A Path To The Murky Place Novels & Stories

One of the acolytes behind finally squeaked, "Err... Are we not there yet, Senior Brother Shen Qing?" His colleague beside him quickly gave him a tug on the sleeve and a look, gesturing him to be quiet. "Nearly there," Shen Qing answered brusquely. A gloomy path appeared just ahead through the opaque veils of mists as soon as he finished, curving into Heaven knows where. All that they could feel from the path overshadowed from even the slightest speck of light was the ominous feel of death and frost. "We'll arrive at our destination right after this little track."

He shoved the tiny umbrella that befitted her height when he had given up to make her stay still. “Why thank you.” She took it gratefully and started to lead the group. The Path. She stopped at the sign that said The Path. The Path. The only entrance into the path appeared in front of Shadow’s eyes. Maybe it was because of the sprinkling and the cloudy sky, but the path into the forest looked dark and creepy. The Path was the only fourth layer that was known by Shadow. Unlike the Black Forest, which Samuel and the rest were staying at, The Path was completely only known to her because this place was specifically granted by The Unknown to her.

Betrayal has no place in my life, even if it's my little brother. He did manage to injure me and made me weak. The training wasn't a complete failure. My vision blurred due to the drug he used to weaken me. I had no choice but to look for a place to crash rather than driving the car back to my house, neither did I trust anyone to come and pick me up. Life is easy when you don't trust anyone but that time wasn't proving me right. I wasn't expecting a house in the middle of the graveyard. But it felt like a good option to take a break from the storm before I faint on the road and under the pouring sky.

Like the house itself was letting me go. The porch groaned beneath my weight. Damp mist curled around my ankles, cool and clinging. I didn’t put on shoes, what for? The path I walked was half memory, half instinct. My feet knew the mud like it had once loved me. Betrayed me. Buried me. I didn’t know where I was going. Only that I had to get there. And then I saw it. A patch of earth ahead that didn’t belong. It wasn’t just burnt. It was wrong.

I only had a spoonful of mushroom soup for dinner, and hunger made my brain foggy and my intentions dangerous. The hallway was long and quiet, the kind of quiet that always means something’s about to go wrong in a house full of spoiled men with questionable morals. The kind of quiet that makes doors look tempting and shadows downright frightening. I moved like a saint with a dirty secret, one palm brushing the paneled wall like it might whisper the right direction.

“Agnes gave us this world. We won't let it become another cage.” They moved as one, stepping onto the fourth path, the void-path, its faint glow cold but alive. The world around them shifted, the golden light dimming as the stars above faded, replaced by a darkness that wasn’t empty but heavy, filled with the weight of things uncreated. The whisper grew louder, now a voice, not singular but countless, each one speaking their names with a longing that chilled their blood.

My breath steadied, and I met Marcus’s gaze—not as enemies, but as broken men forced to walk this nightmare together. Luna gestured toward a narrow path weaving through the poisonous flowers and choking fog. “Follow me. Listen—to each other, and to yourselves.” We stepped forward, the fog swirling back, the valley’s darkness momentarily receding. My chest heaved as a fragile hope stirred. Maybe we could find Mauve, hidden in the Valley of Darkness.

“If this is the end, we’ll face it together.” The path stretched onward, its sapphire surface rippling like water, the nexus’s hum now a low, steady pulse that synced with the chime’s echo. Shadows moved beneath the path—faint glimpses of their past victories and losses, not accusing but watching, as if the nexus itself awaited their choice. The air was crisp, carrying a faint salt tang, like a sea before a storm.

They urged me forward, their whispers a mix of despair and temptation, "We're waiting for you. The truth is yours to grasp, if you dare." Fear ran through me, twisting in my stomach like an unwelcome serpent. Still, curiosity sounded louder. My eyes moved forward into the pitch-black darkness, where a strange glow flickered at the end of a narrow passage. A spark of bright blue, like the ocean waves that touched the shores of my childhood, shimmered in the dark depths. My instincts warned me, but a wave of fascination pulled me closer as I cautiously moved toward the light.

“The calm. The light. The stillness. That is where he truly lives.” I blinked slowly. “So the darkness…” “Was the path,” she said simply. A shiver ran through me. The path. That word settled uncomfortably. Because it meant that what I had experienced— Was not the destination. Just the beginning. I looked ahead again. The road stretching out before us. Endless. Uncertain. “I don’t know what to make of it,” I admitted quietly. “You’re not supposed to,” Madam Lavinge said. I glanced at her.