Chapter 126

Mia's Pov

As Lycidas and I hastily made our escape from the area where we had encountered the corrupted, fear and worry gripped me like a vice, squeezing the breath from my lungs and sending my heart pounding in my chest. Every rustle of leaves and snap of twigs seemed to echo through the forest like a death knell, each sound a rather unpleasant reminder of the danger that seemingly lurked just beyond our sight.

The weight of fear and worry pressed heavily upon my shoulders, threatening to crush me beneath its suffocating embrace. The near brush with corrupted we just had seemed to solidify all the more the feeling that we were all alone in a forest teeming with malice.

But even as fear threatened to consume me, a steely resolve took root within me, driving me forward with a fierce determination to survive. I knew that I could not afford to give in to despair – not now, when the stakes were so high. No matter how many times it happened, I don't think I could ever get used to my life b