Even from how far it was, the creature stared directly at them. Not with the same hunger—nor with the same agony as before. It just seemed...aware of them.
Though, Ren noticed it wasn't just focused on all of them as a group. But rather him individually. Like the creature had remembered him from below. Ren leaned forward to the steed's pinnae, whispering softly to it.
"Get us out of sight...Now."
The steed didn't move at his command, forcing Ren to take in the sight. That slug beneath it continued to twitch ever so weakly, its body pulsing in uneven spasms. And thick strands of gore hung from the wolf's teeth, swaying loosely in its parted maw.
Ren waited for the growl. The pounce into the lunge.
Some sort of attack. Some sort of revenge.
Instead, the wolf's gaze broke, turning its attention back away from him. Its jaws lowered once more, teeth sinking back into the slug's flesh.
CHOMP
'…What?' Ren thought. 'It...it saw us? I know it did.'
"We...should go around." Eva said, voice full of concern. "Maybe it didn't see us..."
'But it did...It looked straight at us. Maybe it was just concerned with finishing its meal?'
"Ren?"
"Yeah, agreed...it's best to be avoided."
Ren patted the steed's side, urging it to move.
"Please, pal, there's nothing left to see. Continue on now..."
The steed moved again, slow and deliberate, hooves soundless against the forest floor.
They passed within sight of it—closer than Ren liked. He could smell the rot now. The iron-thick blood. The slug's dying spasms sent tremors through the ground, weak and pitiful.
'Seems it was real after all...'
"…Even with Nocstella gone, this forest hasn't changed much." Eva said, slow and calm. "So its best we remain careful, and avoid all we can until we find this 'Line'."
"I know..."
The forest thinned soon after, the mist ahead brightening into something pale and undefined.
The mist receded like a curtain, revealing a clearing unlike anything he'd imagined this world could offer. No trees, nor shadows. Just a vast, impossible whiteness stretching in endless directions, both horizontally and vertically.
"Is…this real?" Eva's voice barely rose above a whisper, trembling despite its calm edge.
Both of them stepped down from the steed.
"She told the truth. It's...real. It's really here." Ren spoke out.
The ghostly steed followed behind, as they both took tentative steps toward 'The Line'. The ground beneath their feet remained solid, but the light was almost blinding. A clean, raw white that seemed to stretch beyond the edges of their comprehensions. They walked hand-by-hand, slower now, disbelief tangled with caution.
"It's infinite..." Eva breathed out in awe. "How? How could something like this exist?"
"I don't know." Ren admitted, voice low in thought. "But it's real. And we're here now."
They stopped, mere meters from the wall—or perhaps it wasn't a wall, but the end of all things. It rose higher than the eye could follow, its surface impossibly smooth, radiating an almost painful brilliance. Ren lifted a hand, hesitating before pressing it to the surface. Eva mirrored him, their palms brushing the white light. And a rough shiver ran up their arms...
Then it came—the pressure in their heads. A sharp, gnawing ache in their skulls. Both of them collapsed, clutching their temples, as the white burned at the edges of their vision.
"Ren…" Eva's voice trembled. "I…it…it hurts—"
"Just…hold on," Ren rasped, trying to grit through the pain.
Then—
A voice coming from every direction.
"Children..."
The sound was so soft. So clear. Beautiful in a way Ren had never known sound could be. His skull throbbed, but the pain wasn't cruelty—there was no malice in it, only the weight of presence.
"Lift thine eyes." The voice spoke, ever so gentle. "If thou art able to bear the light.."
Ren forced his eyes open, squinting against the white that burned his vision. Eva followed. Both trembled, caught between awe and fear.
"Tell me," The voice continued, soft yet resonant. "Why come so far, children? What dost thou seek beyond the borders?"
The presence of the voice alone, almost broke Ren's mind in pieces.
"We just…we need to go forward," Ren said, voice rough. "We have to…find a way out."
"Ah…" The voice sighed, soft as wind across still waters. "To go forward…To move beyond…Is it your desire, or the weight of necessity pressing upon your mortal hearts? Do you know what you are willing to leave behind…to gain that which lies beyond? Speak truly, children. And fear not—there is no judgment here."
"We...want..." Eva's fingers curled into the ground. "We must reach beyond 'The Line'."
"'The Line'?" The voice spoke, soft as the moons glow. "Is that thy end or thy beginning? Think carefully, children. What art thou prepared to leave behind to pass beyond this light?"
Just as the old woman told them:
'It had asked me for something. A part of myself. In return...for crossing...'
"Every choice demands sacrifice." The voice spoke again, ever so cryptic. "Wilt thou surrender that which thou holdest most dear? Wilt thou step beyond that which thou knowest, that which hath shaped thee, to take that which awaits?"
"Whatever..." Eva whispered.
"Whatever it takes..." Ren finished.
"Art thou willing to let all that thou knowest fade, to grasp what thou hast not yet touched? Wouldst thou cast aside what comforteth thee, to claim the path that stretches unseen?"
Ren's fingers pressed hard against the wall, as if by sheer force he could steady himself against the ache clawing at his skull. Eva's hand trembled where it rested atop his, her nails digging faintly into his palm.
"Children…canst thou hear the weight of thine own hearts? Knowest thou what thou wouldst forsake to pass beyond this threshold?"
"What…what would you take from us?" Eva's voice broke slightly, hesitant.
"I will take…that which shapes thee, yet is thine alone."