FROST
Chapter 53: Nymph Forest

Chapter 53: Nymph Forest

"Now," Silvermist began, her voice sickly sweet, the kind of tone a cat uses before it absolutely wrecks your furniture. "Will you tell us where to find the Elixir, or should Ezekiel start burning your hair off, strand by strand?"

She gestured lazily toward Ezekiel, who wordlessly summoned a roaring flame in his palm. The firelight danced in his eyes, casting eerie shadows on his face. His smirk was slow and sinister, like a man who really wanted an excuse to commit arson.

Xavier sighed, the weight of ancient elven wisdom pressing down on his shoulders—or maybe just the exhaustion of dealing with these absolute lunatics. "I told you," he said, his voice exasperated but patient. "It’s hidden somewhere even we don’t know."

Silvermist narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh. And I’m just supposed to believe that?"

She turned her head toward Estes, who was slumped on a nearby tree stump, looking worse for wear. Both of them now tied separate from each other.

His other eye was still half-closed, swollen from the very enthusiastic punch Silvermist had gifted him with the moment she climbed out of that stupid, traitorous pit. He was still muttering curses under his breath, something about Silvermist being a witch something like that.

Silvermist rolled her shoulders, cracking her knuckles ominously. "Estes. You got anything to add? Or do you need another gentle reminder of what my fists can do?"

Estes blinked at her, one eye still squinting. "Oh, no, please, go ahead. I love when you commit casual violence. It’s my favorite thing." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Maybe this time, I’ll lose both my eyes, and I won’t have to see your insufferable face anymore."

Silvermist grinned, leaning in. "You mean this face?" She batted her lashes dramatically before fake-punching the air near his already bruised eye. Estes flinched so hard he nearly fell off the stump.

"Okay, okay, ENOUGH," Xavier groaned, rubbing his temples. "If you two are done with your domestic dispute, I’d like to remind you that we genuinely have no idea where the Elixir is."

Silvermist huffed. "Fine. Then we’ll just have to motivate you."

She snapped her fingers, and Ezekiel’s flames flared brighter. Estes, still traumatized from the pit and the recent punches, yelped and scrambled behind Xavier.

"Don’t you dare set anything on fire!" Xavier barked, his elven dignity fraying at the edges. "We are in a sacred forest! The spirits will—"

"Blah, blah, consequences, whatever," Silvermist cut him off. "Give us a better lead or watch your perfectly-conditioned elven locks shrivel into ash."

Xavier’s eye twitched. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to maintain this hair?!" He flipped his crimson locks. "It’s not just ’hair.’ It’s a lifestyle! A commitment! You think this shine happens by accident? Do you?!"

Silvermist stared at him. "I genuinely don’t care. You looked all so high and mighty earlier and yet you flinch just for some ’hair’?"

Xavier huffed. "Uncultured barbarian."

Ezekiel, clearly enjoying himself, flicked his fingers and let a spark dance toward the elf’s perfectly styled hair. Xavier yelped, blowing at the ember before it could land. Estes—still hiding behind him—shrieked even louder, as if he was the one on fire.

"Okay, OKAY! Fine!" Xavier finally relented, throwing his hands up. "There’s one place I could think of. I actually saw the direction your broken orb was pointing earlier. But that place is probably cursed under the influence of other forest spirit tribes, definitely deadly, and—"

"Great!" Silvermist clapped her hands together, looking far too pleased with herself. "We better call the others so we can leave before the mist thickens again."

Ezekiel nodded. He raised a hand, ready to locate the missing members of their group—Sebastian, West, Mila, and Adeline. They had wandered off on a very critical mission:

Finding food.

Because, unfortunately, someone cough Sebastian cough

had eaten everything Mila had brought. Every last crumb. Every emergency ration. Even the random snack she had hidden in her boot for moments of desperation.

To make things worse, all of Ezekiel’s stored supplies had also somehow disappeared—possibly lost in the chaos when they were being violently pursued before plummeting straight into the cave of doom. Even Silvermist lost her bag.

It was an unfortunate series of events, but none so unfortunate as the realization that Sebastian had the appetite of a black hole.

