The forest grew strange as they pushed deeper. What had once been towering oaks and whispering pines turned into twisted trees with bark like cracked stone, their roots knotted into shapes that resembled frozen screams. No birds sang. No insects stirred. Only silence—vast, suffocating silence.
Aric felt it the most. Every step seemed to pull at the scar on his arm, a tether leading him into the forest’s marrow. He wanted to speak, to warn the others, but his tongue was heavy, his voice swallowed by the thrum of the Seed.
The girl walked close beside him, her small hand brushing his sleeve every so often, grounding him. Yet even her touch couldn’t stop the visions beginning to seep through the cracks of his mind.
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The first vision struck like a knife.
One moment, he was walking besi
