The flickering beam of Gani’s dying headlamp finally winked out entirely, plunging them into absolute, pitch-black gloom. Dozens of glowing red eyes lined up solidly behind the pine tree trunks grew sharper, radiating a piercing, hateful glare through the night.

"Those eyes... they're blocking the path!" Rian whispered in violent tremors, clamping his fingers tight around Gani’s arm. Their ragged breaths clashed with the howling, increasingly savage storm winds.

"Don't go forward! Cut right!" Gani barked sharply, grabbing Rian’s jacket collar to wheel him into a sharp detour away from the swarm of red eyes. They plowed blindly through the wild brush skirting the cliff edge, sprinting recklessly without a care for the sharp thorns tearing at their clothes.

Yet that emergency detour led them astray.

Unaware in the total darkness, the ground beneath their boots narrowed drastically. The path they trod turned out to be the spine of an ultra-narrow stone ridge, slick with wet moss, flanked by a sheer drop-off plunging straight down on the left side.

Scree-ch!

Maya’s boot hydroplaned across a patch of slick rock. She let out a muffled shriek as her body nearly slid over the edge into the dark abyss. "Rian! Help!"

Before Rian could react, a massive, towering black silhouette dropped lightning-fast from the dead pine branches hanging overhead, lunging directly at Maya with long, hideous claws outstretched.

"Maya, look out!" Gani roared, his voice booming.

With his absolute final reserves of strength, Gani lunged forward and shoved Maya hard across the flat ground, clearing her from the path of the attack.

The shove saved Maya. She tumbled hard, rolling safely onto flat dirt right in front of Rian.

Yet fate dealt a cruel blow to Gani. The broad-bodied boy took the full brunt of the black entity's aerial slam.

Thud!

A heavy, sickening impact echoed across the ledge. Gani lost his footing, hurtling airborne before crashing violently right against the sharp, jagged stone lip of the cliff.

"Gani!" Rian shrieked in hysteria, leaping forward to snatch Gani’s hand.

Gani grimaced in agony, fresh blood streaming from his temple. With a razor-thin thread of strength, his right hand managed to clamp hard around a thick tree root protruding from the cliff edge, keeping his body from sliding straight down into the canyon floor.

"Don't come over here, Rian! Stay back!" Gani wheezed, gasping for breath through a raspy throat.

Rian and Maya scrambled forward on hands and knees, frantically stretching out their arms. "Gani, grab my hand! Pull yourself up!" Maya sobbed openly, hot tears mixing with cold sweat.

Gani looked at his two remaining friends one by one. Amidst the blinding agony and the root slowly tearing free from the loosening soil, a calm, serene smile broke across Gani’s lips—the genuine smile of a leader who had fulfilled his duty to his final drop of blood.

"Maya... Rian..." Gani whispered softly, his voice nearly drowned by the roaring canyon wind. "Thank you for sharing this journey... I'm sorry I couldn't bring everyone home..."

"Gani, stop talking like that! Take our hands!" Rian wept hysterically, clutching the wet fabric of Gani’s sleeve.

Gani shook his head weakly. He glanced up at the black shadows gathering along the cliff crest, then locked his gaze straight into Rian's eyes.

"Run... never look back again..." Gani murmured.

And the very next second, Gani deliberately released his grip on the root.

"GANI...!" Rian and Maya screamed in unison, their voices fracturing into raw hysteria.

Gani’s body plummeted into the dark abyss, swallowed by the cold embrace of the night.

Yet the horror refused to rest. The exact second Gani’s body vanished into the ravine, his terrified scream abruptly cut short midway—replaced by a chorus of raucous laughter echoing from the floor below, welcoming his fall with deafening, triumphant cheers.