Ezekiel closed his eyes, extending his senses outward, and gasped.

Silvermist felt her stomach twist at the shift in Ezekiel’s expression. It was subtle—his brows twitched, his lips barely parted—but she had spent enough time around him to recognize when something was off.

"What’s the matter?" she pressed, taking a step closer. "D-Did something happen to them?"

Ezekiel didn’t answer immediately. His eyes remained closed, his fingers twitching slightly as he honed his senses. It was almost eerie how still he was, like a statue—if statues were constantly simmering with barely contained hellfire.

Silvermist huffed in frustration and turned to Xavier and Estes instead. They were still very much restrained, wrapped in the cursed vines that not only bound them but also siphoned their mana, leaving them with just enough strength to stay conscious. There was no way either of them could escape—something Silvermist took great satisfaction in.

"Do you have any idea what’s going on?" she asked, eyes narrowing at both of them.

Estes, who had been particularly salty since getting personally introduced to her fists, immediately looked away with an exaggerated scoff. No cooperation from him, obviously.

That left only Xavier.

The elf sighed, tilting his head slightly before muttering, "My mana is too low to completely sense what’s going on, but if their presence vanished despite the thin mist, they must have already entered another domain."

"W-What domain?" Silvermist asked, her stomach twisting further.

Xavier hesitated, glancing at Ezekiel, who had suddenly stiffened. The fire mage’s brows furrowed deeper, and then—

His eyes snapped open.

The air around him crackled with heat, his flames flickering erratically.

"Mila and Adeline’s mana are nearby," Ezekiel muttered.

Silvermist exhaled slightly in relief. At least those two were still within range.

"But West and Sebastian’s..." He trailed off. The tension in the air was suffocating.

Silvermist’s heart pounded. "What? What about them?"

Ezekiel’s crimson eyes darkened as he clenched his fists. "They’re gone."

He turned to Xavier, brows furrowed, voice teetering between exasperation and genuine concern. "Which domain are you talking about?!"

Xavier pressed his lips into a thin line, as if choosing his words carefully. Finally, he sighed and gestured vaguely toward the thin-mist-laden path the four had taken earlier.

"Judging by the fact that only their mana disappeared and those two girls’..." he trailed off before finishing with an ominous tone, "it must be the Nymph Forest."

Silence.

A very, very long silence.

Silvermist blinked. "The what now?"

Xavier, looking mildly apologetic, cleared his throat. "The Nymph Forest. Where Nymphs live."

Another silence.

Silvermist gasped dramatically, clutching her chest as though she’d just been informed that the apocalypse had been rescheduled for right now.

"West and Sebastian are about to die!" she wailed, already preparing to dash into the forest and rescue them.

Ezekiel, very wisely, reached out and grabbed her by the arm before she could commit to the act of stupidity.

"Wait."

Silvermist jerked against his grip. "What do you mean ’wait’?! They’re in danger, Kiel!"

Ezekiel didn’t immediately answer. He simply closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then exhaled through his nose like a man about to drop some very unfortunate knowledge.

"You said... Nymph Forest?" he asked Xavier.

Xavier nodded solemnly. "Yes. The domain of the Nymphs."

Ezekiel’s shoulders sagged. "Oh. Well, that explains it."

"EXPLAINS WHAT?!" Silvermist shrieked, completely losing her patience.

Ezekiel turned to her with the kind of pity one reserves for someone about to receive the worst news of their life. "You better stay here. I’ll go myself."

Silvermist narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Why?!"

Ezekiel, still holding her, gritted his teeth. "Because. They are in Nymph Forest, Sil. You do not want to see what’s happening in there."

Silvermist squinted. "WHY?!"

Ezekiel groaned, rubbing his temples, as though trying to soothe the headache he could already feel coming. "The Nymph Forest is..." he trailed off, then sighed deeply. "How do I put this delicately?"

Estes, ever the enabler of chaos, finally leaned in. "It’s basically an all-you-can-eat buffet... but for Nymphs. And what they eat is—"

Ezekiel immediately cut him off. "THANK YOU, ESTES. She does not need the details."

