As we prepared to continue our journey, a heavy silence settled among us. Those who had been drawn to the tree still appeared shaken by the experience, their faces pale and their gazes blank. However, we were far from imagining the horror that would follow.
Suddenly, one of the group collapsed, holding his head in his hands, his eyes wide with pain.
-What's happening? Marc cried out, panicked.
Before we could react, others began showing the same symptoms. Streams of bright red blood flowed from their noses and ears, staining their clothes and the floor. Panic gripped us all.
"Help them!" I yelled, but it was already too late.
The guide rushed towards them, trying to understand what was happening. "Stay calm, breathe!" he said in a firm but trembling voice.
However, the victims were already convulsing, their bodies wracked by violent spasms. Their skin turned sallow and their eyes glazed.
In a few minutes, they stopped moving. A silent, swift death fell upon them, leaving our group in a state of absolute shock. "No... no, no, no," Marc murmured, kneeling beside his now motionless friends.
I stood frozen, unable to look away from this nightmarish scene. The song of the tree had not only sought to lure them to devour them, it had left a deadly mark on them, an invisible curse that had finished them off.
As we came to our senses, a new horror manifested itself. Those who had been lured to the tree suddenly began to bleed from their noses and ears. Their moans of pain turned into heartbreaking screams, and before we could react, they collapsed, dead.
The shock of their loss was immediate and brutal. We knelt helplessly, mourning our fallen companions.
-W…why?, I mumbled devastated
But our sorrow was quickly interrupted by an even more terrifying sight. Some sort of larvae, translucent and slimy, began to emerge from the lifeless bodies, writhing and crawling towards those that were still alive.
"Run! Run further into the forest!" our guide yelled, his eyes wide with terror.
Without thinking, we got up and ran to escape these disgusting creatures. The larvae seemed to accelerate their progress, eager to find new hosts. Fear galvanized us, each step resounding like an echo of desperate survival.
The landscape around us quickly transformed as we moved deeper into the forest. The trees grew taller, their branches intertwining above our heads, creating a dark, oppressive canopy. My lungs burned, my legs felt heavy, but I kept running, driven by terror.
In my panic, I didn't pay attention to the direction I was taking. Suddenly the ground gave way beneath my feet. I toppled over the edge, falling alongside what I realized too late was a floating mountain. The fall was dizzying, the air whistling in my ears. I desperately tried to grab onto something, but all I found was emptiness.
My fall was abruptly interrupted when I hit the ground of another forest below. Pain exploded through my body, leaving me dizzy and disoriented.
I'm lucky to still be alive, I thought with my heart beating fast
But every movement hurt.