The Black Branches Of The Fallen

Prolouge

Let's say your strolling. Strolling ever so calmly in the forest. It truly is beautiful at night, you had to admit that. The full moon glowing brightly and giving off it's pearly light. It was sutle and relaxing. The stars were scattered across the sky, not brightly, due to the fact that you weren't deep in the forest and away from civilization. You took a deep breathe to inhale all the scents around you to just take in the forest. You then exhaled slowly and let out a pleased sigh. It smelled clear and crisp, almost like a fresh apple. It was dark, but the moon gave off enough light to your path to see. You were smiling ever so slightly and you felt a gust of wind hit you, you shivered slightly at the sudden feel. You rubbed you arms together before feeling warm again and kept walking. Once you felt enough was enough, you started to head back.

But something was off.

Very off.

You passed that stream three times already, the one with the mossy rocks and fallen log. You shrugged your shoulders at the small worriness you were getting, trying to ignore it. Yet again, you passed something you already saw, it was the dead tree with the ivy takin over it. You hopped over it, trying to ignore the panic in you growing larger and larger by the minute. You stopped in your tracks to see something new after hours wandering around the forest. You almost let out a sigh of relief to see something new to once, but something was eerie about it.

Seeing you had no choice, you followed this new path that was of black gravel instead of the usual dirt path. You looked at the path how it started to get odder. The plants around it started to die and were being slowly taken over by black branches that looked smooth to the touch. These black branches were thin, but sturdy as you went over to one and crouched down to get a better look. Among further examination, you noticed it had red hard berries scattered across the branches. Some in bunches, some alone.

They glistened ever so slightly in the moonlight as you blinked at these berries. Curiosity got the best of you and reached out a hand to grab one, but something seemed to stop you. At the back of you head, something told you,

'Don't.Don't take them.'

You thought of what the worst could happened, and you guessed it to be that you pricked your finger somehow on the branches. So you did what you wanted and grabbed a berry. Once the sound of the simple separation of berry and branch, the whole forest seemed to stop. The wind stopped, the branches stopped swaying.

Nothing moved.

The eeriness started to slowly crawl under your skin and sent shivers of your spine, but you did not dare move. You slowly moved your head over to where the path led to a clearing of a tall black tree. It almost looked like an oak, but it was much too large for one. It was rather large and fat at the base, it then slowly curled it's branches out with the red berries sprouting around it. It seemed unnatural, it was so black and the branches were all bent in ways you thought did not come from this world. You took in a sharp intake of breathe to see another site.

There was another tree, just to the right of it, it was nearly identical except for the fact it had a large cut into it that seeped black blood. You could not see the blood itself, but you could tell it was there with it glistening ever so slightly against the moon light. You were trying to find out why you were here and why the trail let you to this place.

This terrible terrible place that you had no idea was so bad, you just found it off.

Suddenly, a tall figure stepped from behind the tree at a calm pace, it finally stepped into the moonlight in front of the tree. You took in the features of this figure. It was a young looking man, around 19 or so. He had dark dusty brown hair that had black twigs and red berries entangled in it, the hair was short and messy with a dry look to it. Even though his eyes were a moss green, they had a piercing look to it that made you shiver slightly. He wore a black turtle neck sweater, a heavy one, a jumper you may call it. He then wore dark brown pants with it then black converses. He was rather tall, at least 6'4 to say.

"Are you lost?" He asked in a voice that was mixed, it was in between the one of a human's and an animals. It had growls mixed in to it and when he finished speaking, growls slowly escaped his throat. You couldn't find the words to speak, stunned by his appearance even though it wasn't creepy. You just slowly nodded. He gave a half grin that made you gasp lightly. All of his teeth were normal, but rather sharp looking, and you noticed a sharp canine at the corner of his grin. What made you gasp of what color they were,

They would've been white without all of the blood that were splattered across it, you swear you could see a few pieces of flesh between it as well. His mouth though was completely clean as he licked his lip before he stopped grinning and started to advance towards you, you naturally started to back away. He just grinned again before your back and the bark of a tree met. You shut your eyes close and turned your head away, you could tell he was right in front of you, his breath was cold and it nipped at your skin. Your eyelids gripped onto each other tighter as you could hear him snicker,

"Open your eyes." He demanded in his mixed voice of growls, but they remained shut. He let out another snicker, admiring his work. He cracked his neck once and you could tell by the sound of it.

"Open.Your.Eyes." A different voice said, it was low and menacing, but with the same mix of growls in it. Your slowly turned your head to the voice and opened your eyes carefully. What they saw made them widen more. What looked back at you were the same moss green eyes with that piercing look, but the sclera, the white part of the eye, was a pitch black. You shivered and was speechless, lost for words. He just grinned wildly, his bloody teeth being fully noticeable and the canines from the corner of his mouth popping out dangerously.

He looked down at you from a much higher height, there were black branches with red berries scattered over it, coming from his back. His feet hung carefully off the ground by a good three feet as he let out a terrible and loud laugh. It made you scream loudly, but all of a sudden, you were grabbed by two more branches that came out of his back. You were entwined with them, trapped. You struggled to get out, but the grip just tightened like a boa constrictor's. You stopped as the bone breaking grip stopped as well.

The young man looked at you one time before rolling his shoulders back and two branches sprouted from his back, they arched about him of a scorpion's. He let out a sigh as he looked at you one last time before bringing him closer to you so he could touch you. When he tried to touch your skin, you flinched and a flurry of growls escaped his throat. You didn't moved when he touched you this time. His hands were ice cold and and his skin was pale as they sent shivers, it was also covered in dried blood and his nail were slightly carved like claws.

"It's been too long since I have had flesh as soft as yours." He muttered as his gaze turned from you to something in front of him,

"I can't agree more." A new voice said, it sounded identical to the ma- thing in front of you. You looked up to see another thing like the one holding you, looking down at you. Except there was something different about this one, this one had a scar going through his right eyebrow.

"Fifty fifty?" The man holding you asked as the one with the scar nodded, he was also up with the branches on his back that kept him standing off his feet. The scarred man had two black branches appear from his back and wrap around your top torso while the man that held you, moved them to your legs. You knew where this was going as you started to shake and scream. You kept your eyes wide open as you were ripped in two, your torso going to the scarred, your legs going to the scarless.

But you were still alive, blood pooling out of your torso as you watched your legs be ripped to torn up meat. You then felt the pain of your whole remaining body being torn apart. Quickly and swiftly by the black branches as the two stopped and began to eat your now unrecognizable body.

"Oh dear god, I can feel the youth flowing through my frozen veins." The scarless one moaned slightly as he was saying the truth. Your youth and softness flowed over their bodies and their frozen veins thawed for only a moment before becoming ice cold again. Their hearts beat just for a few moments as they then went to being lifeless again. They let out a sigh as they finished their meal and licked their lips hungrily.

"More would be nice." The one with the eyebrow scar muttered as the scarless one blinked at him as he licked away a bit of flesh off his cold lips.

"Don't be greedy now, if you really are desperate, we'll go into the suburbs." The scarless one said as both of their eyes lit up at that,

"What a great idea."