AMELIA’s POV“Get back inside Amelia, it's a body! A fresh mutilated corpse!” He yelled.

I immediately dashed back inside. Charles was already back in the driver's seat, and he rode the carriage with much speed. I moved from the back seat, to sit beside him in the front.

“What’s wrong Charles?” I asked. I didn't believe it was only a dead body that made him freak out like that. He said it was a fresh corpse, meaning the person had been recently killed. Which meant the killer might be nearby, or the body was just dumped there.

“We are in the forest of the dead.” He dropped.

I froze when I heard this, the forest of the dead. I had read about the forest of the dead, back when I was still at the Blue Moon's pack. I sneaked around the library to read books, and some kind maids were kind enough not to rat me out whenever they caught me.

According to the books I read, the forest of the dead appears at a place where a massacre had occurred. It appears as a portal on the place, in which victims unknowingly enter. This means we had entered into a place where people were massively killed, we had entered into the portal without knowing.

“Shit!” Charles cursed. “How come I didn’t notice?” He asked.

“I thought the portal to the forest of the dead only appears in a place where a massacre occurred. Which means a massacre had taken place on that route.” I said.

“I’ve passed the route before, and from history, no massacre had occurred here. The portal was intentionally shifted here. And nobody has the power to do that, except from grade D sorcerers. Someone is following us, someone knows about our escape.” He explained as he tugged at the ropes to enable the carriage to move faster.

I don't know much about the grade D sorcerers, except from the fact that they have the ability to shift portals. I heard screeching sounds and thumping sounds, the creatures were definitely after us.

“Which means we have another sorcerer apart from Joe, the pack sorcerer. It couldn't be Joe as he was a grade E sorcerer.” I said and he nodded.

The ground below us vibrated as the thumping sounds got closer. The creatures of the forest dead were humanoid. They had human features except for their face, which was plain. They had no eyes, no nose, no ears. Just a plain face with wide black lips and jagged teeth.

According to the books, they couldn't see clearly, their visions were blurred. But their hearing sense could be on par with the werewolves, despite the absence of ears on them. Stopping the carriage was not an option, they would tear us apart.

The only way to escape the forest was to wait for sunrise, then the creatures would burn, and the portal would disappear. But the portal always came out in the dark, to enable victims to be killed even before sunrise appeared.

Fortunately for us, the sorcerer behind this wasn't smart enough and had shifted the portal quite late. Everywhere was getting brighter, as the night shifted into morning. All we had to do was to head towards the place where the sun would set, before these creatures would meet us.

The carriage began shaking, and the screeching sounds intensified. It was deafening. They began scratching at the carriage, pulling at it. The horses suddenly stopped moving, they neighed in pain. The creatures had attacked the horses.

“We have to get out of here and head towards the sunrise.” Charles said amidst the chaos.

I looked through the window beside me, the creatures on that side weren't much.

“We could leave through this side.” I yelled so he could hear me, as the screeching increased.

“Once you jump out, run. Activate your wolf, no matter how weak she is. I would meet up with you.” He said hurriedly, trying to push open the door.

“No, no. I won't leave you here with these things.” I shook my head.

“Amelia, if we both go at once, it would be hard to escape them. I’ll hold them back while you run towards the sunrise. You're forgetting that I’m a beta, don't underestimate me. I promise, I’ll meet up with you.” He smiled, wiping the tears that streamed down my cheeks.

“Go now!” He yelled as he pushed the door outside. I jumped out, half transforming and running as fast as I could. Some of the creatures attempted to follow me, I heard a huge growl as they were pounced upon, Charles had transformed.

I cried as I ran towards the sunrise. I prayed to the goddess to keep him safe. I turned to look back and saw Charles in his half transformed state, running towards me. There were slashes on his body and he was bleeding. He had killed quite a number, but they were still trooping in.

He carried me in his arms with one swoop and leapt from tree to tree with great speed and agility. To my surprise, the creatures also leapt on the trees, giving us a hot pursuit.

“They can leap.” I gasped.

“It's their habitat, they possess the power to imitate any type of skill shown as long as it is in the forest. That's why it's hard to find survivors of the forest of the dead.” He chuckled.

We were almost getting to the sunrise. The creatures shrieked as the brightness burned them, some retreated, while some still kept on coming. I noticed something, the ones that kept on coming were a bit larger than the others. They had ranks too.

But they’ll definitely get burnt when the Sun rises completely. Charles heaved a sigh of relief as we were closer to the light. Suddenly, a black veil appeared and started covering the light.

Everywhere got darker, Charles and I looked at each other, confused. A black figure levitated, with a purple light surrounding him, as he stood in between us and the creatures. The figure removed the hood covering his face. I felt Charles' body stiffen.

It was Raphael, the gamma who had stopped us earlier.