“It’s time we introduced ourselves properly. My name is Howard. This is Ron and Karen. We are the only survivors of the fire that took the Dark Forest’s only human settlement. Yes, as you’ve guessed it’s the same Lostlings' Hope that you sheltered in while you were there. I won’t go into great detail for personal reasons, but the story of Zephnos is important to us because of that fire. His death was the spark that released the fire that destroyed Lostling’s Hope, or more correctly created the creature that spread it. That creature is why we need the information you and your mother have. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I should explain a little more about the Order first. 

The Ordo Ignis Salamandra, or the Order of the Fire Salamander, is an ancient cult that was started long before we ever met the Salamander. Or maybe support group would be a better word? We are not an organization that tries to hide our actions but it seems that, for better or worse, the world at large has chosen to “ignore” us. We can’t explain why, so don’t ask. We are almost exclusively people who survived a journey through the Dark Forest and came out the other side. We are made up of people from every part of history, and all around the globe. Me and my friends were contacted just like you were, having lost our families and, in some way, our place in the world after having returned. Just like then, we reach out to you to offer a group to share your experience in the hopes that we can do something about this. You lost eight years of your life. My sister and I lost our parents. Ron…” Howard stops, glancing over at Elder.

“I lost my ability to create.”

Howard nods, then continues. “Now that you have accepted our terms, we can talk more freely. We asked you about Cicero, Zephnos, and the Salamander. But our knowledge runs deeper than those three. The story of the Salamander and the Dark Forest has been going for thousands of years, almost to the beginning of human history. As far as we can tell the Dark Forest is both a real place and an illusion meant to connect worlds and times. Others of the Order talk about the people they’ve met, and the times and locations vary wildly. The descriptions of the place vary wildly. I’ve told you of Zephnos’ travels through different areas of the Forest. The Bone Grove, the Flooded Forest, the Scrapheap. All of these locations are present and missing at the same time. They represent settings in stories, mutated to keep the themes of the Dark Forest. The monsters of the Forest, or as Zephnos calls them, guardians, are there to stop us from escaping. They too are pulled from our own stories, but have been repurposed to be the nightmares we all encountered.

“And now we come to Zephnos’ story. This story is a little different each time we hear it. We think this means that they come from not one, but multiple points of view. Zephnos is not a single entity, though the story we tell now certainly makes it seem like he is. This is just the most complete version of the story we know. Zephnos is created, reclaimed by the Dark Forest, and then finds his way back to the Campgrounds. That’s where it ends.

“Something has been changing though. The character we talked about after Zephnos fought Stentor? He wasn’t in the story. Stentor wasn’t in Zephnos’ story. And even more than that, the most recent iterations of the story have stopped changing. They’ve been static, just like ‘Matt’ said. The people we’ve talked to almost never agree on the details, but lately they have been. It’s never happened before in the history of the Order, and it scares us. You’re not the first to give this account, and you likely won’t be the last. Something happened in the Dark Forest recently, or at least recently by our accounts. We need to know what it was, because whatever it is caused the nature of the Forest to change. If we can change the Forest’s nature, then we can stop it from abducting people. We can remove the need for the Order to exist. We’re looking to cure a cancer on reality, and we just got our Henrietta Lacks.”

I’d been watching Howard as he said all of this. He believed it, or at least thought he did. There was an energy in his eyes that betrayed something else though.

“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” The words left my lips before I knew why. Howards face cracked, just a little, and a bright glint appeared in his eyes. Then it was gone.

“Yes. And what other reason could we need? We can’t even comprehend how many people are abducted by the Dark Forest each year, especially since it is present in every forest in history. When people talk about the Dark Forest, they mean it literally. But we get laughed off as eccentric storytellers. The Order takes in those souls and gives us people to talk to, but there’s still so much we don’t know.” Howard’s voice had sharpened as he spoke, determination filling his words. “We can’t even call ourselves a defense against the Dark Forest, because we have no idea how to get to it. We can only help its victims… no, its SURVIVORS with the trauma. It’s a force that’s been preying on humanity forever, and I want to stop it.” With the last words, his fist slams down on the table, rattling the glasses that we’d been drinking from.

“Howard… please. That’s enough…” Karen had finally moved from her nook on the wall, and laid a hand on Howard’s shoulder.

Howard glanced at his sister, his face a rictus of anger. Hers had finally broken, worry etched in the stone visage. He softened when he saw that, and seemed to calm.

“But this is only half of what we meant to talk about. You must have questions, and your story is not yet finished. We will answer your questions once you finish your side of the deal. I hope this has at least given you an idea of the whys, even if we can’t answer the hows.” Howard finally seemed to deflate, sagging back into the chair after his tirade. Karen hesitantly took her hand off his shoulder, then looked back to me and Mom.

“Your turn. Tell us about your time in Lostlings' Hope.”

I lowered my gaze, thinking. “Where should I start? You already know what it was like. We were just a small group of scared survivors with just a little more luck than everyone else. We lit the shelters with the riverstones we found, which also seemed to keep away the monsters.”

“Names. We need the names of those you lived with. It will give us a time frame.” Ron’s deep voice caught my attention. It was the voice of someone who had told numerous stories of his own.

“Uh… names. Taryn was the person who kept us together. Naomi handled food storage and medicine. John and Jack, who were twins, handled construction. Jeb and Eric were the ones who went out into the Forest, at least until Eric was lost. Then it was just me and Jeb. Matthias watched the elevators and sounded the alarm if something big was spotted. Delyna did a lot of crafting with whatever we were able to bring back. There weren’t many others.”

Ron was nodding and scribbling in his notebook. “Eric made it out. We’ve also located Delyna and Naomi. Still no sign of Taryn, but we don’t think she died or was lost. The rest of these people are new to me.”

Karen cut in. “Seen those twins mentioned before. Didn’t make it. Matthias I’ve never heard of. Anyone else?” This last question was shot at me.

The questions continued like this for a while. Hours later, I’d told them everything I remembered about the eight years I’d lost to the Dark Forest, including the various monsters I’d encountered, the people we’d seen, living or dead, and finally the questions turned back towards me: how had I made it out?

A rock had formed in my stomach, dragging me down as each possible question was stripped away. I knew I’d have to come back to this eventually. I looked back at Mom, who had been playing host to these three all day. She grabbed my hand and squeezed gently, attempting to comfort me. The rock lifted a little, and I turned back to our guests and resumed my story.