The villagers' cries echoed through the frostbitten air like a chant from a grim tribunal, "WITCHCRAFT! SHE IS A WITCH! KILL HER QUICK!" Their voices dripped with hysteria as a mob surged forward, weapons raised, their desperation outweighing any remnants of sanity.
"No… no, don't do it! She'll kill you! Stop!" Kieth rasped, his voice cracking from the strain. He struggled to rise, each movement a searing reminder of his injuries, but his body betrayed him, sluggish and uncooperative. Despite his efforts, the mob reached her first.
The men who had aided Kieth in cutting down the bark were violently shoved aside like ragdolls, their protests swallowed by the frenzied chaos. Blades descended upon Evelyn's still body, cutting through flesh with merciless precision. Blood sprayed in violent arcs, painting the villagers in a grotesque baptism. Her body jerked slightly with each brutal strike, but Evelyn herself didn't move. Her gaze, glassy and unblinking, bore into the void as if she no longer resided in her own flesh.
The men hacked her hand into tiny pieces, desperate to prevent any chance of retaliation. Fingers flew through the air, some sticking to the blood-soaked snow while others landed on the horrified faces of the onlookers. Flesh was flayed from bone, the dismemberment carried out with almost ritualistic fervor. A pool of crimson grew beneath her, thick and viscous, steam rising as the heat of the blood met the frigid air.
Kieth's chest tightened. He wanted to scream, to intervene—not for Evelyn's sake but for theirs. The weight of death hung in the air, heavy and suffocating, as if the very act of attacking her had awakened something ancient and malevolent. He felt it. They all did. Yet the mob persisted, their courage fueled by fear, their madness unwavering as they sought to protect their home.
When they slashed her heart, her mouth opened wide in a horrifying, guttural scream. The sound was beyond human, a banshee's wail that shattered the air like splintering glass. It was a death knell, a harbinger of doom. Women and children fled in terror, their shrieks swallowed by the unrelenting echo of that scream.
The remaining men stood their ground, teeth bared, eyes wide with terror, knowing they would never leave this place alive. They hacked and slashed without respite, their blades biting deeper into her body until her form was barely recognizable—a heap of mangled flesh and exposed bone. Blood seeped into the snow, saturating it until the ground itself seemed alive, pulsating with the remnants of her existence.
Suddenly, a violent burst erupted from Evelyn's body. Thick, gnarled tree branches shot out, entwining around her remains. They coiled tightly, snapping like tendons pulled taut, forming a dark, grotesque cocoon. The villagers stumbled back, weapons clattering to the ground as they gasped in horror.
Kieth staggered away, his instincts screaming at him to flee. This wasn't Evelyn anymore—this was something else entirely. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he stumbled into the nearest house and slammed the door shut behind him. Inside, women and children huddled together, their faces pale and tear-streaked.
The air was thick with tension, the silence broken only by muffled sobs and the sound of blood dripping from Kieth's clothes onto the wooden floor. He scanned the room desperately for Serel but found only hatred in the villagers' eyes. They glared at him with venom, blaming him for this nightmare.
Outside, the screams began. They were inhuman, guttural cries of agony as the men who had stayed behind were slaughtered one by one. Kieth could hear it all—the wet sound of flesh tearing, the sickening crunch of bones shattering, the splatter of blood as it painted the village in violent strokes.
For four hours, no one dared to move. The children clung to their mothers, their small bodies trembling as they buried their faces in their mothers' skirts. A woman, unable to bear the tension, peeked through a crack in the door. Her face twisted in horror, and she let out a strangled cry before trying to flee. A young man grabbed her, covering her mouth to muffle her screams.
When Kieth finally mustered the courage to leave, the scene outside was a grotesque nightmare. The snow, once pristine and white, was now a canvas of crimson, soaked through with blood so thick it seemed to pulse underfoot. Skulls hung from the branches of blackened trees, their jaws agape in eternal screams. Guts dangled like grisly decorations, swaying with the breeze, while dismembered limbs littered the ground, some still twitching as if in protest of their fate.
