공유

The return

작가: R. Mobley
last update 최신 업데이트: 2025-04-27 04:32:34

The moment Ben stepped past the rusted gates, everything felt wrong. The air was thick with a sense of foreboding, like the earth itself was holding its breath. The familiar trees stood like silent sentinels, their twisted limbs reaching out in unnatural shapes. He hadn’t realized how much the woods had changed, or perhaps it was him that had changed, but the once-eerie landscape now seemed even darker, more alive. The breeze whispered secrets he couldn’t quite catch, but it didn’t matter — something was different, something had awakened.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the woods were watching him, waiting for him to make his next move.

Ben hesitated, standing just beyond the threshold of the gate. The path ahead was overgrown, the dirt road buried beneath a tangle of roots and weeds. The forest seemed to close in around him, muffling the sounds of the outside world, leaving only the distant rustling of leaves and the faintest whisper of laughter — or was it a memory?

He could feel it. The presence. It had always been there, but now it was as if WildWood itself had been waiting for him. Waiting for this very moment.

His heart pounded harder in his chest, and his fingers trembled as he reached for his phone. He hesitated for a moment, his thumb hovering over Dylan’s name. But no message was sent. It wasn’t a call he could make, not now, not after all these years.

Instead, he pushed forward, his footsteps echoing in the silence. He tried to focus on the path ahead, to keep his mind clear, but the memories came flooding back — the nights spent around the campfire, the things they saw, the things they couldn’t explain. Nadia, Willy, the others… the way the woods had twisted reality, made everything feel wrong.

Ben reached the clearing where they had set up camp all those years ago. The ground was still littered with old, decaying leaves, remnants of their past. He stood there for a long moment, eyes scanning the area. It felt like they had never left, like time had stood still here, suspended in the memories of that night.

A flash of movement caught his eye. Something in the shadows, a figure — no, a presence.

His heart skipped a beat.

“Ben.”

The voice, soft and familiar, made his blood run cold.

He turned, but no one was there. Only the trees, standing motionless, as if nothing had changed.

The laughter echoed again, but this time it was clearer. Louder. A twisted, mocking sound that seemed to wrap around him.

“Nadia?” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the sound stopped. Silence fell over the woods, suffocating and heavy.

Ben took another step forward, unwilling to turn back now, unable to. The air had grown thicker, and it wasn’t just the scent of pine anymore — it was something older, something darker. The feeling of being watched intensified, and his skin prickled with unease. The past had never really left him, and WildWood had a way of holding onto those who dared to venture too close.

He walked deeper into the clearing, his eyes searching for any sign of the past — the remnants of their camp, the rusted swing, anything. But it was as if the woods had swallowed everything whole, leaving nothing behind but the ghosts of memories long buried.

Then, he saw it.

The swing set.

It was still there, but it looked different now — older, rustier, the ropes frayed and torn. Yet it was moving, gently swaying back and forth, as if someone had just been there.

Ben’s breath caught in his throat. He knew he shouldn’t, but he found himself walking toward it. He reached out, his fingers brushing against the cold metal.

And then, he heard it again.

A whisper in the wind, too soft to understand but impossible to ignore.

“Ben…”

This time, it was real. This time, the voice came from behind him.

He spun around.

There, standing just beyond the clearing, was Nadia.

Her face was pale, her eyes wide and unblinking. Her hair hung in messy tangles around her face, and her clothes were torn, as if she had been wandering the woods for years. But what made his blood run cold was the way she smiled — not the carefree smile of the girl he once knew, but something darker, twisted, and wrong.

“You came back,” Nadia whispered, her voice barely audible. “You shouldn’t have come back.”

Ben’s throat tightened, and his heart raced faster than it ever had before. “What do you mean? We… we left. We escaped.”

She took a slow step forward, her gaze never leaving him. “You never escaped, Ben. You were always meant to come back.”

Ben’s mouth went dry, his legs trembling beneath him. He wanted to run, to escape, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. There was something about her — something that wasn’t right, something that made his mind scream in warning.

And then, from the corner of his eye, he saw movement. More figures, stepping from the shadows. Willy. The others. They were there too, watching him, their faces empty, their eyes hollow.

Ben stumbled backward, but he didn’t fall. The reality around him seemed to warp, as if the woods themselves were closing in, the trees shifting in unnatural ways. He could hear them now, the whispers growing louder, merging into one maddening chorus.

“Ben, you never really left.”

And the door to WildWood creaked open once more.

