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- Herausgeber: epubli
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
Sophie ventures deep into the forest, seeking silence and peace—only to find something entirely different. An invisible boundary pulls her into a strange world where nothing is as it seems. Shadowy presences and menacing mysteries lurk in the darkness, and with every step, the danger becomes more tangible. Trapped between two worlds, Sophie must realize that her return depends not only on her courage but also on her willingness to confront the secrets of this nightmarish dimension. Yet "the Old One" has already noticed her... A gripping horror novel about loss, bravery, and facing the inevitable.
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Seitenzahl: 76
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Fiona Seabrink
The Call of the Shadowfrog
Impressum
Text: © Copyright by Fiona Seabrink
Cover Art: © Copyright by Fiona Seabrink
Publisher:
Fiona Seabrink
c/o AutorenServices.de
Birkenallee 24
36037 Fulda
Herstellung: epubli - ein Service der neopubli GmbH, Köpenicker Straße 154a, 10997 Berlin
Kontaktadresse nach EU-Produktsicherheitsverordnung: [email protected]
1.
Sophie pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she pushed her way through the undergrowth. The forest around her was silent—a silence she both sought and feared. Her thoughts churned like a storm, a relentless drone of voices, expectations, and decisions that weren’t her own. Today, she could no longer bear it. In a sudden impulse, she had stormed out of the house, armed with nothing but a backpack and her favourite lantern, which now swung from her belt.
In the forest, she felt lighter. The trees shielded the world outside, their towering canopies like a cathedral of branches and shadows. Here, she was free from the gazes, the questions, the demands. Her feet pressed into soft moss that muffled every step, and she let her head droop, losing herself in the monotony of walking.
Sophie wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for—perhaps peace, or just a moment that truly belonged to her. She had always felt as though the forest understood her. It didn’t speak, it didn’t demand, it simply existed.
But today, something felt different.
At first, it was barely perceptible: a faint rustle that didn’t come from her. A cool gust of wind stirred the leaves, though the air was heavy and still. The usual calming stillness of the forest now felt oppressive, as if it was waiting for something.
Sophie stopped and raised her head. The clearing she had entered seemed unfamiliar, though she had passed through it many times before. The light had changed—it was pale, almost silvery, casting a veil over the trees. The forest seemed to breathe differently, as though it had turned into something alive, watching her.
A shiver crept down her arms. “Nonsense,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It’s just a forest.” But as she walked on, each step felt heavier, as if she were crossing an invisible boundary she couldn’t see.
The stillness was no longer comforting. It was too complete. No birds sang, no insects buzzed. Even her footsteps seemed swallowed by an unseen carpet. The surroundings felt familiar, yet alien, as though someone had stretched the shadows and bleached the colours.
Sophie stopped again, looking around. Her heart began to race, though she couldn’t see any reason why. Then her gaze fell on a spot ahead where the air shimmered, as if an invisible doorway glimmered in the sunlight—but the sun couldn’t possibly reach here.
A strange pull drew her closer.
She felt an uneasy tingling at the nape of her neck as she stared at the shimmer before her. It looked like a curtain of air that rippled without any breeze to move it. Part of her wanted to touch it, to know what lay beyond—but a deep instinct held her back. Something wasn’t right.
“I should turn back,” she murmured, but her voice sounded strange in the utter silence.
She took a step back, then another, carefully avoiding the shimmering area. But as she glanced around, she realised she was lost. The path she had come down was gone—or had it ever been there?
Sophie tore her gaze away from the shimmer and turned to the trees, hoping to orient herself as she always did. But something was odd.
The trees looked strange. Their trunks were smooth and gleaming, like polished stone, yet that wasn’t the strangest thing. It was the way their branches split into irregular, almost geometric patterns, as if someone had drawn them rather than letting them grow naturally.
“What kind of trees are these?” Sophie whispered, brushing her fingers against a trunk. The bark didn’t feel like wood. It was cool, almost metallic, yet it vibrated faintly, as though pulsing with life.