The trees themselves seemed to be standing in perfect alignment, each the same height and hue, their branches coated with a slick, oily sheen of blood. Every step Kieth took squelched, the snow no longer crunching but giving way like sodden earth. He gagged, bile rising in his throat as he forced himself forward.
The stench of rotting flesh clung to the air, thick and inescapable. Kieth walked quietly, each step deliberate, as if the forest itself could hear him. The sensation of being watched gnawed at the edges of his mind. He couldn't see any eyes, yet he felt them—countless unseen gazes, heavy and suffocating, as if the trees themselves were alive.
He stopped, glancing at the blackened trunks. Were the trees all the same height? The thought sent a shiver down his spine. No, it couldn't be. This forest... it's alive. Hunting us.
Kieth moved from house to house, pushing open doors to find villagers cowering inside. Each time, the response was the same: wide-eyed terror and frantic gasps as he searched for Serel. Their whispers followed him as he left.
"Pray, do not bring doom upon us!"
"Stay thee away from our doors, stranger!"
But Kieth didn't stop. He had to find Serel. One house after another yielded no sign of her, until only one place remained: Aldric's mansion.
The wooden floorboards creaked beneath his feet as he entered, each step echoing in the oppressive silence. He moved cautiously, his eyes darting to every shadow. Something shifted in the corner of his vision, and he quickly snatched a teapot from a nearby table.
He froze, staring at the teapot in his hand, before setting it down and picking up a knife instead. His grip tightened as he approached a door—the room where Evelyn's dress had been. Slowly, he pushed it open.
Inside, a girl nearly screamed but clamped a hand over her mouth when she recognized him. In her arms was Serel, fast asleep. Kieth knelt, his voice soft.
"Are you alright?"
The girl nodded, her tear-streaked face pale. Kieth wiped her tears away, whispering, "We should leave this forest."
The girl's eyes widened in horror, and she shook her head vehemently.
"Leave?."
"Why not?" Kieth asked, confused by her reaction.
She hesitated, her voice barely audible. "The forest... it screams."
Kieth blinked. "Screams? What do you mean?"
"I hear it, sir. A chorus of cries most dreadful. It screams."
Kieth listened, straining his ears, but all he heard was silence. He glanced at Serel, still peacefully asleep, oblivious to the horror surrounding them.
"I can't hear anything," he muttered.
The girl shook her head.
Kieth sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, his mind racing. What is happening? What really is Evelyn? He thought of curses, possession, a thousand possibilities, but no answer came. Finally, he stood, his resolve hardening.
"Even if it's screaming... we have to go."
The girl hesitated. "But mine own mother—"
Kieth froze. He didn't have time to search for her mother, but he couldn't leave the girl to fend for herself. He nodded, though guilt weighed heavy on him.
"Alright. Let's find her."
Before leaving, his eyes landed on Evelyn's dress again. Guilt and sadness churned in his gut, but he forced the feelings aside. Taking the cloth, he tore it into two strips. "Wear this," he said, handing one to the girl and tying the other over Serel's eyes as carefully as he could, so as not to wake her.
Grabbing the girl's hand, he led them outside. Their footsteps crunched in the blood-soaked snow as Kieth moved cautiously toward the first house. He removed the girl's blindfold and whispered, "Do you see her? Which is your mother?"
The girl scanned the frightened faces inside and shook her head.
A woman stepped forward, her voice sharp and accusatory. "Sweet Lofina, come with us! Flee this man ere he bringeth ruin upon thee!"
Kieth tightened his grip on Lofina's arm, his voice firm. "She's looking for her mother."
"I know her mother, stranger!" the woman hissed. "Release the child ere."
The tension rose as Lofina trembled, torn between Kieth and the woman. Finally, Kieth made his decision.
No one moved. Instead, the woman shoved him hard, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The earth beneath him trembled, a low, ominous rumble.
"It knows..." Lofina whispered, her voice trembling.
