Your Ex Moonlark

2

Here's chapter 2! Enjoy! (Some character MAY be my OC's, like the mysterious girl)

Sophie's POV:

The moment my foot crossed the threshold of the archway, I felt it—a shift, a weightlessness, like the very air around me had changed. The soft hum that had been echoing in my bones intensified for a split second, and then... silence. A deep, comforting silence.

I blinked, adjusting to the change. The forest behind me was now a distant memory, its shadows replaced by a strange, pale glow that seemed to emanate from nowhere. I turned to look back, but the archway was gone. The clearing, the trees, the familiar world I had just walked away from—everything was gone.

It was as though I had stepped into another realm entirely.

Ahead of me stretched an endless landscape. The ground was smooth, like polished stone, but soft to the touch, as though it were made of something far more fluid. A faint mist curled around my ankles, swirling with a gentle, almost hypnotic rhythm. The air smelled different here—clean, sharp, and alive with the scent of something ancient, like a forgotten memory that hadn't yet been fully realized.

The girl—who I now realized I had never asked her name—stood a few steps behind me, her eyes steady and unwavering as she watched me, waiting. I felt her presence like a quiet force, not overbearing, but expectant.

"You're here now," she said softly. "You've crossed over. It's the first step."

I turned to face her, my thoughts a whirlwind of uncertainty. "What do you mean? Where am I?"

"This," she said, gesturing around us with a sweep of her hand, "is the Unseen Path. It's a place for those who need to make a choice. It's a place between worlds."

"Between worlds?" My voice was barely a whisper. This place didn't feel like it was between anything. It felt like it wasthe world, and everything else—my past, my friends, the Lost Cities—was something far off, like a forgotten dream.

The girl nodded, her eyes gleaming in the faint light. "Yes. The Lost Cities are a world of their own, but there are other worlds too—worlds that haven't been discovered, or at least, worlds that haven't been acknowledged. It's... complicated. But you'll learn soon enough."

I swallowed hard, the weight of her words sinking in. This wasn't just a break from the Lost Cities. This was something more. A new world. A new life.

A new me.

The silence stretched between us, broken only by the soft whisper of the mist. I took a hesitant step forward, my heart pounding in my chest. I was so far from the life I had known. And yet, part of me was eager. Eager for what? I wasn't sure. But something inside me told me that this place—this path—was where I belonged now.

I couldn't go back. Not to the accusations, the stares, the whispers. I couldn't stand the feeling of being trapped in a life that no longer made sense.

But I didn't know what I was running toward, either. Was I running toward freedom? Or just more darkness?

"What happens here?" I asked, my voice barely more than a breath.

The girl tilted her head as though considering her answer. "What happens here depends on you. Everyone who comes to the Unseen Path is searching for something. Sometimes they find it. Sometimes they don't. But the choice is yours, Sophie."