Leah hung in the air like a broken marionette.
The invisible force held her there, arms limp, legs trembling weakly as the creature continued to drink from her. Thick strands of black smoke still poured from her mouth and chest, writhing through the cold air before disappearing into the darkness of the creature's open jaws.
Her body shuddered with every pull.
Each breath was shallow.
Weak.
Her muscles twitched uncontrollably, fingers curling into useless claws as the last strength drained from her limbs.
Her eyes; already pale and empty; began to flutter.
The violent trembling in her body slowly began to fade.
The shaking weakened.
Then slowed.
Her head sagged forward slightly.
The creature loomed before her, its burning eyes glowing like embers in the fog. The crimson light pulsed across Leah's face as it continued feeding, its long claws hanging loosely at its sides like waiting blades.
Leah's vision began to dim.
The forest blurred.
The fog thickened.
But something stirred in the darkness of her fading mind.
Images.
Memories.
Her first step into the forest.
The moment she had chosen to follow the trail.
The moment she had decided to fight.
They came one after another.
Relentless.
Flashing across the collapsing fragments of her mind.
Mauris falling into the mud.
Frauner being hurled through the trees.
Thalia suspended in the air, her white eyes staring into nothing.
Every moment replayed in brutal clarity.
Every decision.
Every step.
Every mistake.
Her chest trembled.
Not from pain.
But from something heavier.
Regret.
Her lips parted slightly.
A breath escaped her.
Weak.
Barely there.If only…
The thought never finished.
Another memory surged forward.
Their laughter before entering the forest.
The confidence in their voices.
The belief that they could win.
That they could survive.
All of it now lay scattered across the clearing like the broken bones beneath the creature's feet.
Gone.
Leah's body sagged further.
The trembling stopped completely.
Her fingers slowly uncurled.
The last strands of black smoke slipped from her mouth like fading ghosts.
Her vision narrowed into a thin tunnel.
The creature's burning eyes were the last thing she saw.
Watching her.
Consuming her.
Waiting for the final fragment of her to disappear.
Leah's eyelids trembled.
Then slowly closed.
Her face relaxed into stillness.
Regret etched faintly across her expression.
The forest vanished.
The fog vanished.
The pain vanished.
Everything faded into darkness.
Black.
Endless.
Silent.
Leah felt the ground beneath her.
Cold.
Hard.
Real.
For a moment she thought she had woken from a nightmare.
Her body lay flat against rough earth. Damp soil pressed against her back, the smell of rot thick in the air.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
Pain returned first.
A deep, spreading ache crawled through her limbs as if her muscles had been twisted and pulled apart. Her chest burned. Every breath dragged slowly through her throat.
Then she noticed something else.
She couldn't move.
Her arms refused to respond.
Her legs felt… trapped.
Leah forced her eyes open.
At first she saw only darkness.
Then the sky appeared above her.
Black.
Endless.
And split apart by violent flashes of lightning.
White veins of light tore across the sky again and again, illuminating massive swirling clouds that churned like a living storm.
Thunder rolled somewhere far away.
But it didn't sound like thunder.
It sounded deeper.
Alive.
Leah frowned weakly.
Something tightened around her ribs.
She tried to sit up.
Pain exploded through her body.
And she felt them.
Roots.
Thick, twisted roots wrapped tightly around her arms, legs, and torso. They coiled across her chest and pinned her to the ground like iron chains.
The bark was rough and wet.
Almost… pulsing.
Leah's breathing quickened.
"No… no…"
Her voice was hoarse.
She turned her head slowly.
Lightning flashed again.
For a split second the world became bright.
And Leah saw him.
Mauris.
He lay only a few feet away.
His body was wrapped in the same tangled mass of roots. They dug into his armor and wound across his chest and neck, pinning him to the blackened earth.
His head hung limply to one side.
His eyes were closed.
Leah's heart lurched.
"Mauris…..
Another flash of lightning split the sky.
More shapes appeared in the light.
Henry.
His body hung several feet above the ground, suspended in a twisted web of roots that had grown from a nearby tree-like structure. The vines wrapped tightly around his arms and throat.
His head was lowered.
Still.
Beside him;
Thalia.
Her body was bound even tighter. Roots spiraled across her limbs and waist like serpents, pulling her against a massive trunk that seemed to grow from the ground like a pillar of bone.
Her head tilted forward.
Her pale face barely visible beneath strands of tangled hair.
Leah's breathing grew faster.
Then she noticed something worse.
More bodies.
Dozens of them.
Scattered across the ground and hanging from the towering root structures.
Some were wrapped like Henry and Thalia.
Others were half-buried in the earth, roots growing directly through their limbs.
Many were decayed.
Rotting.
Armor rusted.
Clothing torn apart by time.
Empty skulls stared upward into the black sky.
Lightning flashed again.
For a brief moment the entire landscape became visible.
It wasn't a forest.
It was a graveyard of roots.
Towering black trees stretched into the sky, their branches twisted like skeletal hands. The ground was a tangled web of veins and roots spreading endlessly into the distance.
And everywhere;
Bodies.
Leah's stomach twisted.
She struggled violently against the roots.
They tightened instantly.
The bark constricted around her ribs, squeezing the air from her lungs.
Pain shot through her arms as the vines dug deeper into her flesh.
"No....!"
Her voice cracked.
The storm above rumbled louder.
Lightning tore across the sky again.
For a moment the clouds parted.
And far above them;
Something moved.