"Todd! Where are you? You know what? Let's end the game. It's almost nighttime, and I'm getting tired already!" Alice yelled.
"So soon?" Todd called back, surprised by how quickly the afternoon had passed.
He slowly crept out of his hiding spot, brushing leaves from his clothes.
"I was hoping to win this round after your endless winning streak."
He looked up at the sky. The setting sun had painted the horizon in shades of purple and orange. For a moment, he simply stood there, admiring it.
"You know we sneaked out to the one place we were warned not to go," Alice said, her voice suddenly serious. "If our mothers find out we're not home, we'll be in trouble."
Todd glanced toward the forest behind them.
"All right, then. The last person to get home is a rotten egg!"
Before Alice could respond, Todd took off running.
"Wait for me!" she shouted, panting as she struggled to keep up.
The two children raced through the trees, following the familiar path back toward the orphanage. As they approached the enormous iron gates, they spotted the other children making their way toward the dining hall for dinner.
"Hurry, before we get caught," Alice whispered.
They quickly joined the queue, trying their best to look as though they had been there all along.
Dinner that evening was no different from any other.
The children moved in long, orderly lines with their trays in their hands. Once everyone had been served, their mothers gathered them together to say grace. As usual, dinner was followed by stories.
Stories about the forest.
Stories about what lived beyond it.
Stories about children who had wandered too far and never returned.
The mothers always ended the same way: no child was ever to leave the orphanage grounds without permission, and under no circumstances were they to venture deep into the forest.
"As if they could," Todd overheard Alice mutter.
He looked at her.
She immediately pretended she had said nothing.
Todd suppressed a laugh.
The warnings were repeated so often that they no longer sounded like warnings. They sounded like rules carved into the minds of every child in the orphanage.
Never leave the gates.
Never enter the forest.
Never ask what lies beyond it.
Todd and Alice exchanged a knowing glance before quietly giggling.
When dinner was over, the children dispersed to their rooms.
"Goodnight, Todd," Alice said.
"Goodnight."
Todd watched her disappear down the corridor before entering his own room.
Later that night, Todd lay on his bed staring at the ceiling.
His mind wandered through everything that had happened that day—the game with Alice, the forest, the warnings, and his plans to finally defeat her tomorrow.
Then a question suddenly entered his mind.
"What lies beyond the forest?"
He turned onto his side.
"Why do our mothers keep warning us not to go deep into the forest?"
He paused.
"I guess I'll have to ask Alice tomorrow."
His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar mechanical sound.
The gates were closing.
Todd stared toward his window.
Every night, at almost exactly the same time, those gates closed.
He had never seen them open from the inside.
For once, Todd decided to force himself to sleep. His endless thoughts and unanswered questions usually kept him awake, but tonight he was determined to rest.
Eventually, he drifted into sleep.
Todd opened his eyes.
At least, he thought he did.
He was standing in darkness.
There was no floor beneath his feet, yet somehow he remained standing. No walls surrounded him. No ceiling hung above him. There was only an endless blackness stretching in every direction.
Todd looked down.
His breath caught.
Far beneath him, he could see a room.
His room.
And in the bed below...
He was sleeping.
"What...?"
Todd stared at his own body.
"How am I seeing myself?"
He reached downward.
The moment his hand touched the darkness, something moved.
Not beneath him.
Behind him.
Todd spun around.
Nothing.
Then he heard it.
A whisper.
"Todd..."
He froze.
"Todd..."
His heart began pounding.
"Who's there?"
Silence.
Then-
"Todd."
The voice was closer.
He turned again.
Nothing.
"Is this a dream?"
"You ask too many questions."
Todd's eyes widened.
The voice had come from inside his head.
"Who are you?"
No answer.
"Where am I?"
Still nothing.
Todd swallowed.
"Am I dead?"
A faint chuckle echoed through the darkness.
"Not yet."
Todd's stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
The voice sighed.
"We don't have much time."
"Who is 'we'?"
The darkness shifted.
For a brief instant, Todd saw something.
A pair of enormous eyes.
Then they vanished.
Todd stumbled backward.
"What was that?"
"Listen to me."
The voice no longer sounded annoyed.
It sounded afraid.
"Listen carefully, Todd. And whatever happens... don't forget what I tell you."
Todd said nothing.
"Have you ever wondered why they keep you here?"
Todd frowned.
"Who?"
"The ones who tell you where you can go."
