Senna was furious, allowing her frustration to vent off through a futile attempt to crush the rocks the beach primarily consisted of with her heavy steps. It was an unwise decision, to say the least, increasing the chance of injury as the stones were carved by the sea fashion, covered with slippery sediment. Yet, despite knowing it all too well, the woman did so, nonetheless.

The huntress's march was quite slow, filled with constant death threats and curses towards the ferryman. Still, she continued walking alongside the only trodden path she could see. It led her through massive rock formations. Given their overall scattering, a few explanations could have been imagined. Senna found one of them increasingly amusing. In her mind's depths, she could already see the giants of old throwing the rocks into the sea as a form of entertainment.

After a good while, the chestnut-haired woman halted, displeased with the progress she had made. The path seemed endless, yet its end loomed in the distance, disappointing her. As she looked at the tall, perfectly flat wall that was the cliff, she could feel her anger flaring again. There was something unnatural about this place; she was sure of it. Senna could barely hear the crackling of the stones under her boots. Then, a crushing realisation came to her; bar the crackling, she heard nothing. There were no sounds of water, no fluttering of birds' wings, nothing. The woman could swear she had seen birds moving between the stone formation not later than a few moments before, but this place seemingly drowned out all sounds.

Once again, the chestnut-haired woman looked at the wall's perfect surface, finding something terrifying and unnatural in the nothingness surrounding it. She gulped, trying to swallow the excess saliva filling her mouth. She felt powerless, incapable of controlling her body. But, after a few prolonged moments, she somehow gathered her strength, forcing herself to push forward. As she continued the effort, the exchange with the ferryman inevitably replayed, feeling the huntress with more than a seed of doubt. More than a few questions lingered in her mind, flooding her consciousness with negativity and sorrow.

"Could've it been the truth all along?" Senna unwittingly whispered. At that moment, she would have paid a hefty price for someone to answer this question.

Reaching the cliff took longer than she would like to admit, but after god knows how long, she finally stood a few steps away from the massive formation of rocks. Unwittingly, the woman enforced her grip on her weapon, leaving her knuckles white from the sheer strain. Senna realised that her composure was slipping away rapidly, and her surroundings seemingly reacted to it. Without any warning, the fumes that the fog consisted of started steadily rising. Within moments it reached her knees, yet there was no telling whether it would slow down or not. Trying her hardest not to think about the creepy scenery, she gazed at the perfectly flat surface of the cliff. She concluded that it was an unnatural creation. Still, a question lingered: would it be a good idea to close in?

The chestnut-haired woman stood perfectly still for the next minute, intrigued by the unexpected finding. But no matter how conflicted her mind became, this curiosity pushed her forward till her palm rested on what seemed to be a rock. It was an incredible and horrifying experience simultaneously. It would not have changed a thing if she had spent here a moment, a year, or even an eternity; she would not have found a crack in this surface, no deformations. A perfect construct shaped by the slavery work of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, hands. The realisation affected the woman more than she dared to say – shocking her to the core. Like a newly forged blade, the surface was perfect, delicate as the most delicate silk. It could not have been nature's creation.

Unexpectedly, the formation changed its colour shifting from grey to the darkest night. Then, Senna heard a cacophony akin to massive stone formations crushing against one another, grinding to dust. The woman endured the first second of this chaos, but soon enough, she needed to cover her ears, as it was too much for her to handle.

But, all of this lasted less than a heartbeat. All of the chaos and cacophony vanished as unexpectedly and instantaneously as they had appeared. Once the next second eclipsed, she realised she unwittingly had closed her eyes akin to a small child scared of creatures lingering in the shadows. How pathetic, she thought before reopening them.

Funnily enough, Senna's surroundings slightly altered, revealing a narrow path to her right. It was a steep approach; still, it offered her a way out of the beach. Even though something deep inside her screamed at her, urging her to leave, her pride would not have allowed that to happen. Hence, with a slight smile, she resumed the stroll, erasing the bothering thoughts. After all, seeing something other than this damned rocky beach covered in the mist would be refreshing.

The chestnut-haired woman finally averted her gaze off the cliff, redirecting it to her feet. Something was off; she was sure of it but could not name it correctly. As if the haunted place was affecting her mind, she kept staring at the rocks, completely clueless about what caused her heart to skip a beat. Then, she finally put all the pieces together, realising that the thick white fumes disappeared. She would have been thrilled with such a change in any other scenario. However, this rule could not be applied, as her mind started to get flooded with visions of unnamed horrors. It pushed her forward, forcing her to run toward the path, forgetting about everything.

Author's notes section:

[2023-08-05]: Hey, here is a preview of the story's next chapter. Please, bear in mind that it is, as mentioned, a preview. Some parts of it might not be included in the final release. I will try to finish this chapter as soon as possible. I would like to clean up some of the tasks in my schedule, and right now, there are many chapters queued there.

[2023-08-15]: Hey, I have finished the chapter. I know it's kind of short, but I thought it was a good place to conclude the piece, as the further development would have taken me more time.

Don't forget to comment. I really appreciate your feedback.

Note that the dialogues written in italic are thoughts.

As always, I would like to thank you for everything. See you soon :)

Changelog:
[2023-08-05]: A preview has been released.
[2023-08-15]: A minor update applied, focused on enriching the plot.

Info: I have included more stories in the schedule as I'm not 100% certain what I want to write next. Please, keep in mind that I might add or remove positions from the list. I might rewrite some of the older stories or extract some of the longer stories from `The story of one lost soul`.

Schedule:
- The family tree (finish the WIP)
- The story of one lost soul (finish the WIP)
- The shadows can be deceiving (new chapter)
- Hidden in the mountain's shadow (new chapter)
- The war call (new chapter)
- The rise of the Blood Moons' servants (new chapter)
- Black Diamond (new chapter)
- When the clock is ticking (Warhammer 40k new story)
- Sometimes it's just better not to know (new chapter)
- My home is where my heart lies (rewrite chapter 4)
- The heart not so cold (rewrite chapter 2)
- The family tree (revisit the previous chapters and apply adjustments)
- Will you look past my mistakes? (new chapter)
- The silence of the shackles (new chapter)
- The broken heart (new chapter)
- The Prisoner of Your Eyes (new chapter)
- Lifetime of war (new chapter)
- Hope is the last one to die (new story in SW universe)
- See the world through my eyes (new chapter)
- Sometimes it's just better not to know (finish rewriting the second chapter)
- Life is full of surprises (new chapter)
- Exiled you say? (new chapter)
- Until my last breath (new chapter)

Bonuses' section:
A new story taking place in the Warhammer 40k universe.
Story of one lost soul: The war call: rewrite.
An entirely new story (possibly Akali x [Irelia, Syndra, Katarina]).
A new short story (Vi x Cait).
An entirely original story (possibly even two stories, one taking place in medieval times, the other in the far future)
Bleach story. (Byakuya x Yoruichi / ?)
Naruto story. (Neji x Hinata / Neji x TenTen / Nagato x Konan)
Fairy Tail story. (most likely Erza x Mira)
Maybe some Star Wars?

References:

*bonuses will be worked on when I don't feel like writing the chapters pointed out in the schedule :D

End of the author's notes section.