The vines, like black venomous snakes, entwined around twisted tree roots.
The path Karrion had cleared did not lead to light, but rather to even deeper darkness.
The air was as viscous as coagulated blood, carrying an indescribable sweet, putrid stench, mingling with the scent of earth disturbed from a grave.
Raine leaned on Thalia's support, each step feeling as though he was walking on red-hot iron.
The remnants of the Starry magic backlash burned within him, his limbs heavy, his mind drifting with an inescapable fatigue.
He forced himself to stay alert, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
The tangled shadows of the trees seemed to come alive in the dim light, their twisted forms reaching out like claws.
"This damn place... it's unnervingly quiet," Karrion said, walking at the front, his voice subdued, losing the usual gruffness.
The dwarf gripped his battle axe tightly, his knuckles turning white from the pressure.
He paused, cocking his head to listen.
"Do you... hear anything?"
Raine strained his ears.
Aside from their own breathing and the sound of their steps on the rotting leaves, the forest was deathly still.
Thalia shook her head, her face under her hood paler than before, her lips tightly pressed together.
But Karrion suddenly shuddered, his face contorting with a flicker of fear.
"No... no, something's wrong..." he murmured, his eyes unfocused. "It's... it's the sound of a furnace..."
His breathing grew rapid, and his pupils dilated, as though he had seen something deeply terrifying.
"And... screams!"
"Karrion!" Raine called out sharply, trying to snap him back to reality.
But the dwarf didn't seem to hear, his body trembling slightly, his gaze fixed on the empty blackness ahead.
"Molten iron... burnt... beard... No! Let her go! Let my daughter go!"
His voice carried a heart-wrenching pain and desperation as he raised his battle axe to strike at the black void.
"It's an illusion!" Thalia's voice was cold and urgent as she broke free from Raine's support, stepping forward to stand in front of Karrion.
She extended her hand, gathering a faint, almost transparent shadow in her palm.
The moment the shadow touched Karrion's forehead, the dwarf trembled violently, as though he had been doused in icy water.
"Ah!" he let out a sharp cry, his eyes regaining some clarity, though still filled with fear and confusion.
He gasped for air, sweat pouring from his forehead.
"I... I saw it... The Heart of Stone... my home..." His voice was choked with emotion. "Flames... everywhere... and those... those monsters... twisted... my kin..."
He squeezed his eyes shut, his hand trembling around the handle of his battle axe.
The scene of his destroyed homeland was etched into his soul like a brand, and now it had been ruthlessly exposed by this forest, laid bare in its darkest corners.
"Steady yourself," Thalia's voice was calm, but there was a subtle weariness in it. "This forest magnifies your deepest fears."
She withdrew her hand, her body swaying slightly, her face growing even paler.
The momentary exertion of power had taken a toll on her already fragile body.
A deeper chill spread silently through her, not a physical cold, but one that penetrated to the soul.
Thalia froze, instinctively pressing her hand to her chest.
There, beneath her clothes, the Star Core fragment pulsed faintly, sending an unsettling tremor through her.
It was as though something, from a vast distance, was calling to it, tempting it.
"…Give up…"
A deep, hoarse voice, full of endless temptation, echoed directly in her mind.
"…Resistance is meaningless... Embrace me... embrace the darkness... You will find true peace…"
The Voice of the Void!
This voice was not unfamiliar to her.
It was the ancient will that lay hidden at the heart of the corruption, the abyssal whisper that devours all light.
It was tempting her, tempting her to abandon her role as a guardian, to cease resisting, and to allow the Star Core fragment within her to fully merge with the darkness, becoming a part of it.
"…Your heart… always belonged to the dark… why struggle?"
Thalia clenched her teeth, her nails digging deep into her palm.
The pain helped her stay lucid.
She summoned all her willpower to fight against the wave of temptation, like a tide crashing relentlessly.
"Go away!" she roared silently in her mind.
But the whisper did not vanish; it receded for a moment, like a snake lying in wait, ready to strike when her resolve wavered.
Her face was as pale as a sheet, beads of cold sweat dotting her forehead, her breathing now ragged.
She fought to suppress the rising turmoil and fear within her, but the temptation from the abyss clung to her like a tick, unyielding.
Raine noticed Thalia's strange behavior.
"Thalia? What's wrong?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice.
Thalia took a deep breath, forcing herself to steady her mind.
"It's nothing," she avoided Raine's gaze, her voice hoarse. "It's just... the corruption energy here is stronger than I thought."
Before she could finish, Raine's body jerked violently.
A strong dizziness hit him, and the scene before him began to twist and blur.
He felt as if he were once again reliving that cold night—the night the Morningstar family was destroyed.
Flames soaring into the sky, the sounds of battle, the screams, the clashing of weapons...
He saw his father's towering figure standing in front of his mother, a sword wreathed in black flames lodged in his chest.
He saw his mother's despairing eyes, and the final forceful push she gave him.
"Run... Raine... run..."
"No! Father! Mother!" he cried out, reaching out as if to grasp something, but his hands closed on nothing but cold air.
The scene shifted abruptly.
A damp, shadowy dungeon, the sound of chains dragging.
A frail little girl huddled in the corner, trembling.
It was Lina! His sister!
"Brother... help me... it's so cold... so dark..."
Lina's crying voice pierced him, stabbing at his heart.
