The trees stretched toward the sky like ancient towers, their trunks twisted as if refusing to grow straight, and their branches tangled overhead, weaving a dense green canopy that let light through only in quiet silver threads. This place did not resemble an ordinary forest — it felt as if it had been cut from an old legend and breathed to life.
Everything within it pulsed with hidden magic. Birds sang without being seen, and the light did not seem to come from the sun, but from a source older... and stranger.
She walked slowly, her bare feet touching the damp earth that seemed to pulse beneath her, as if the ground itself were breathing. The small stones bit into the soles of her feet, and dry twigs snapped beneath her fragile steps, but she did not stop. There was no way back.
Behind her lay the shore of questions, and before her — this forest of impossibilities.
In the middle, a fragile will be searched for direction.
She passed near a strange tree, its leaves glowing in stained-glass colors, its bark carved with symbols belonging to no language she had ever known.
Each tree was a riddle.
And every shadow, a whisper.
Then she stopped.
A strange shadow darted between the trees in a fleeting blink, like a ghost watching. Another followed. Her heart tightened. No, this forest was never safe. Something watched... something that did not like intruders.
She gasped suddenly.
A small bird appeared on a low branch — its feathers colored like a rainbow, singing a beautiful, astonishing melody, as if beauty itself had taken form in it. She smiled; for a moment, it felt like life might seep into this desolate place.
But what happened next erased that thought.
The bird was not singing for joy, but to lure prey — dark worms, nearly the length of a palm, crawling from the grass in response to its call... And as soon as they came close, it pounced on them, devouring them with disgusting greed.
Blood, wet sounds, trembling torn bodies...
She felt nauseous.
> "This is not natural... nothing here is natural."
She continued walking, afraid of every movement.
Then she noticed a gray rabbit hopping through the grass, stopping before a small bush heavy with purple fruits, like tiny clusters of grapes.
She watched silently.
The rabbit approached, sniffed the fruits, then bit one... waited... then jumped away lightly, unharmed.
She moved closer cautiously.
The fruits gleamed faintly in the dim light — bluish-purple, round, with a soft cold texture.
She hesitated.
> "If this is a dream... what do I have to lose?"
She took one and put it in her mouth.
The taste was strange — sweet, yet carrying a flavor that belonged to no life she had known.
Then...
The sky tilted.
The trees rose higher.
The ground slipped away beneath her.
Her knees weakened.
Her body fell on the grass like a leaf in the wind.
Everything vanished.
---
She was neither asleep nor awake.
Her body was heavy, the air thick as liquid, and time cracked around her like fragile glass.
> "I have been poisoned."
The truth came late — as it always does when trusting the unknown.
She tried to move her hand — nothing.
Her legs? As if buried.
Every cell in her screamed, but her voice found no way out.
"Is this the end?"
"Or the beginning of something worse?"
She struggled to look upward.
Night was drawing its curtains.
The sun had slipped behind the edges of the trees, and a silver glow began to seep through the branches, as if the moon itself was watching.
Then the whispers returned.
This time, they were no longer her imagination.
They existed — above her, around her, beneath her.
Whispers of children? Women? Spirits? Impossible to tell.
But she felt them...
Spinning... laughing... approaching.
> "If I don't move now, I won't last until morning."
With what little strength remained, she began to crawl.
Right hand, then left.
The ground was harsh, the twigs cut her, but pain was no longer the enemy — stillness was.
Every inch was a battle.
Her vision blurred. Thoughts scattered. Her body betrayed her.
Then... as darkness slowly pulled her under, and her consciousness faded, she glimpsed a shadow moving between the trees. It was no animal.
It was... a person.
And then... silence engulfed everything.
---