took an uneasy step forward, his fingers brushing the edge of one of the statues. The moment his skin met the cold stone—

A voice.

Not aloud. Not in the room.

But in his head.

A whisper, distant but desperate.

"Turn back."

Ethan yanked his hand away. His pulse thundered in his ears. "Did you—"

"Yes." Lillian's voice was barely audible. "I heard it too."

Ethan exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay calm. "Okay. We don't panic."

"Too late," she muttered, but she straightened her shoulders.

They moved cautiously deeper into the chamber, avoiding the statues. Something about them felt too alive. As if at any moment, they might turn their heads and stare.

At the far end of the room stood a pedestal, its surface smooth and untouched by time.

A book rested atop it.

Ethan and Lillian exchanged glances.

"Not ominous at all," Ethan muttered.

Lillian hesitated, then reached forward. The second her fingers touched the book's cover—

A wave of sound crashed through the chamber.

A thousand voices, all speaking at once. Some screaming, some whispering, others sobbing. The sheer force of it sent Ethan staggering back, his hands flying to his ears.

The torches flickered wildly. The air vibrated. The statues—

They moved.

A slow, shuddering twitch ran through them, like something was stirring beneath the stone.

Ethan's blood turned to ice.

"Lillian, we need to go. NOW."

She ripped the book from the pedestal, clutching it to her chest. The moment she did, the voices stopped.

Silence.

And then—

A single breath.

Not theirs.

Something else was in the chamber with them.

Ethan turned slowly, dread coiling in his stomach.

A shadow detached from the darkness at the far end of the room. It wasn't human. It wasn't even solid. A mass of writhing blackness, shifting like smoke, yet rooted in the earth like something ancient and wrong.

And then it spoke.

Not in words.

But in pure, unfiltered terror.

A wave of fear hit Ethan so hard he almost collapsed. His vision blurred. His lungs seized. Every instinct in his body screamed to run, hide, disappear.

Lillian grabbed his wrist. "MOVE!"

She didn't need to tell him twice.

They ran.

Behind them, the shadow followed—not chasing, but gliding, as if it had all the time in the world. The statues shook violently, as if something was trying to escape from within them.

The door. They had to get to the door.

Lillian fumbled for the book, flipping through pages as they sprinted. "It has to say how to get out!"

"HURRY."

The torches snuffed out.

The air grew thick.

And then—

Ethan felt it.

A hand.

Cold, stone-like fingers brushing against his arm.

One of the statues had moved.

He shouted, ripping himself free, stumbling forward.

"LILLIAN—"

"The symbols—" Lillian gasped. "They match the ones on the door—"

Ethan slammed into the door, hands frantically tracing the faint carvings. The shadow was so close now, the whispers in his mind turning into a full-blown scream.

Lillian pressed her palm to one of the symbols and spoke the word written in the book.

Light exploded from the door.

A crack split down the center.

Then—

They fell.

The floor vanished beneath them, and Ethan's world turned to darkness.

Where have Ethan and Lillian fallen? And what was the shadow that lurked within the chamber? The answers lie in the next chapter…