The forest stretching before Gerda, Agatha, and Shi was unnaturally quiet. No birdsong, no chirping insects, no rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, which seemed entirely absent. The air, though clean, was heavy, saturated with a strange, oppressive silence. Sunlight, filtering through the dense foliage, created bizarre patterns of light and shadow on the ground, but even these bright spots couldn't dispel the gloom that reigned around them.
"Something's… not right here," Agatha whispered, nervously glancing around. Her hand instinctively went to her belt where her knife usually hung, but it wasn't there. All their weapons and equipment had vanished after… What happened after that giant cat swallowed us?
"The silence… it's frightening," Shi agreed, his voice hoarse and weak. He moved his legs with difficulty, leaning on Gerda's shoulder. Agatha's potion, though it had restored his strength, clearly had side effects.
Gerda remained silent, carefully observing everything around her. Her senses, heightened after the awakening of an unknown power, perceived something more than just the absence of sound. A vague anxiety hung in the air, a premonition of something ominous.
As if… as if the forest is holding its breath, the thought flashed through Gerda's mind.
They had been walking for about an hour, pushing through dense thickets. The trees seemed to grow taller and thicker, their branches intertwining to form a dense, almost impenetrable canopy overhead. Dry branches crunched underfoot, and sometimes—something harder.
Gerda stopped, bent down, and picked up a small, almost completely decayed skull from the ground. It was unnaturally smooth, as if polished.
"This…" Agatha peered over Gerda's shoulder, her face paling.
"Another one," Shi said softly, pointing to a white bone protruding from the roots of a tree.
They continued their journey, and with each step, the grim discoveries became more frequent. Scattered bones, decayed remnants of clothing, rusting weapons… the forest was literally littered with traces of someone's demise.
"What happened here?" Agatha asked, her voice trembling.
Gerda remained silent. She felt that the answer was somewhere nearby, but she couldn't grasp it. Suddenly, she noticed something strange. Among the ordinary trees, one stood out, its trunk unnaturally twisted, its branches covered in pulsating growths.
"Look!" Gerda pointed at the tree.
Agatha and Shi came closer. The growths on the branches pulsed in time with some invisible rhythm, emitting a faint but perceptible warmth.
"What is it?" Shi asked, reaching out to one of the growths.
"Don't touch it!" Gerda sharply stopped him. She sensed danger emanating from the tree.
At that moment, the ground beneath their feet trembled. Long, tentacle-like appendages burst from the roots of the twisted tree and shot towards Shi with incredible speed.
Gerda reacted instantly. She pushed Shi aside and met the attack of the appendages herself. Her hands glowed with a bluish light, and with incredible force, she threw the tentacles back.
"What was that?" Shi asked, struggling to rise from the ground.
"I don't know," Gerda replied, her breath ragged. "But we need to get out of here."
They turned back, trying to stay away from the strange tree. The ground continued to vibrate, and soon they noticed that there were more and more such trees around them. Their trunks were bent in the most unimaginable poses, and their branches were covered in pulsating growths.
"This… this is some kind of nightmare," Agatha whispered, her face pale.
Suddenly, they emerged into a large clearing. In its center was a huge crater, from which thick black smoke rose. Dozens of bodies lay around the crater, mutilated beyond recognition. Some were charred, others—as if torn apart by an invisible force.
"What… what happened here?" Shi whispered, his voice trembling.
Gerda remained silent. She felt that this place was the source of the ominous energy she had sensed from the very beginning. She approached the edge of the crater and looked down. The smoke was so thick that nothing could be seen. But Gerda felt the power emanating from the depths of the crater, dark and destructive.
This… this is the same thing I felt when my power awakened, the thought flashed through Gerda's mind.
Suddenly, the ground trembled again, and a column of black smoke erupted from the crater, shooting into the sky. At the same moment, strange creatures began to appear around the clearing. They resembled giant insects, with long, clawed legs and shiny, black carapaces. Their eyes burned with red fire, and a piercing screech escaped their mouths.
"Did… did they kill all these people?" Agatha asked, her voice trembling with horror.
"It seems so," Gerda replied, her eyes narrowing. "And they're coming towards us."
The creatures surrounded the clearing and began to slowly move towards the center, towards Gerda, Agatha, and Shi. Their screeching grew louder, and their red eyes burned brighter.
Gerda realized they couldn't run. They would have to fight.