Rotted and healthy bark alike peels from the tree and the trunk splits right down the middle. I jump back, holding my breath as Sapling and I stare wide eyed at the sight before us.
An arm sticks out from the new crack in the Antarctic beech tree, hanging limp with green splotches speckled over the pale skin.
“Sapling. . .is this- is this supposed to happen?” My voice shakes as I catch a glimpse of the fox beside me, but I know it’s no use to ask him. He looks just as bewildered as I’m sure I do.
Without saying anything, Sapling approaches the slit in the tree, sniffing wearily around it and tilting his head at the arm coming out.
His front paws lightly land on the bark with a soft thud as he stands on his back two legs, trying to get a better look.
Before our eyes, a loud cracking sound fills the air around us as the tree cracks even more, and a frail body tumbles to the forest floor with a grace one would think to be impossible.
“Oh goddess!” Sapling jolts back next to me as we stare down at the woman in shock.
Quietly, I approach the scene to get a better look, and I feel my heart stutter in my chest when I see the face of the body.
“Sapling, is this. . .who I think it is?” I feel myself shake as I look toward Sapling for guidance, but he’s just as shaken, having come to the same realization.
“The queen.” If it weren’t for the chilling silence of the dead forest, I probably wouldn’t have heard him. A part of me wishes I didn’t.
I force myself to take in the body once more, the woman laying on her back with her light hair laid out around her head—almost like a halo. Her eyes open wide with what seems like the last traces of terror lingering in the blue irises.
The woman’s lips are chapped, skin peeling from them as if she hadn’t had water for days before her departure from this life. The rest of her small body matches the arm previously hanging out of the tree, covered in light transparent green patches—giving way to the forest she’s been resting in for the goddess only knows how long.
But, the thing about all of this that’s most disturbing is the hole in her abdomen. I must have missed it before, but my eyes widen as I take in the dark and rotting flesh surrounding the gaping wound, matte goo—like the kind dripping from the trees—stains her clothes an awful black.
A shaky hand comes up to cover my mouth, a mix of dread and nausea weighing me down as I force my eyes away.
Her wound is matching with that of the tree, and I inhale a trembling breath when a new realization breaks over my head.
She was murdered.
Still shaken from our discovery, my gaze catches on a little brown tuft of fur rushing past the tree.
“Sapling! Where are you going?” I wince at the tremble in my voice.
“The queen is dead, Harlan. We need to speak with her people. We found her, now we must tell them.” He shouts back over his shoulder, taking a leap his little body doesn’t look like it can make, but he lands swiftly on his paws right on top of the cliff where the stream starts.
Taking one last glance at the queen, wishing I had something to cover her with, I rush after Sapling.
My ascent of the cliff is far less graceful than my familiar’s, but when I reach the top, my eyes widen.
“What is this place?” My eyes jolt from one scene to the next, taking in everything they can.
A wooden structure takes the title of centerpiece in the chaos, looking as if multiple trees grew up to intertwine together and make a castle like building. The leaves on the top only further prove my theory, before my gaze jumps to the surrounding area.
Fae of all kinds roam the land around the castle, and I catch myself feeling completely discombobulated. This all wasn’t here before. . .
It’s like we stepped into another dimension. The trees on this cliff are still alive, and no one seems to have taken notice of the ones long since rotted in the forest behind me.
I can’t help but turn around, and my jaw all but drops to the ground when I see nothing but blue skies. The dead forest long forgotten.
We are in another dimension.
I take my eyes away from the sight yet again when I catch Sapling heading straight for the wooden castle, trying not to let my mind ponder on it for too long as I hurriedly follow after him.
I am starting to question the trust I have in this fox.
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