⚔️ **CHAPTER 29 — Nightmares on the Road**
Night fell slowly, heavy and gray, swallowing the forest around Kael and Caelin. The mist thickened until the trees became vague silhouettes, their twisted branches looming like silent sentinels. Every step felt slower, heavier—as if the fog itself resisted their passage.
Kael's mind, already on edge from the forest's subtle tests, began to unravel. Hunger and exhaustion tugged at him, but it wasn't physical strain that clawed at his senses. It was something darker—memories that weren't his, visions that came unbidden, shadows at the edges of his mind.
He stumbled slightly, gripping his sword for focus.
*Kael…* the second voice whispered, tense. *The land is not the only thing testing you. Your own fears are rising now.*
He shook his head. *Not now… not here…*
But the world didn't wait.
In the mist, he saw flashes: a village burning, smoke curling into a sky that wasn't real; faces twisted in fear, children crying; someone—him?—falling into black soil that seemed to swallow light itself. The images flickered, impossible to stop, overlapping with the forest around him. He blinked, and the vision remained, sinking into his chest like lead.
"Kael?" Caelin's voice broke through the haze. The prince's hand rested lightly on his shoulder. "Focus. It's not real. Hold the ground beneath your feet."
Kael exhaled shakily, but the nightmares pressed forward. He could feel shapes moving in the mist—figures with hollow eyes, echoing voices whispering words he almost recognized but couldn't place. They weren't attacking, but their presence made the air heavy, suffocating.
*This is a test,* the second voice murmured. *You are learning the cost of fear before it arrives physically.*
Kael staggered, gripping his sword tighter. "I… I can't… it's everywhere…"
Caelin adjusted his stance beside him, calm and steady. "Then let me anchor you. Don't fight it alone. You can survive this, but not if you sink into it."
Kael forced himself to look at the path, at Caelin's unwavering gaze. The visions didn't vanish completely, but they dulled, flickering at the edges like distant lightning. The forest seemed to pulse with them, feeding on fear, but Kael's focus returned gradually.
"I… I think it's… slowing," Kael muttered, voice trembling.
"Yes," Caelin said. "But this is only the beginning. Nightmares are the first consequence of walking with debts you barely understand. They will return, sharper, when the forest knows you are tired. When it senses weakness."
Kael swallowed hard. "I thought… hunger was the worst part. Not this."
"The mind," Caelin replied, "is always the first battlefield. The forest, the debt… they test what you carry inside before they ever touch you physically. Fear is cheaper than death, but it teaches more."
The mist shifted, curling away from the trail as they moved forward. Kael's chest heaved, but he forced himself to walk. Step by careful step. Side by side with Caelin.
"I can't let it take me," Kael whispered.
"You won't," Caelin said firmly. "Because you're not alone. Not while I'm here."
Kael nodded, swallowing the lingering visions. His nightmares had passed for now—but he knew they would return, growing more vivid, more insistent, testing him in ways the forest never could.
And the quiet danger of the world—patient, observant—was still waiting.
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