Kieth scrambled to his feet, grabbing Serel and Lofina. He began to run, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He didn't notice when Lofina's blindfold slipped off until she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Her cry pierced the air, loud and sharp, like a beacon. The forest responded instantly. The trees groaned and shifted, their branches reaching toward the fleeing trio with unnatural speed. The air grew thick with the stench of decay, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to pulse with life.
Kieth cursed under his breath, clutching lofina's hand tighter.
Kieth's breath came in ragged gasps as he stumbled forward, still clutching the fragments of his broken resolve. The eerie forest around him felt like it was pressing in, suffocating him with its unnatural silence, the only sound his pounding heartbeat and the crunch of leaves beneath his feet. But the forest didn't end. There was no salvation. It stretched endlessly, like a prison without walls, a maze of shadows and twisting branches. The blood-soaked trees had given way to something worse—something colder. Everything was wrong, and Kieth knew it.
When he finally reached the center of the forest, a towering presence stood before him. The tree was enormous, unlike any tree he'd ever seen. Its bark was a twisted, dark shade, and its branches stretched toward the sky like skeletal hands. But what really froze his blood was the eyes—large, bulbous, and staring directly at him.
The tree didn't need a mouth to smile. Kieth could feel it, the eyes shifting, turning a deep black as they locked onto his. There was no sound, no movement. Just a stare that pierced through him, as if it were studying him, trying to understand his every thought.
He stood frozen, caught between confusion and fear. He didn't move. He couldn't. The tree's gaze grew more intense, and Kieth could feel its frustration. Its presence was suffocating, like it was feeding off his unease.
Without warning, a branch lashed out, wrapping around his legs, lifting him off the ground. Lofina and Serel were thrown aside. Kieth could hear Serel stirring, groaning as she woke, feeling the pain of the blindfold pressing against her.
"SEREL, DON'T TAKE OFF THE BLINDFOLD!" Kieth screamed, the words strained through his clenched teeth. His body burned with the agony of being held by the tree, the sharp bark digging into his skin as it tightened its grip.
But his warning came too late. Lofina, in a panic, reached up to remove her blindfold. Kieth's heart skipped a beat as he saw her gaze lock with the eyes of the tree.
"No... no, Lofina, don't!" He screamed again, but the words were drowned by the sickening sound of her body being crushed against the massive trunk of the tree. A wave of blood sprayed out, staining Serel's clothes, her face.
Kieth's heart sank into the pit of his stomach as the tree's eyes glinted with cruel amusement. He screamed, a raw, agonized scream that echoed through the forest. "EVELYN! PLEASE! I BEG YOU, THAT IS SEREL! DON'T—"
The tree's reaction was even worse than he could've imagined. The bark twisted, warping into a massive boulder. Kieth's mind was racing, desperate to move, to save Serel, to do anything—but it was too late. The boulder was already in the air, a crushing weight of inevitability.
"Papa… where are you—?" Serel's voice was silenced, swallowed by the horrific sound of the boulder smashing down on her small body. The earth seemed to tremble beneath Kieth's feet, and everything around him became a blur of rage and disbelief.
"No!" His voice cracked, the scream tearing through his chest as his tears fell. His body shook with the force of his emotions, his heart ripped in two as the life drained from Serel, leaving him hollow. The tree's eyes gleamed, amused by his reaction, like the death of the girl meant nothing, like his pain was entertainment.
"NO! FUCK! FUCK NO!" Kieth roared, his voice breaking under the weight of his grief and fury. His hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms as he punched the ground with all the strength he had left. Blood poured from his hands, the pain in his back a distant throb as he grieved.
He didn't care. His body screamed, but the world had broken him. The one thing that had kept him going, that had kept him alive in this nightmare, was gone.
"You scream a lot, it's annoying."
Kieth heard a voice behind him. He turned. It was Aldric, holding Serel in his hands. The blood that poured out of his mouth seemed dried, yet he stood there, alive.
"What....".
-----------------------------------------------------