Welcome to my Dream World || (deukae)

Chapter 8: The Dark Forest

The ground gave way beneath Handong's feet with a treacherous whisper, as if the earth itself had conspired against them. Gravity seized her with voracious hunger, pulling her down into the gaping maw of darkness. Bora's scream was a sharp blade slicing through the air, Siyeon's breath hitched in a silent gasp, and Dami grappled desperately at the void, trying to claw back towards the light that receded above them.

"Handong!" Bora's voice shattered through the cascading debris, terror-laced and close.

"Brace yourselves!" Siyeon's command fought against the roar of falling earth.

Handong's heart thrummed a frenzied beat against her ribs, her thoughts a whirlwind of panic and disbelief. They were plummeting—down, down, down—into an abyss where shadows danced like mad specters waiting to embrace them.

"Is everyone here?" Dami's voice, remarkably steady, cut through Handong's spiraling dread.

"Y-yes, I think so," Handong managed to reply, her voice a mere thread in the cacophony. The sensation of falling, an eternity compressed into seconds, held them captive in its merciless grip. Her stomach somersaulted, and she squeezed her eyes shut, envisioning the faces of her companions, each etched with fear.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the descent ceased with a jolt that knocked the breath from their lungs. They landed, not with the bone-crunching finality they feared, but upon something soft and oddly forgiving. Handong's eyes snapped open, and she exhaled a ragged breath.

"Everyone alright?" Siyeon's first concern was for the others, her protective instincts never waning even amidst chaos.

"Think so," Dami said, sitting up with a groan. "What is this place?"

They found themselves not in the Abyssal Glades as anticipated, but in a realm that defied logic. The air shimmered with a gossamer haze that turned the world ethereal. Trees twisted skyward, their branches heavy with blossoms that glowed like embers in the twilight. The ground, a carpet of luminescent moss, cushioned their fall and now painted their clothes with a dusting of radiant spores.

"Like a dream..." Bora breathed out, entranced by their surroundings.

"Or a nightmare," Handong countered, her gaze fixed on the distance where fog coiled into serpentine forms, hinting at the Phantom Hollow—a ghostly domain they must traverse.

"Stay alert," Dami instructed, pushing to her feet with a wary look. "This may be beautiful, but we don't know what dangers lurk here."

"True," Siyeon agreed, standing beside Dami. "We need to find a path through Phantom Hollow. Keep your eyes peeled and stick together."

"Can you make anything out through the mist?" Bora asked, peering into the spectral fog that marked the entrance to the Hollow.

"Only shapes... moving shapes," Handong replied, a shiver running down her spine. She could almost feel the weight of unseen eyes upon them, watching, calculating.

"Let's move," Dami decided. "The longer we stand here, the more vulnerable we are. We'll take it slow, watch each other's backs."

As they stepped forward, the scenery shifted subtly around them. The moss underfoot swirled with soft luminescence, and the air hummed with the whispers of the Hollow. Handong couldn't shake the feeling that they were intruders in a world that belonged to phantoms and figments of imagination.

"Keep close," Siyeon murmured, her hand finding Handong's arm in a gesture of solidarity.

"Whatever happens," Bora vowed, her eyes set with a determined fire, "we face it together."