Chapter 236: Unknown Territory Vara, still standing at the helm, also surveyed the decimated crew. Her expression flickered with grief, but she reigned it in expertly and spoke. "Listen to me everyone," she paused and held every sailor’s gaze. "We survived. We’re through the worst of it." Several sailors looked at her with hollow eyes. Numb to the courage she was trying to instill in them. "Look around you," Vara continued nonetheless, gesturing at their surroundings. "We made it. We’re here. In the place no one but my great-grandfather has reached and returned from." Finn finally tore his gaze from the survivors and looked out at where they were. The sea they now sailed on was pure black. Perfectly, impossibly black, like they were floating on pure black ink. Its surface was still, without waves, ripples, or any form of natural motion at all. Yet the Tidebreaker moved. Slowly, steadily, pulled by currents that couldn’t be seen or felt. Beyond the ship, in the distance on either side, land masses were visible. But only as silhouettes. Finn squinted his eyes, trying to make out more details. And what he saw... or at least what he thought he saw, made his skin crawl. "Are those...?" someone began to speak but trailed off. Trees... or things that resembled trees. But twisted. Warped. Wrong in ways that hurt to observe too long. Some were impossibly tall, stretching upward like they were trying to pierce the strange sky. While others twisted and spiraled in ways no natural growth should produce. They were all massive, as if they’d been planted by giants. But the manner in which they were shaped made one think whatever had formed them only understood the concept of trees but had never actually seen one, creating mockeries based on descriptions alone. One of the sailors, a man named Torvin whose voice shook badly, spoke up, trying to divert his attention from the trees. "W—Where are the currents taking us?" He asked. But no one answered. Everyone was still trying to process all they were seeing. They were all trying to accept this as their new reality. Especially the remaining crew members. Eventually though, Vara responded, her tone measured. "I don’t know. But we’ll all find out soon enough." Minutes crawled by. The invisible currents pulled them steadily forward, the black water parting soundlessly before the bow. Then, gradually, a shoreline became visible ahead. White against the black water. Growing clearer as they approached. The Tidebreaker’s movement slowed, then stopped entirely as the hull came to rest against sand. They’d arrived. Vara was the first to move, descending from the helm and to the deck as if she intended to disembark the ship immediately. But the rest of the crew remained motionless, staring at this new land with expressions ranging from terror to exhausted numbness. "I won’t force anyone," Vara announced, her voice carrying across the deck. "Some of you may choose to stay with the ship. Guard it. Wait here. That’s your right, and I won’t think less of you for it." She paused, meeting eyes with those who would look at her. "But anyone who wants to understand where we are, who wants to see what lies beyond, can follow me." She began preparing to disembark, gathering supplies, weapons, and basic provisions. Slick Jones was by her side, helping without comment. It was a no-brainer that he would follow her. He was her sword afterall. But surprisingly, a handful of others also joined them. Finn was among these few, checking his sword and the small pack he’d kept ready. Althea was not too far from him, and beside her was the Blessed. In the end, after their preparations were made, a third of the survivors chose to follow Vara. The rest remained on the ship, gripping rails and masts, their faces pale but resolute in their decision to stay with the relative safety of the Tidebreaker. Finn couldn’t blame them. They descended onto the shore, boots sinking slightly into sand that was pure white like snow. Yet this was surely sand. Finn observed the terrain partially, as his focus was on Vara, who led them forward, away from the ship, and toward the treeline visible in the distance. The group moved cautiously with their weapons fully drawn, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings for any threat. As they walked, the ship behind them grew smaller. Until the fog, which was still present but much thinner now, swallowed it entirely. They were now alone. And the trees they had seen as silhouettes from the ship were now visible. From this close, their absurd size and grotesque shapes were more apparent and chilling. But the group forged on, walking in tense silence as they entered the forest proper. Immediately they did, people started disappearing. The first vanishing happened so quickly that no one even saw it. One moment, a sailor named Kess was walking beside Finn. The next, she was simply gone. The group stopped, looking around frantically. "Kess?" someone called out. "Kess!" "Stay close," Vara commanded, her voice tight. "Don’t stray from the group—" Another disappearance. A man this time, vanishing from the back of the group. This time someone had been looking directly at him. The group huddled closer, terror mounting. They kept moving, but now everyone watched everyone else, trying to prevent more losses. To make matters worse, the trees seemed to move. Not obviously. Not in ways you could point to directly. But everyone could see from their peripheral vision that the forest was rearranging itself, closing paths behind them, opening new routes ahead. Herding them... Finn felt it too. The sensation of being watched and being guided. The trees didn’t want them here — in fact, the whole forest didn’t want them here either. But for some reason they weren’t being stopped at all. Instead they were being directed... Just when everyone had begun to comfort themselves with the fact that while the forest was obviously hostile, they were only being guided somewhere, weird creatures burst out of nowhere. Small things. No larger than dogs. But fast. So fast they were barely visible in the dim light filtering through the twisted canopy. They attacked from all sides, cackling and chittering as the group formed a defensive circle, waving their weapons around to scare the creatures. But it was futile. The creatures were too quick and coordinated. They darted in, grabbed whoever was closest or slowest, and dragged them screaming into the darkness between trees. They all fought desperately, but for every one they killed, three more appeared. The group’s numbers dwindled rapidly, and after repeated futile attempts to defend, they ran, no longer trying to fight. Their escape devolved into chaos with blades swinging as people ran for their lives, weaving through the large, shifting tree trunks, all scattered but all heading in the same general direction. The only exception to this chaos was the Blessed. She walked calmly through the chaos, and the creatures actively avoided her, creating a small bubble of safety around her that some people were smart enough to notice and take advantage of. But then abruptly, the creatures stopped. The entire swarm halted mid-pursuit, chittering frantically but refusing to advance further. It was like they’d hit an invisible wall. A boundary they couldn’t or wouldn’t cross. The survivors — barely a dozen now from the group that had left the ship — collapsed against trees and rocks, gasping for breath, checking themselves for injuries. Finn looked around, trying to understand why the creatures had stopped. Then he finally saw it. A massive, ancient structure, rising from the twisted forest floor like it had been there since before time had meaning. It was a temple. Built with stone blocks the size of buildings, fitted together with extreme precision. The architecture itself showed that the builders had knowledge far beyond anything Finn had seen in this world or the world of Transcendents. It was easily the size of a small city district, its highest points disappearing into the haze above. Stairs led up to a massive entrance, with archways and a large double door that stood open like a gaping maw. It was large enough for giants to walk through comfortably. The group stared in silence, too exhausted and traumatized to even feel appropriate awe or terror. Vara stood at the front, gazing up at the temple with determination? Vindication? Fear? She glanced at Finn for a beat and he held her gaze. Then she turned and started toward the stairs, and after a moment’s hesitation, he followed right after her. And so did Althea and the rest. They had come too far to turn back now.