The Forest of Eternity surrounded the entire village. Its only known entrance lay through its own depths—yet passage was impossible. Any who entered fell under its spell, slipping into a coma, their bodies left helpless to be dragged deeper into its shadowed heart.
Tonight marked an entire week since that spell had stopped working.
Far to the south of the village—mysteriously and inexplicably nested within the Forest of Eternity—two humans stood.
Here, the forest could scarcely be called a forest at all. The trees in the south had been reduced to nothing, leaving behind only a wasteland of sodden dirt.
Two humans stood there, soaked in blood.
The first—a woman with hair once a vivid blue, now streaked with red and black—wore a white tunic torn in several places. Blood leaked from her in slow, steady streams. One eye was closed, too heavy and damaged to open; a deep gash marred her left arm. A gaping hole pierced straight through her stomach, spilling the warmth down her body.
