THE CURSED FORESTS OF TAMASKAVILLE

Chapter VI - Revelations

A thunderbolt ran through Tara's spine at the sight of Brad. He was lying there on the ground like a breathing corpse. 

"It's Brad" she stammered and took a step back "It's Brad, Dad" she repeated.

"Brad, you know him?" Mason exclaimed.

Tara turned towards Mason with eyes filled with remorse.

" In a way, he is the reason for us being here. I came to the forest in his company" Tara uttered dropping her head down.

Mason's jaw and knuckles grinded in fury, but he looked at Tara and gulped it all down.

"Dad, we have to save him" she said hesitantly.

"No" Mason said ruthlessly. He took a deep breath and then said " If we need answers we have to let him go."

Tara couldn't dare looking into Mason's eyes. They both stood there silently agreeing with each other that, answers are what they need. Sometimes, those answers cost more than a mere life. Choices are not always made, sometimes they are forced onto us by the forces that are not in our control. There are situations that are so imbalanced that, in a struggle to balance them, we tend to blur out the balance between right and wrong. Both of them were prepared to do anything to get out of the forest.

The flow of their troubling thoughts were interrupted by a noise. A noise of Brad being dragged on the extensively rough terrain. Tara and Mason creeped from one trunk to another following the duo.

As they went deeper, the green luminescence kept on getting brighter and brighter and slowly they started noticing the dark tree trunks with pulsating green crystals in the center. Their number kept on increasing as they went deeper and deeper. Finally their chase ended at a place which gave them goosebumps that would leave a scar on their souls. A giant green tree only made of green crystal with its pointy branches that pictured a sight which was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

The demon left Brad a few feet away from the crystal tree and walked towards it. It broke a pointy crystal branch from the tree and turned back towards Brad. Mason and Tara's heartbeats raced against time. It held Brad by his neck and lifted him off the ground. Mason anticipated what was happening and covered Tara's mouth. The demon let out a crushing howl and stabbed the crystal right into Brad's chest. Brad must have felt only few seconds of the crumpling pain and spent his very last breath in the demon's hands with a hole in his heart. The blood that spilled on the demon's body started burning its skin, but it didn't seem to be perturbed by it. The crystal was still in Brad's chest, dripping with blood but it was strange that the green glow of it started to turn colorless. Gradually the crystal was glowing like a shiny pearl. The dripping blood turned into black clinker.

The demon pulled the crystal out of Brad's chest, dropped his dead body onto the ground and looked at the crystal. It was consumed with utter joy, blindly walking away from Brad.

Mason's hand covering Tara's mouth was wet with tears. They frosted with compunction.

The demon walked a few steps and stopped in an area that was a little desolated compared to the surroundings. It looked up to the sky and was a little startled when the crystal started turning back into green. The very next instance it stabbed the crystal into its chest and cried in excruciating pain which was swiftly disrupted by cries of joy. Its body started turning back into human. While life was pouring out of it, branches came out of the ground and wrapped it from toe to the head. The demon spent its last few moments making merry of its own end. It turned into a similar tree trunk with a green glowing crystal at the centre.

Tara and Mason were traumatised by the tragic end of Brad and on the other hand were comforted by the dramatic end of the demon. Their end happened on the same page, one of them lead to the other. Twisted thoughts started curling around in Tara's mind. Mason was still coldly looking for answers in everything that was happening around him.