Light in the Darkness (English)

Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke up to Daniel's voice.

"Ana, wake up!"

I slowly sat up in bed. Daniel was sitting at the edge of the bed. Alex wasn't lying next to me.

"We're leaving soon. We'll wait for you at the entrance," he said, and after giving my hand a reassuring squeeze, he left the room.

While getting dressed, some vague details from the dream came to mind. A city... as if I had been there before. What struck me as the oddest was how real the dream had felt. It was like I had truly been there, but that couldn't be possible, right? 

I put on my backpack, sheathed the sword at my waist, and held my bow in my hand as I went downstairs to join the others, who were already prepared in the living room. Sarah was having a quiet conversation with her brother, but when she saw me, she waved and smiled. I did the same, and then my gaze turned to Alex. He was dressed entirely in black, leaning against the wall, and listening to his sister. He didn't look at me, even though I knew he was aware of my presence in the room.

"Are we ready to go? Does everyone have everything they need?" Daniel asked, reaching for the doorknob.

"Yes," I replied, and Sarah nodded in agreement. Alex remained silent.

Daniel opened the door. We waited for a moment, hoping to hear something, but the forest outside was quiet.

"Ladies first!" Daniel said, motioning for Sarah to go ahead. As she left the house, Daniel turned to me. I began to walk, but Alex stepped in front of me.

"Oh, I almost forgot there are three girls in the house. Ana, Sarah, and Alexandra," he said sarcastically, accompanied by a small grin. Alex rolled his eyes and Sarah chuckled. I followed suit with a smile.

"Very funny" Alex said.

"Your sister liked it," Daniel remarked.

"She just has a bad sense of humor," Alex shrugged.

"So do you!" Sarah retorted.

By this point, Daniel was outside, and he closed the door behind him.

"Which way should we go?" I asked.

"We came from that direction," Sarah pointed east. "I suggest we head west."

"Okay, then follow me!" Daniel declared, to which Alex made an interesting noise.

"Follow you?" he asked as if someone had just told him an unbelievable story. "Have you even been outside the forest?"

"Yes," Daniel replied firmly, although it wasn't entirely true.

"You're as lost as she is right now. You have no idea which way to go," I interjected. Alex still didn't look at me, just shrugged.

"Let's get going," Daniel said, and then he started walking. We followed him. We were now in the forest, no longer protected by the house or Adam, but strangely, I didn't feel afraid. I felt free.

We had been walking in the forest all day, and so far, we hadn't encountered any Dark Ones, which was reassuring but also unsettling. We stopped a few times to drink before continuing our journey, sometimes picking up the pace with a jog.

Now we were walking among the trees again, but it was starting to get dark.

"I think we've already been through here once," Alex declared, breaking the silence.

"I'd like to know how you came to that conclusion. Perhaps one of the hundreds of trees leans the same way as the one we passed half an hour ago?" Daniel asked.