A New Wrinkle

Things are taking a new turn. Daily Flash Fiction Entry.

The glowing forest shifted.

One moment Darius and Elara were standing in a clearing facing a blade-wielding stranger, and the next, they were alone; trees rearranged, path gone, the strange misty shape nowhere in sight. The silence was thick, like the forest itself was holding its breath.

Darius paced near a crooked tree with bark like scales. “Did you see how he looked at us? Like he knew us.”

“Maybe he did.” Elara crouched near the ground, inspecting the faint, glowing footprints left behind. “Or maybe the forest just wants us paranoid.”

Darius sighed. “It’s working.”

They pressed on, weaving through hanging vines and glowing underbrush. At last, they came upon a fallen log, hollow and large enough to crawl through. Elara climbed in first, muttering complaints the whole way, while Darius followed behind.

When they emerged on the other side, they stood before a wide, still lake; its surface a perfect mirror reflecting the purple sky above. At its center stood a crumbling stone archway, half submerged.

“I think that’s it,” Elara said, stepping toward the water.

Darius didn’t move. He was staring at something in his hand; an old, folded piece of parchment he’d pulled from his coat. The one that was slipped him back in Red Harbor. It now showed a different message.

She noticed his hesitation and raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

He quickly folded it and tucked it away. “It’s not important.”

Elara narrowed her eyes. “If you’re hiding something, now is not the time.”

“I’m not hiding,” he lied. “Just...trying not to add more questions to our already ridiculous pile.”

She didn’t push further; not yet. Instead, she nodded toward the lake. “Then let’s hope this archway answers some.”

But Darius couldn’t shake the feeling that what was in that letter...would change everything.