He desperately tried to get closer, to hold his sister, but an invisible force shoved him back.
The dungeon scene began to twist.
Lina lifted her head, her face becoming blurry, but her eyes were cold, filled with resentment and accusation.
"Brother... why didn't you save me?"
"Why are you so useless?"
"You ran... you abandoned me... abandoned all of us!"
"It's all your fault!"
"No... no, Lina... I…" Raine tried to explain, but his voice was drowned out by the overwhelming guilt.
His sister's accusations cut into his soul like the sharpest of blades, each one a deeper wound.
He saw his parents fall, saw his kin slaughtered, saw Lina's hopeless eyes in the dark...
Scenes flashed by like a revolving lantern, all converging into his sister's face, filled with hatred.
"It's your fault we died!"
"No—!"
Raine let out a painful scream, clutching his head, his body trembling violently.
He felt his mind being devoured by the endless darkness, guilt and despair pulling him into the abyss.
Just as he was on the brink of complete collapse, a faint warmth, like sunlight in winter, briefly illuminated his mind.
It was... his mother's warm embrace, his father's hearty laugh, his sister's mischievous grin...
The fleeting warmth, so real, yet so brief.
Raine instinctively reached for that moment of comfort, wanting to immerse himself in it, to forget all the pain.
But the next second, the flames in the hearth turned into black infernos that devoured everything.
His mother's embrace turned cold and icy, his father's smile twisted into a grotesque face, and his sister's grin became an empty skull.
"False comfort..." Raine suddenly snapped awake, cold sweat soaking his back.
He understood now.
This forest didn't just evoke their deepest fears; it also used false warmth to tempt them, letting them briefly bask in it before plunging them into deeper despair, shattering their will.
"Raine! Wake up!" Karrion's rough shout exploded in his ears.
The dwarf shook Raine's shoulders forcefully.
Raine snapped his head up, meeting Karrion's worried and anxious gaze.
Thalia was standing nearby, her face pale, her eyes watching him with a complex expression.
"You... you almost..." Karrion's voice faltered, "You almost walked straight into that swamp."
Raine followed Karrion's gaze and saw, not far off, a patch of black, stinking swamp bubbling with pale, sickly bubbles, its edges lined with sharp, bone-like plants.
It was the same swamp Thalia had stopped him from approaching earlier.
He had completely immersed himself in the illusion, unaware that he was walking into a death trap.
"Thank you..." Raine's voice was dry and hoarse, his throat burning.
He leaned against a twisted tree trunk, breathing heavily, his heart still pounding fiercely.
What he had just experienced had been more dangerous than any battle, more exhausting on his mind.
The mental exhaustion swept over him like a tide, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"We... we've all been caught." Karrion wiped the cold sweat from his face, still shaken. "This damn place... it's cursed."
Thalia nodded, her gaze sweeping over the eerie surroundings.
"The corruption energy here is unusually active. It can directly erode our minds, materializing our inner weaknesses." Her voice had regained some steadiness, though it still carried fatigue. "We must remain vigilant and remind each other."
The three of them fell silent.
What they had just gone through made it clear that the dangers of the Corruption Forest went far beyond the twisted creatures and physical traps.
The silent mental erosion was the deadliest threat.
Here, their greatest enemy might not be the forest, but the abyss within themselves.
Raine leaned against the tree trunk, desperately trying to calm the wild emotions still churning within him.
His sister's face, full of hatred and accusation, was still vividly imprinted on his mind, like a needle stabbing at his heart.
He shook his head violently, trying to dispel the terrifying images.
A thought, like a cold seed, quietly sprouted in his heart.
Since this forest could create such realistic, targeted illusions...
Could it be... that the vision he saw in the Starry Stone, the one that led him here, about his sister trapped in the Starfall City...
Could it also be fake?
Could it have been a carefully woven trap from the start?
The moment that thought appeared, it spread like wildfire, and a chill ran through Raine.
He looked at Thalia, then at Karrion, his lips moving, but in the end, he kept the words to himself.
Now was not the time.
They were still in danger, and any words that sowed doubt could lead to disastrous consequences.
But the doubts in his heart, like ink dripping into clear water, rapidly spread and could no longer be wiped away.
He had to find the truth.
No matter how cruel it might be.
"We... we need to keep going." Raine took a deep breath, forcing himself to straighten his body, despite his weak legs.
His voice held a subtle tremor, but his gaze regained a flicker of light.
No longer the light sustained by false hope, but a resilience... struggling to survive at the edge of despair.
Karrion looked at him, then at Thalia, nodding heavily.
"Right, we can't just sit here and wait to die." The dwarf gripped his battle axe again, his eyes sharpening. "Let's snap out of it! Whatever illusions or ghosts are ahead, the dwarf's axe will smash them all!"
Thalia didn't speak, simply stepping forward to once again support Raine.
Raine shook his head slightly.
"I... I can walk by myself."
He pushed her hand away, straightened his back, and took a heavy but determined step.
The road ahead was still shrouded in dense fog, full of the unknown and danger.
The threat of nightmares had not disappeared, lurking in every shadow, waiting for the next assault.
But this time, they were alert.
They knew they were facing not just the forest, but the abyss within.
And in Raine's heart, alongside his obsession to find his sister, was a heavier doubt and a determination to seek the truth.
The path guided by the stars, in his eyes, had become even more elusive.