Chapter 7: The Path of the Seeker

Ryu followed Mamu through a narrow archway hidden behind the temple. The instant he crossed the threshold, the world around him transformed.

A dense, silver fog swallowed everything. The air turned still—unnaturally so. The path beneath his feet was damp and soft with moss, and ancient trees loomed above like watchful guardians. There was no wind. No sound of birds or insects. Only the faint tapping of footsteps and a faraway hum, like the lingering echo of forgotten prayers whispered by generations long gone.

The forest ahead twisted in impossible ways. The trees shifted. The turns repeated themselves. It was a maze with no beginning and no end.

“Mamu… where are we?” Ryu whispered, cautious, the fog curling around his words.

Mamu chuckled softly, his eyes glinting in the mist. But there was reverence in his tone now—something older than amusement.

“This is a concealed realm. To your eyes, it’s mist and forest. But it exists beyond your world,” he said, looking back at Ryu with an unreadable expression. “Only those who have proven themselves—those whose hearts carry a wish deeper than mere desire—can walk this path. And even then, only with a guide.”

Ryu glanced around again. “So, this fog… it hides us?”

“Yes. From the world. From time. Even from memory,” Mamu replied. “This place is a secret between souls.”

Each step deeper felt like sinking into an old legend. Along the path, faint shapes began to appear—statues, half-swallowed by vines and time. Warriors with broken blades, lovers forever reaching for one another, children frozen in joy or sorrow, their stone lanterns long dark. Their faces seemed almost alive in the fog.

It was as if the forest itself listened, watched, and remembered.

Time blurred. Minutes became hours—or seconds. Eventually, they arrived at a clearing, circular and wide, surrounded by towering trees whose trunks shimmered with threads of silver vines. In the center stood a single black stone pillar. It was unmarked, but it pulsed faintly with a cold, steady glow.

Mamu stopped and gestured. “This is the place. The testing ground.”

The air here was different. Heavier. Sacred. Even the fog held its breath.

Ryu took a step forward, but Mamu raised a hand.

“Before you go,” he said, his voice lower now, almost a whisper, “there’s something I must tell you.”

Ryu looked at him, startled. Mamu no longer wore the grin of a quirky taxi driver. His eyes were distant—like they’d seen centuries pass.

“I’m not from your world, Ryu.”

Ryu blinked. “What?”

“I came here long ago. I had a wish too. A desperate, all-consuming wish. And like you, I walked this path. I was a Seeker… just like you.”

For a moment, the fog stirred violently, curling around them like it too remembered.

Ryu stepped closer. “Then… did you pass the test?”

Mamu nodded slowly. “I did. I was granted my wish.”

Silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant, unearthly hum in the mist.

Ryu hesitated. “Then how did you get to this world? How did you… become what you are?”

Mamu smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“That’s a tough question,” he said, voice quiet.

To be continued…