Her eyes moved to the ground, where she noticed that even the forest floor had changed. Instead of moss and ferns, there were plants she had never seen before. Some glowed with bright colours that shimmered strangely in the dim light of the forest, while others moved slightly, though no wind stirred them.
Sophie had spent much of her life wandering through forests. She knew the trees, the herbs, the mushrooms she encountered on her explorations. She had learned to read nature’s patterns, easily identifying even rare plants. But these—these defied all categorisation.
“This isn’t normal,” she thought, feeling her heart race. It was as though she had left the forest and entered a foreign place disguised as one.
A cold sensation crept up her spine, and she was suddenly certain she wasn’t alone.
Sophie turned, determined to get as far away from the shimmering air as possible. But no matter where she looked, the landscape had changed, become alien. The familiar path she had taken was nowhere to be seen. The trees stood closer together, their trunks seeming to shift shape the longer she stared at them.
A suffocating sense of entrapment spread through her, yet she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other, keeping her eyes on the ground to avoid being unsettled by the strange plants. “Just keep walking,” she whispered to herself, as though the words might offer her some comfort.
2.
After a while, the dense forest suddenly opened up, and Sophie found herself standing on the edge of a pond. She froze, startled and confused.
There shouldn’t be a pond here. She knew this forest—or at least she thought she did. There was no pond in this area, of that she was certain.
The pond lay still before her, its surface smooth like a dark mirror, but something about it wasn’t right. It took her a moment to realise that it reflected nothing. Neither the trees nor the sky above appeared on the water’s surface. Instead, it seemed as though the water revealed a bottomless depth, vanishing into complete darkness.
And then there was the mist.
A dense, whitish fog began to rise slowly from the water, but it didn’t move like ordinary mist. Instead of gently wafting upwards and dispersing, it seemed to grow deliberately, as if it had a will of its own. The tendrils wove intricate patterns in the air, almost as if they were searching for something.
Sophie held her breath as she noticed one strand of mist drifting in her direction. The cold emanating from it was almost tangible, like an invisible hand reaching for her.
The pond itself seemed to hum in the darkness, a faint, almost imperceptible sound that vibrated in her ears. It was not a hum she had ever heard before—deeper, more alien, and emanating from something lurking beneath the surface.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Sophie whispered, taking a step back. But the mist continued to spread, slowly closing the space between her and the unnaturally still water.
Sophie retreated further, but the mist gave her little room to escape. The tendrils moved as though they had eyes and senses fixed on her. They curled through the air, forming shifting patterns—and then, to her growing horror, they began to take on shapes.
The forms were vague and shadowy, but unmistakably humanoid. Long limbs reached out towards her, moving with eerie slowness, and heads without faces—just smooth, glowing surfaces—seemed to watch her nonetheless.
Sophie held her breath, her heart pounding as her legs turned to lead. “Stay away... please, stay away,” she whispered, but her voice was swallowed by the eerie hum emanating from the pond.
As she took another step back, she suddenly felt movement behind her—a faint scraping on the ground, barely audible but enough to send a shiver down her spine. She spun around and saw him.
A man emerged from the shadows of the trees, hunched as though he were old, yet his movements were too fluid, too unnatural. His skin was pale and shiny, almost like scales, and his eyes glowed a dull green. He raised a hand as if to calm her, but his voice was anything but reassuring.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, his words rough and guttural, as though he hadn’t spoken in years. “This place... it isn’t a refuge. It’s a gateway. You saw the shimmer, didn’t you? You felt it!”
Sophie could only nod, unable to find words.
The man stepped closer, and she retreated until her heels were nearly touching the pond. “You must leave,” he urged, “now. Before it finds you. Before the boundary breaks.”
But before Sophie could react, a tendril of mist shot out from the pond and wrapped around the man. He screamed, a guttural, desperate sound, as the mist began dragging him towards the water. His body twisted and fought, and then—with one final, harrowing cry—he was gone.
