Chapter14: The Road to Ashcroft
When I opened the door, several people were waiting outside.
Edward and Jasper stood closest. Selene lingered slightly apart, her face pale, her eyes swollen.
Selene stepped forward first.
"Why were you inside so long?" Her voice trembled despite her effort to steady it. "The music kept stopping and starting. Every time it stopped, I thought..."
She caught my sleeve instead of finishing the thought.
"I'm fine," I said. "We only talked."
"Talked?" Edward repeated. "You've already dealt with it?" he pressed.
"No."
I met his gaze without turning away.
"Please," he said quietly. "Just tell me — does my son have any hope?"
"Yes," I said. "But we don't have much time."
I didn't bother with a long explanation. Instead I asked the first question that mattered.
"Does anyone here know how to get to Ashcroft?"
They exchanged puzzled looks. No one answered.
"Then another question," I said. "Does anyone know someone who understands arcane formations?"
Again, silence.
It was Selene who finally spoke.
"Nyx has a fan community online," she said carefully. "If we're trying to trace where she went... maybe we could ask there."
Within minutes she had posted a message.
At first the responses were useless speculation. Then a new reply appeared from a user named Clara.
Her message was short.
Selene answered immediately, and the conversation moved to private messages. Clara didn't say much at first—only that Ashcroft wasn't on modern maps anymore.
When Selene asked if they could talk in person, Clara hesitated before finally agreeing.
They arranged to meet at Blackwood Estate at ten.
While we waited, I checked Zero Boundary — a site that collects reports of paranormal incidents. I searched for anything connected to Ashcroft.
Nothing appeared.
Across the drawing room, Jasper and Selene were still discussing Nyx's disappearance. I caught fragments of their conversation.
The police had already visited the place Nyx claimed to have filmed in, but they found nothing. No equipment, no traces, no sign she had ever been there.
Online discussions had already begun shifting.
Some people questioned whether Ashcroft was really the place in Nyx's footage.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Others were asking a simpler question.
Did Ashcroft even exist?
At that moment, the door creaked open.
Clara stepped inside, carrying a rolled bundle of yellowed paper.
Selene stood to greet her.
"Hi, Clara. I'm Selene—like you, a fan of Nyx."
She introduced Jasper and me, and Clara gave a small nod before walking to the table.
Without wasting time, she unrolled the paper.
It was an old map.
She pointed to a spot near the upper corner.
"This," she said quietly, "is Ashcroft. You won't find it on any current map."
"How far is it from here?" I asked.
"It's still within Novalis District, but remote," Clara said. "People stopped going there years ago—except urban explorers like Nyx."
Her finger tapped the map.
"About six hours by car."
I met her eyes.
"You know the way. It would help if you came with us."
She hesitated.
Then she nodded.
"If you're going there to find Nyx... I'll come."
Selene's face lit up.
"Great. I'm in too."
Jasper, however, looked uneasy.
Selene noticed immediately.
"Jasper? You're not coming?"
"I can't," he said quietly. "Liam's funeral is tomorrow."
"And honestly... I don't think you should rush into this."
We still hadn't found anyone who understood the formations. He was worried we might end up like Nyx.
But time wasn't on our side.
Recovering Elena's remains couldn't wait.
I couldn't explain that, so I simply said,
"It's alright. There will be more of us this time."
Then I looked at Selene and Clara.
"We leave tomorrow."
---
Dawn had just broken when Selene pulled up outside my apartment in a jeep.
I didn't see Clara at first. Just as I was about to ask, the rear window rolled down, and Clara's hand waved me toward the back seat.
Once inside, I noticed the passenger seat up front was piled high with bags of food and drinks—clearly, someone had come prepared.
I settled into the seat and glanced at Clara.
"So," I said, "why did Ashcroft disappear? Was it relocated?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"Then why?"
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "When I was a kid," Clara said, "the elders used to tell stories about Ashcroft."
"What kind of stories?" Selene asked.
"Old ones. About the lake. About the mountains around it."
"So the village was really there?"
"Oh, it was real," Clara said. "Three mountains stood on one side of the village, with a lake on the other."
"Sounds peaceful."
"It was," she said quietly. The villagers were poor, but their lives were stable."
I frowned, genuinely puzzled. "Then why would they leave?"
Before she could answer, Selene's voice cut in from the driver's seat—tense, alert.
"We're being followed."
Clara's head snapped up. "What do you mean?"
"That car—it's been trailing us since we left Blackwood Estate. At first I thought it was coincidence. But I've made several turns now. It's still there."
Clara and I twisted around simultaneously. About a hundred meters back, a black van trailed us. We turned. It turned.
"Police?" Clara asked.
Selene shook her head, calm but focused. "Unlikely. They wouldn't tail us this long without cause—and we haven't broken any traffic laws."
I had no answers. "Stay on course. Let's see what happens once we hit the main road."
Minutes later, we merged onto the highway heading toward Ashcroft. The black van suddenly accelerated. For a heartbeat, I thought they meant to cut us off. Instead, it roared past and continued straight, disappearing ahead. The windows were tinted—impossible to see inside.
We all exhaled.
"Just a coincidence, maybe," Clara murmured, her voice still a little tight.
Selene nodded, though her grip on the wheel remained firm. "Probably."
After that, the conversation drifted. Nyx's videos led to talk about other creators, then comment-section drama, celebrity gossip, travel vlogs, and mobile games. I drifted in and out, watching the scenery blur past, sometimes closing my eyes.
About an hour later, Selene left the highway and followed a smaller road marked on Clara's map.
The pavement narrowed gradually, the houses thinning out until there were none left at all. Forest pressed in from both sides of the road.
After three hours of driving, we reached a county town—more like an overgrown village.
We grabbed a quick lunch. Just as we were about to leave, the sky turned.
Without warning, rain came.
One moment the sun was blazing. The next, rain crashed down in a sudden curtain of water., dense and sudden.
Such weather felt wrong for the season.
"A snake!" Selene gasped.
It lay coiled on the hood, unmoving, its tongue flickering.
Its tongue flickered as it watched us.
For a moment, none of us spoke.
Then it slowly uncoiled and slipped down the metal, vanishing into the grass.
Clara looked at me.
"Was that... normal?"
I didn't answer immediately.
My gaze followed the place where it had disappeared.
"No," I said quietly.
"It wasn't."
Within minutes, sunlight broke through the clouds, as if the storm had never happened.
The road to Ashcroft was worse than expected—narrow, crumbling, pitted with holes. The jeep lurched and rattled. Selene clutched the wheel, knuckles white, eyes fixed ahead.
Selene's voice tightened.
"That van."
I checked the mirror.
Headlights trailed us at the same distance.
The same black van.
It hadn't left after all.
