The forest stood still, the air thick with tension. The soft rustling of leaves was barely audible beh the heavy silehat hung in the night. The moon cast a silver glow over the treetops, while the stars twinkled like distant, silent observers, as if they were waiting for something to unfold.

  Krishna broke the quiet, his voice trembling slightly. "Now what?" he whispered, gng nervously between the darkerees.

  Pavan turo his friends, his face set with determination. There was a ess in his eyes, though his body radiated the tension of their situation. "Let's figure out what the hell is going on here," he said, his voice steady but edged with the weight of the unknown. Beside him, Vikram nodded silently, rising from where he had been examining the strange, falle. The decision was made-they were going deeper into the heart of the forest, no matter the dahat y ahead.

  Krishna, however, was far less vinced. He threw his hands up in frustration, his face twisting with panic. "Are you guys serious? We almost got eaten alive by that thing! How about we go home and deal with this in the m? You know, when we're not likely to get killed?" His voice rose with every word, a mix of fear and desperation g his pleas. He looked from Pavan to Vikram, hoping one of them would see reason.

  But Pavan and Vikram were already on the move, resolute and focused, their minds made up. Ign Krishna's protests, they pushed further into the dense, shadowy woods. Krishna stood there, momentarily stunned by their determination. "Fine! But if we run into something worse, it's on you two!" he yelled after them, his voice crag uhe strain. "I don't know what I did this m to deserve this!"

  Pavan, uo resist, chuckled under his breath and gnced back just enough to throw a teasing remark over his shoulder. "Probably saw your refle first thing in the m. Now you knoe feel."

  Krishna's face flushed with annoyance. "Oh, you think you're funny, huh?" he shouted, and before Pavan could react, Krishna sprioward him and tackled him to the ground. They crashed onto the damp forest floor, the smell of earth and leaves rising around them as Krishna pinned Pavah him.

  "You think you're clever?" Krishna growled, wiggling his fihreateningly above Pavan. A look of mock terror crossed Pavan's face as he squirmed beh his friend. "Wait-no-Krishna, don't!" But before Pavan could stop him, Krishna dug his fingers into Pavan's sides, mercilessly tig him.

  Pavan burst into untrolble ughter, his voice eg through the quiet forest as he thrashed on the ground, trying to escape the releig. "Stop-please-okay! I'm sorry!" he gasped betweehs, but Krishna wasn't about to let him off that easily.

  Their pyful scuffle filled the still night air, a moment of levity amid the tension. Vikram, however, remained focused, crouched over the beast's massive body. The creature-an enormous, wolf-like monstrosity-y motionless, its strange markings still faintly pulsing with a dark energy. Its body was unlike anything Vikram had seen before, its size far greater than any wolf that should exist in these woods.

  Vikram's brow furrowed as he remembered the fight, the way the creature had leaped over him and Pavan, not with the hunger of a predator but with the desperation of something fleeing for its life. Its eyes, just before it colpsed, had been filled not with rage, but with fear. Whatever this beast was, it hadn't been hunting them-it had been running from something else.

  "Hey, if you two are done fooling around, we've got bigger problems here," Vikram called, his voice calm but carrying an undercurrent of unease. He stood up, casting a long, lingering look at the beast as he spoke.

  Krishna, still perched on top of Pavan, gnced over at Vikram. "ht, the giant dead monster. Yeah, that's a thing," he muttered, the pyfulness draining from his voice as reality set in.

  Taking advantage of Krishna's distra, Pavan pushed him off with a grunt, rolling him into the leaves. "Serves yht," Pavan said with a smirk as he stood up and dusted himself off. He walked over to join Vikram, leaving Krishna groaning on the ground.

  Vikram crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his friends. "You really fot about the giant monster lying right here? Sometimes I wonder if you guys are even made of the same stuff as the rest of us."

  Pavan shrugged, but Vikram could see the tension in his eyes, even through the pyful facade. The weight of the situation wasn't lost on any of them. For a moment, Vikram allowed the bao tinue, grateful that despite everything, they hadn't lost their ability to joke, to stay light-hearted in the face of danger. It was how they coped, after all.

  But time was running out, and the unease in Vikram's gut grew heavier by the minute. "Alright," he said, his voice firmer now, "enough messing around. Let's figure out what we're dealing with."

  Pavan and Krishna exged gheir smiles fading. They both knew Vikram was right. The strange beast before them wasn't just a random enter-it meant something. Something dangerous. And they had to find out what.

  They began to move further into the forest, following the trail of destru the beast had left behind. The oranquil woods were now a chaotic mess-trees uprooted, branches broken, deep cw marks gouged into the earth. Whatever had passed through here had done so in a frenzy, and it wasn't just the beast. Something else had driven it into this madness.

  As they reached the end of the trail, they found themselves standing in ay clearing. The air was still, thick with the remnants of violence, but there was no sign of what had caused the beast's fear. Just an eerie silence.

  Krish out an exasperated sigh, throwing his hands up i. "Great. We did all that for nothing. I'm going home," he decred, turning on his heel to leave, clearly eager to get as far from the forest as possible.

  Pavan couldn't help but ugh as he watched Krishna's retreating form. "He's not mad," he muttered to Vikram. "He just needs an excuse to leave."

  Vikram nodded in agreement, but his gaze lingered on the clearing, his eyes sing for any clue they might have missed. "We should head back too. It's getting te, and if we're not home soon, the whole vilge will be out looking for us," Pavan said, gng at the sky, which had grown darker.

  Vikram gave o look at the clearing, his u fully shaken. But there was nothing more they could do tonight. He nodded. "Let's go. We'll figure this out ter."

  As they began their dest down the hill, Pavan leaned in close to Vikram, whispering something that made them both grin mischievously. Before Krishna could cat, they bolted, rag down the hill with a burst of speed, leaving Krishna behind.

  "Wait! What's chasing us?!" Krishna's voice rang out in panic as he sprinted after them, fear creeping in at the thought of bei alone in the dark forest. His footsteps thundered behind them as he struggled to keep up, his heart pounding in his chest.

  By the time Krishna caught up, breathless and disheveled, Pavan and Vikram were sitting outside Ramukaka's closed shop, trying and failing to stifle their ughter. Krishna, covered in dirt and leaves, gred at them, his hair stig up in all dires. "You guys are the worst!" he muttered, shaking his head as he stormed off toward the vilge.

  "See you tomorrow!" Pavan called after him, still ughing. Vikram waved, chug to himself as Krishna disappeared into the distance.

  ---

  When Pavan finally reached home, the night had fully settled. The stars above twinkled like tiny beas in the sky, casting a soft glow over the vilge. The air was cool and refreshing, a wele ge after the chaos of the evening. As he approached his front door, something caught his eye-a figure standing in the shadows, waiting.

  It was Chee.

  Her golden hair shimmered in the moonlight, her green eyes glowing with the refle of the stars. She stood there, calm and radiant, a serene presence amid the quiet night. It was as though she had been waiting for him all along, knowily when he would return.

  The sight of her filled Pavan's heart with warmth, and all the tension of the night seemed to melt away. A soft smile spread across his face as he walked toward her, his voice low and filled with affe. "I'm home, Chee."

  Chee stepped forward, her haly resting on his arm, her touch soft and f. "I know," she whispered, her voice barely above the breeze that rustled the trees around them. There was a tenderness ione, a love that words alone couldn't capture.

  To be tinued.......