His unease remained.
We pressed on, and I found myself glancing back more often than I cared to admit. Every snapped twig and shifting shadow setting my nerves on edge. By the time the sun eventually dipped lower, bleeding sunlight through the trees, exhaustion weighed heavily in my limbs once more, my muscles aching with every step.
It was then that my boot caught on something hidden beneath the moss, sending me stumbling forward with a sharp gasp.
I barely had time to register the pain before my eyes dropped to what I had tripped over.
Bones.
Smooth and pale, curved in a way that made my stomach lurch violently.
I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat before I could stop it, and Aster was at my side in an instant, gripping my arms to steady me as I staggered to get up. My heart hammered so hard it felt as though it might burst from my chest.
“Look,” he said quickly, following my gaze. “It’s old.”
This did nothing to help.
The remains lay half-buried beneath the greenery, a skull weathered by time, roots threading through empty eye sockets. Claimed by the forest. As my gaze lifted, dread pooled within my chest when I realized it was not alone. Bones were everywhere, woven into the earth, hidden beneath moss and vines, quietly feeding the land above them.
“What… what is this place?”I whispered, my voice shaking. “I don’t understand.”
Aster’s expression darkened, his jaw tightening as he followed my gaze.
“I warned you,” he said quietly. “Not everything is what it seems.”
I swallowed hard, forcing the words past the tightness in my throat.
“Tell me.”
He exhaled slowly, as though weighing how much truth I could bear.
“The Badlands are beautiful, yes. But there’s a cost. Their beauty came from death. It was once a peaceful, untouched land. That was before Medusa’s blood changed it,” he said. “Not cursed but forever altered. The land learned from her power, learned how to take what dies and make something stronger from it. Nothing is wasted here. Flesh feeds soil. Bone becomes root. Even fear has a purpose.”
My stomach twisted as I looked at the forest again, at the lush green pressing up through what had once been living people.
“As I said, there’s a saying among those who know this land,” he added.“Beauty in death.”
A shiver ran through me.
“And the agreement?” I asked, something Aster had mentioned briefly while traveling here but hadn’t gone into detail. “Between Atlas and the Gorgon King?”
“No one from Theïkós crosses into the Badlands,” he replied flatly. “And no one from the Badlands crosses into Theïkós.”
I gave him a dry look in return, before asking the most obvious question. “So, what about us then?”
He met my gaze, deadly serious.
“We are trespassers, which means we will face judgment if the King so chooses.”
My eyes widened before I used humor once more to hide the fear.
“Great, let’s hope we catch him on a good day then.”
The forest seemed to lean closer at that, as though it also had ears like the Labyrinth, and the being watched feeling returned, sharper now, following us deeper into the trees until my legs felt heavy and my head throbbed with exhaustion.
Of course, Aster noticed.
“We should stop,” he said, scanning the area. “There’s water here.”
