The River With No End

Dr. Lucas Hayes had charted rivers from the Himalayas to the Congo, but nothing compared to the one he discovered deep in the Amazon—
a river that appeared on no map, no satellite image, no indigenous record.

It was silent, silver, and disturbingly straight—flowing with a steady current that ignored gravity, terrain, and logic.

Lucas traveled with three companions:
Maya Santos, an expert navigator;
Grant Holloway, a daredevil explorer who thrived on risk;
and Iara, their enigmatic local guide, who refused to step too close to the water.

Iara warned them:

> “This river does not belong to this world.
Those who follow it forget where they came from.”



Lucas ignored her hesitation. Discovery was his obsession.


---

The First Signs

As soon as they pushed their canoe into the water, the jungle shifted.

The trees leaned inward unnaturally, as if straining to listen.
The air grew cold—unusual for the humid Amazon—and the sky dimmed even though it was only noon.

After an hour, Maya pointed at the GPS.

“It’s broken,” she whispered.
The device showed they were moving in circles—yet the river ahead was perfectly straight.

Grant frowned. “Impossible. The river can’t loop…”

But it did.
Or rather, reality looped around the river.

They began passing familiar landmarks: a twisted mahogany tree, a boulder shaped like a claw, a patch of glowing mushrooms.

Over and over.

The river wasn’t leading them anywhere.
It was keeping them there.


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Reflections That Weren’t Reflections

That night, the horror began.

The water shone like mirror glass under the moonlight, but the reflections were wrong.
Lucas turned his head—his reflection lagged behind.
Grant raised his hand—his reflection didn’t.

Then Maya’s reflection smiled at her…
even though she wasn’t smiling.

Iara’s face turned pale.
“The river shows you what waits on the other side. It shows you what you can become.”

Their reflections began moving on their own—eyes watching them, silently begging them to step closer.


---

The Endless Current

On the third day, the river widened abruptly into a vast, dark basin.
In the center churned a massive whirlpool glowing with a deep blue light, pulsing like the heartbeat of the jungle itself.

Lucas felt a pull—not physical, but mental—an irresistible urge to lean over, to look deeper, to let the current take him.

“The river wants us,” he murmured.

Maya clutched his arm. “Lucas, snap out of it!”

But Grant had already stood up.

“It’s calling,” he said, voice hollow. “Don’t you hear it? It’s beautiful.”

The current surged.

The canoe rocked violently.

Grant leaned too far—and the river grabbed him.

Lucas lunged, but Grant disappeared into the glowing vortex without a sound, swallowed by something that wasn’t water.

Just before he vanished, they all heard his voice echo across the basin:

“I can see everything…”

And then silence.


---

Escape

Iara didn’t hesitate.
She seized the paddles and screamed:

“Row! Before the river remembers you!”

Lucas and Maya paddled with every ounce of strength.
The current fought them—pulling, twisting, whispering Grant’s voice into their ears.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the water calmed.
The silver sheen faded.
Birdsong returned.

And when they looked back, the river was gone.

A wall of vines covered the place where it had been.
As if it had never existed.


---

What Remains

Lucas still hears Grant’s voice sometimes—
soft, distant…
coming not from memory, but from water.

He knows the river is still out there.
Waiting.

A path to somewhere no map can reach.
And no traveler can truly return from.


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#EndlessRiverMystery #AmazonHorror #BeyondReality