But Silvermist had already caught on. She stared at Xavier. Then at Ezekiel. Then at Estes. Then at the path the others had taken.

Her eye twitched. "A-Are you telling me West and Sebastian are in some godforsaken fairy brothel being harassed by sexy tree women?!"

Xavier hummed. "Well, when you put it like that, yes."

Silvermist made an inhuman noise somewhere between an angry cat and a kettle about to explode. "OH, HELL NO!" She turned on her heel, determined to charge straight into that forest. "MY POOR ADELINEEEE!!"

Ezekiel, at this point well-seasoned in dealing with her reckless tendencies, grabbed her by both shoulders before she could throw herself into doom. "SILVERMIST, STOP. YOU WILL NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE. I’ll go save Adeline and Mila."

"WHY?!" she screamed again, looking half-crazed.

Ezekiel sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "Because I would rather not have to carry your unconscious body back after you see West in a compromising position."

Silvermist froze. A chill ran down her spine. "Y-You think West would—"

Ezekiel gave her a long, deadpan look. "I think West is probably screaming for help right now or he might have already collapsed."

Silvermist scowled. "And Sebastian?"

Ezekiel exhaled through his nose. "Sebastian... is probably enjoying himself."

Estes, who had been sulking this entire time, suddenly burst out laughing. "HOLY SHIT, LUCKY BAST—ACK!"

Silvermist promptly elbowed him in the gut, making him fold like an old lawn chair.

Silvermist, meanwhile, clenched her fists. "WE’RE GOING IN. NOW."

Ezekiel groaned but at this point, he knew better than to argue.

The moment they reached the forest—a chaotic journey that involved Estes screaming about his hair being roasted while Xavier looked vaguely done with existence—Ezekiel’s flaming cushion hovered gracefully over the treetops. Silvermist, eager to save her friends, was already leaning over the edge like an overenthusiastic skydiver.

And then she saw them.

Mila and Adeline.

Unconscious.

Sprawled between the border of the Elf Forest and the Nymph Forest, like a couple of tragic fairy-tale maidens awaiting a hero.

Silvermist’s heart leapt into her throat. "ADELINE! MILA!" she screamed, launching herself off the cushion with all the grace of a brick.

She barely had a second to regret her decision before realizing—oh. oh no.

There was still about fifteen feet between her and the ground. She plummeted. Face-first.

"SHIIII—"

Her scream was cut off by the very unforgiving embrace of the dirt. A very loud, very ugly thud echoed across the forest but she immediately shove herself upright and rushed over to Mila and Adeline.

She kneeled beside them, shaking their shoulders. "Wake up! What happened?!"

Mila barely stirred. Adeline, however, let out a tiny, pathetic groan. "H-Half naked w-women stole them..." Adeline mumbled.

Silvermist’s lips twitched. Then, with zero hesitation, she reached down and crushed an innocent rock into dust.

"Show me the way," she growled, her fists cracking ominously.

Mila—who hadn’t even opened her eyes yet—blindly lifted a weak arm and vaguely pointed ahead. "T-There..." she mumbled. "B-But they might have set some sort of spell that makes mortal women sleep whenever they touch it."

"Is that so?" Silvermist muttered under her breath, her voice eerily calm despite the storm brewing in her eyes.

She carefully helped Mila and Adeline lean against the nearest tree, her hands surprisingly gentle for someone who looked one wrong word away from committing mass murder. Mila slumped, exhausted, while Adeline let out a pitiful groan, still mumbling something about half-naked women.

Ezekiel, Xavier, and Estes watched in tense silence as Silvermist slowly stood up, dusted off her clothes, and then—without a second of hesitation—marched straight toward the shimmering barrier of the Nymph Forest eve before Ezekiel could land his flaming cushion.

Mila snapped her eyes open in alarm. "WAIT—!"

But it was too late.

Silvermist strode through the barrier like it was nothing.

Not a single stumble.Not a single sway.Not even a sleepy yawn.

She didn’t even flinch.

The supposedly foolproof spell, meant to knock out any mortal woman on contact, might as well have been a light breeze.