이 책을 계속 무료로 읽어보세요.
QR 코드를 스캔하여 앱을 다운로드하세요

최신 챕터

  • A Night at Wildwood   Glimpse into book 2 wildwood, veins of the earth

    Hello all, as book one has come to an end, or what I’d consider an okay path for a new book.. I’ve decided to continue the series, or at least begin a second book following this one. The what ifs and mysteries will continue, for now. Will you follow the journey of Ashani, and Clara in the next book? What else has Wildwood unleashed, or what has it been covering up? There’s more twists and new dangers ahead. Let me know your thoughts on Night at Wildwood, and what you think will surface next? Any thoughts or wants to follow a certain character and dive into them? Below is a small glimpse into book two, I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed creating this mini world. —— glimpse to book. Two - wildwood: Veins of the earth. After Varethkaal is sealed, Clara and Ashani uncover evidence that WildWood was only one node in a network of ancient, sleeping powers. The roots of these dark entities—known to the Yanuwah as the Deep Ones—spread beneath ley lines and forgotten places. Now

  • A Night at Wildwood   A new presence

    The earth cracked open wider, the very soil beneath their feet giving way to massive fissures. Dark, oozing sap—like the blood of the forest—began to spill from the cracks, black and viscous, moving like liquid shadows. “Run!” Clara shouted, pulling Ashani’s arm, but Emily hesitated, her gaze fixed on the ground, her mind racing with the realization that the land was no longer just a passive victim of the curse—it was now an active agent in the spreading darkness. As they sprinted toward the edge of the clearing, the earth heaved beneath them again, sending ripples of dark energy through the ground. The trees groaned, their boughs contorting unnaturally, and the sky darkened, as if the sun itself was being consumed by the land. “I knew it wasn’t over,” Emily murmured under her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. They could run, but they couldn’t escape. The forest wasn’t going to let them leave. The whisper came again, closer now, unmistakably clear. “You cannot run from

  • A Night at Wildwood   End of wildwood continued

    For a moment, the world seemed to collapse into a single, burning point of light. A wave of energy shot through the clearing, cracking the very ground beneath their feet. The roots writhed in agony as the light intensified, searing through the darkness and reaching the core of WildWood itself. The trees trembled, their bark splintering as the land buckled under the pressure. Then, with an earth-shattering roar, the ground split wide open. WildWood, once a place of darkness and twisted power, began to burn. “We did it,” Ashani whispered, her voice filled with both relief and exhaustion. Clara nodded, her heart still racing from the final battle. She could feel the weight of the moment pressing on her chest. The curse had been broken, the land freed, but at a cost. Emily’s face was pale, her eyes shadowed with the toll the battle had taken on her. “We’ve broken the curse… but the darkness isn’t gone. It’s just dormant. The seeds have been planted, and it will grow again—somewh

  • A Night at Wildwood   The end of wildwood

    The roots that once held Clara in their vice-like grip recoiled violently, retreating from the light that poured from both Ashani and Emily. The air was thick with power—raw, untamed, and ancient—shaking the very foundations of the cursed land. The forest groaned, its deep voice resonating through the earth like the growl of a beast wounded in its heart. A dark wind howled, rattling the leaves and branches of the trees, yet in the center of that storm, there was a bright, defiant light that stood against the encroaching darkness. Clara’s body trembled as the roots loosened their hold on her, her limbs aching from the pressure. She gasped for breath, every muscle screaming in protest, but she reached out, her hand finding Ashani’s as she was pulled upright. “Clara, are you alright?” Ashani’s voice was filled with both concern and determination. Clara nodded, blinking away the haze in her vision. Her heart raced in rhythm with the pulse of the stone that Ashani held, which was now

  • A Night at Wildwood   Shadows rise

    The soft, almost imperceptible whisper seemed to hang in the air, resonating through the stillness of the forest. It was a voice neither fully human nor entirely something else. It carried with it an ancient, ancient weight, something so old and so deep that it threatened to bend the very fabric of reality around it. Clara, Ashani, and Emily stood frozen, eyes scanning the clearing for any sign of movement. “Did you hear that?” Clara asked, her voice hushed, almost reverent. Ashani nodded slowly, a frown tugging at her lips. “It wasn’t just in your head,” she said quietly. “I felt it… something… slipping through.” Emily’s hand clenched around the stone she still carried, though its light had dimmed, the stone’s power now drained. Yet she felt the weight of it still, a connection to the past that she could not ignore. A thread still tied her to WildWood, even now. Her voice was low but firm when she spoke. “The curse may have been broken… but that doesn’t mean the darkness is gon

  • A Night at Wildwood   Emily’s awakening

    Deep beneath the earth, Emily’s eyes fluttered open. For a long moment, she lay still, her body aching, her mind clouded. The darkness had enveloped her completely, and she had no idea how long she had been unconscious. But there was a sudden shift—a flicker of light—and she saw it. The roots, curling around her like serpents, but not just around her—around the very soul of WildWood itself. She could feel the darkness growing inside her, but also something else, something she didn’t recognize. The air felt different, charged with a strange, unfamiliar energy. “No…” she whispered hoarsely, pushing against the roots that were binding her to the ground. The remnants of the stone that had once been with Clara were now pulsing beneath her, buried deep in the earth, sending out waves of energy. And as Emily struggled, she remembered. The seed. The bloodline. Her ancestors had been tied to this forest, just as Clara’s had been. The curse had followed them for generations, and the d

더보기
좋은 소설을 무료로 찾아 읽어보세요
GoodNovel 앱에서 수많은 인기 소설을 무료로 즐기세요! 마음에 드는 책을 다운로드하고, 언제 어디서나 편하게 읽을 수 있습니다
앱에서 책을 무료로 읽어보세요
앱에서 읽으려면 QR 코드를 스캔하세요.
DMCA.com Protection Status