Fire & Flood

Chapter 10

The school bell rang and Emily saw the last of  the students hurry inside the building. She stood with Morgan by the forest tree line feeling like her heart might explode in her chest. She was terrified. She was willingly walking into a very dangerous forest with, undeniably, the most dangerous predictor in it.

This is insane, thought Emily. Yet, she continued to walk further into the woods. Morgan walked ahead of her as a human. Unlike with Sam, the trees didn't bend and shift to let them pass. Yet, Morgan was able to navigate the terrain with ease. It is as if he knew the woods by heart and could pick out the most even ground. Their footsteps left prints on the crunchy snow and Emily made a mental note of this trail in case she needed to bolt out of the forest. "Yeah, right," she thought to herself, "as if I could outrun him."
Morgan looked back every once in a while to check if she was still following him. To keep her mind occupied, Emily thought of Leslie and how furious the other girl was. "Maybe I came on too strong," thought Emily, "but she needed to know the truth. Well, if I make it out of this forest alive, I'll make it up to her."

Emily didn't have long to contemplate as Morgan stopped and announced, "We are here."

The girl looked around. She was in a large marshy clearing. The air was thick with a pungent blend of decaying vegetation and stagnant water, creating an oppressive atmosphere. Twisted tree roots emerged from the murky depths, and eerie croaks of unseen creatures echoed through the damp surroundings. At the centre of the area stood a tall thick tree. It's branches, black and gnarled, twisted towards the sky.

"Let's get closer, you need to see this," said Morgan and proceeded to carefully walk towards the tree. "Step where I step," he added, "the marsh is deeper than it looks."

"If you are going to kill me, I'd prefer it if you did it on try land," said Emily defiantly.

Morgan looked over his shoulder at the girl, "if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead." With this he continued walking forward.

His foot septs were starting to disappear in the muck as Emily hesitated. "If you wait too long, you won't know where to step, and if you drown, you'd waste any opportunity to get to know me better," called Morgan. Emily could hear the smugness in his voice.

She walked slowly, carefully paying attention to Morgan's footprints. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't notice Morgan and bumped into him. She let out an "oof," and stumbled backwards, but before she could fall, Morgan grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

Emily and Morgan stood in front of a colossal  tree. Standing stoically in the midst of the marsh, this ancient and grotesque tree cast its twisted silhouette against the sky. Its gnarled branches, like skeletal fingers, reached out in contorted patterns, creating an eerie tapestry. The bark, weathered and cracked, bore the scars of centuries, and its twisted roots seemed to delve deep into the secrets of the earth. This tree, a silent witness to the passage of ages, wore its ugliness with a certain majestic decay, a dark embodiment of the ancient tales whispered through the ages.

"This is an altar to Sylvos," said Morgan calmly. "Look closer at its bark."

On the twisted bark of the tree a nightmarish etching unfolded as faces, both human and otherworldly, contorted in eternal horror, were grotesquely carved into its rugged surface. The knots and ridges formed ghastly expressions of anguish, frozen in perpetual torment. Eyes widened in terror, mouths agape in silent screams, these tortured faces seemed to tell a haunting tale of anguish and despair.

Emily took a step back. She rubbed her eyes, it all seemed like a nightmare.

"This is real," Morgan confirmed reading the doubt on her face. "These are the sacrifices to the god Sylvos. Some of these were my work, some belong to the previous druids, but it is a testament to Sylvos' hunger and demands."

Emily looked away from the tree at the marsh. She recognized the shape of the clearing. She was here before with Sam, but it was different. With him it was full of life, light, and magic. Now, there was magic here still, but the kind that froze you in terror.

"I know this place," Emily said quietly. "Sam brought me here, but it was different..." she said and felt her voice trail off.

"Let me guess," Morgan said slyly, "full of life and flowers, with little critters prancing about?" He said the last part in a mocking tone that Emily did not feel like acknowledging. Morgan sighed, "I had a dryad too, you know." At this Emily looked at his face. He looked sad, his eyes were far away as if reliving a forgotten memory.

"Laura," he continued. "She showed up in my life when things seemed hopeless. She was a magical distraction in a mundane world full of pain. I loved her... or... I thought I did. Dryads are very charming," he added the last part knowingly and looked at Emily.

"I thought I was saving her and her kind from a renegade druid... Now look at me," he said and chuckled humourlessly.

"No," said Emily. "This isn't like that. Sam... it's different with him! You are trying to hurt him, to hurt me! You hunted me! You almost killed him!" Emily was angry, she could feel her entire body shaking.

"I am desperate! I am done with this life! Look at the faces in that tree! This wasn't a joyous time I was leading them to!" Emily could see Morgan's rage and despair as he continued. "Druid... dryad! Every Druid is lured by a dryad with promises of love eternal, everything they do is a lie!" Morgan placed a mocking emphasis on the word love as he spoke. "I want to break this pattern, that's why I am telling you! I wish I was allowed the same opportunity...I wish I was given a choice!"

"Sam said you had a choice," Emily said carefully. "Becoming a druid was your choice."

"Choice?!" Morgan spat out. "When Sam presented you with his vision of this grove and told you he loved you, did you feel like you had much of a choice? I bet he even suggested that you and your family leave to keep safe from me, right?" Morgan asked with a full expectation that he already knew the answer. He paused and looked at Emily incredulous face."You know, the funny thing about being charmed is that you are very much inclined to believe the charmer," he added.

"How do I know that you are not charming me right now? That I am not seeing some twisted version of your reality?" Asked Emily.

"The fact that you can ask that is proof that I am not charming you," said Morgan. "I have no reason to. I have been honest with you right from the start. I want you to have a choice. I want you to break the cycle." Morgan said these last words calmly. He looked into Emil's eyes. Emily looked back. She saw sincerity, but the true th was too painful to face. Was she really being tricked by Sam?

"Say I believe you, say I agree to help you, what do I do?" She asked still being sceptical.

"Leave!" Said Morgan pleadingly. "Break the cycle by getting away as far as you can."

"Even if I could leave," Emily thought about her family and her life in this town as she spoke. "If what you say is true, someone else will take my place. On that note, why can't you leave?" She asked.

"I tried. This place keeps pulling me back. A strong wind, a deep cliff that wasn't there before, a flash flood, a forest fire, you name it! Sylvos will do anything to keep his druid in the forest." Morgan was frustrated. "The only place I can go is to Willowbrook to get his sacrifices." Emily noted hatred in Morgan's voice.

"So, we are stuck," Emily said quietly.

"Shhh," said Morgan suddenly and placed his hand to his ear. "Listen."

Emily quieted. A dense and eerie silence enveloped the grove, as if nature itself held its breath in anticipation. The usual rustle of leaves and the distant calls of birds were conspicuously absent, leaving the air pregnant with an unsettling stillness. Amidst this a faint and deliberate footfall reverberated, the sound of a slow, measured advance on the crunchy snow. Each step echoed in the hushed surroundings, creating an ominous cadence that seemed to disturb the delicate balance of the woodland silence.

Morgan and Emily didn't have to wait long. Through the trees they saw a large mountain lion skulking the outskirts of the grove. Its Sand coloured fur mingled through the trees as the large animal took a calculated and deliberate step through the trees.

"Your boyfriend is here," said Morgan and a wide, menacing grin spread across his face.