His eyes widened.
"The mothers?"
The voice fell silent.
Todd waited.
"Have you ever wondered why they never tell you what lies beyond the forest?"
Todd's mouth went dry.
"What do you know about the forest?"
"It isn't the forest you should be afraid of."
Todd stared into the darkness.
"Then what should I be afraid of?"
A long silence followed.
Then the voice whispered:
"What lies beneath it."
Todd's heart pounded harder.
"What does that mean?"
"You've already seen it."
"I have?"
"Not with your eyes."
Todd shook his head.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
The voice seemed to weaken.
Todd could barely hear it now.
"Long before you were born, something happened."
"What happened?"
"A war."
Todd waited for the rest.
But the voice said nothing.
"A war between who?"
Another silence.
"Things that called themselves gods..."
The voice faltered.
"...and things that should never have been born."
Todd felt a chill run through him.
"What things?"
The darkness trembled.
"Don't say their names."
"Why?"
"They hear."
Todd's blood ran cold.
"Who?"
The voice suddenly became distant.
"They were made by two who wanted everything."
Todd tried to move toward it.
"Who made them?"
The voice whispered two names.
"Xanus..."
A pause.
"...and Reeba."
Todd repeated the names quietly.
"Who are they?"
The darkness began collapsing around him.
"Ask yourself why their story was erased."
Todd's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Ask yourself why your mothers are so afraid of the forest."
The voice grew fainter.
"Ask yourself why the gates close every night."
Todd suddenly remembered something.
The gates.
The stories.
The forest.
The children who supposedly wandered away and never returned.
"What happened to the children?"
No answer.
"Who are you?"
The darkness began to disappear.
"Todd..."
"Who are you?"
"Find yourself."
"What does that mean?"
The voice was almost gone.
"Find yourself... before they find you."
Todd's eyes widened.
"Who?"
Silence.
Then, one final whisper:
"They're waking."
Todd jolted upright.
He gasped.
His room was dark.
His heart hammered against his chest.
He immediately touched his arms, his face, his chest.
He was there.
He was alive.
For several seconds, he simply sat there.
Then he looked toward the window.
The gates were still closed.
Todd stared at them.
They're waking.
He didn't know what it meant.
He didn't know who Xanus and Reeba were.
He didn't know what had happened to the children who had supposedly disappeared.
And he certainly didn't know what the voice meant by find yourself.
But one thing was suddenly clear.
The stories about the forest were not just stories.
Todd lay back down, but sleep never returned.
His mind raced through the fragments he'd been given.
A war.
Two names.
Something beneath the forest.
Children who disappeared.
And a voice that somehow knew him.
He remained awake until the darkness outside his window slowly turned gray.
Then came the chirping of birds.
Morning.
Todd stared at the ceiling.
"It's morning already?"
He sat up.
Something felt different.
Not because of the dream.
Because, somewhere deep inside him, he had the unsettling feeling that someone—or something—had been waiting for him to wake up.
Todd quickly dressed and headed toward Alice's room.
As the two followed their usual morning routine, Alice noticed something was wrong.
Todd was unusually quiet.
"Todd?"
No response.
"You seem awfully quiet today."
Still nothing.
"Or are you still sulking about losing yesterday's game?"
Todd continued walking, completely lost in his thoughts.
Alice sighed.
"Todd, are you even listening to me?"
Nothing.
She stopped walking.
"Todd!"
He finally turned.
"Huh?"
Alice stared at him.
"I've been talking to you for the past five minutes!"
"Oh."
Todd rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sorry. I didn't get much sleep yesterday."
"It's obvious," Alice said. "You look like your mind is somewhere else."
Todd looked away.
He wanted to tell her.
He wanted to tell someone.
But how could he explain it?
I saw myself sleeping.
I heard a voice.
It told me the forest isn't what we think it is.
And apparently, something is waking up.
He decided against it.
Before he could say anything, Alice suddenly flicked him on the head.
"Ouch!"
Todd rubbed his head.
"That hurts!"
"Good. Maybe it'll bring you back to reality."
Todd stared at her.
"Were you talking to me?"
Alice's eyes widened.
"Yes!"
She shook her head.
"What happened to you last night?"
Todd looked toward the forest in the distance.
For just a moment, he thought he saw something moving between the trees.
He blinked.
Nothing.
"Nothing," he said quietly.
But deep inside, Todd knew that wasn't true.