Chapter 271

• The gaping voids where their eyes should have been were like endless pits, darker than the night sky that loomed above. Putrid black liquid seeped from these empty sockets, yet somehow, the creatures could still navigate the forest around them. Their mouths were jagged gashes torn across their faces, needle-like teeth protruding from uneven lines. I couldn’t help but imagine the terror of having flesh torn by those razor-sharp points. The only remotely normal feature they possessed were their pointed, onyx-colored ears—the ears of the Fae. But these were no ordinary Fae.
• In that moment, the certainty of death settled over me. Leonardo and Andrea would never know what happened to me. There would be no remains, no trace of me left behind in this world. My immortal life would flash out like a tiny, insignificant spark, snuffed out horrifically by these nightmarish creatures. The pain, the terror—they would make sure my end was anything but peaceful.
• Reaching out to the earth felt useless, not when that ancient presence was already hunting me, lurking below the surface. Instead, I searched for the sun’s warmth—the same heat that had saved me before. It was night, so the warmth was faint, but it was still there, a distant lifeline. Yet, just as quickly as that warmth came, it vanished, smothered by a biting cold that crept from my wrist down my arm, leaving a chill that felt almost malicious.