One night, in the Worf woods, a commet fell down on the earth, shining the sky of a bright blue, almost like the sun was up entire, for a few seconds. He saw his neighbor, mr.Sulf, stare at it, outside his house, as if we would have been hypnotized. 

Michael sometimes had weird dreams of mythology creatures hitting his door at night, slamming their horns and though hairy shoulders in the thick wooden door screaming out his name and attentioning Michael that something very dangerous is close to being created, and he has to take charge right that moment. 

The next day, when Michael came home from his daily wood chopping session, so that he would have enough to sell to a small company near by, and he somehow went eye to eye with his neighbour, Mr.Sulf. They greeted each other, but as he passed his neighbour, out of curiosity, Michael turned around and saw leaves coming out of his skin, as well as something sharp and long, which was elevating Mr.Sulf's robe. He thought it would be weird to ask him that, maybe it was a disease he didn't know about, and by asking him, it could have upset him, so Michael decided to not ask him and just headed his way. 

As he mantained his hurried pace on the path in the forest, heading towards his home, he accidentally saw that the roots of the trees started molding and rotting, for  which he didn't know the cause, but he didn't stop his hurried pace to check it, only gave it a quick look and headed his way with the thick rope attached to his shoulders and 3 big wooden logs held together with it. After passing the long and thick tree, with molding roots going inside the dirt, he told himself with his deep and manly voice:

"Well... that's the cycle of life"

But the next day, the plants of the forest started to rot, going from a beautiful purple or orange color, to an fluffy white, and dark-green roots. He quickly looked at the vegetables that he planted, hoping that those didn't rot as well, because it was a very important food source for him, but unfortunately, going behind his wooden log cabin, Michael saw that they were all rot to their core, giving a suspicious and sharp smell.

He went to his neighbour, who he thought that maybe would know what was happening, since Mr.Sulf has been living for many many years there. Knocking on his door a few times but on the forth knock, the door slightly opened with a long creak, letting the natural good light, inside. Michael entered the thick wooden door, with a small hint of glass at the top of it, like a small closed window. He yelled out his neighbour's voice "MR.SULF MR.SULF", but no one responded.

Inside there, it was pitch dark, only the light that was coming from the outside, slightly lighted the whole place up. Looking at his windows, which were painted with some kind of thick  brown paint, where flies agitatedly going in every direction possible. His home was a modest home. One couch, two wooden seats, a table, a bear rug on the floor, and a closet where he kept broken plates and glases. 

All the plates were clean, as well as the cups, but the water wasn't running on the sink, which gave Michael a few suspicions.

Looking around, Michael saw something written on the roof, which was in written in white-fading liquid, maybe the liquid that was coming from the rotting plants and vegetables if you squeeze them hard enough, thought Michael.

"Beware of the tree man"

Whispered Michael

That one sentence was written all over the roof, covering most of it. The writing was a bit odd, because it was like it was written in quick or hurried pace. It was like the person who wrote it, had to finish the writing quick as possible. The writing was 5 meters away from the floor, and Mr.Sulf sure wasn't taller than one meter and 60 centimeters. 

"How could he get up like that?"
Asked Michael himself, narrowing his eyes, just so that he could make sure that it was the same sentence written all over.

Looking towards the edge of the interior, something caught Michael's attention. It was the friction parts on the floor, black fading lines of the couch, which looked like it was moved 2 meters towards the left, on the plank floor. He pushed the big couch away and saw a rusty metallic handle. Grabbing it, he pulled it, making a loud thud noise, and underneath the handle, there was a hidden room, with a long pair dirt staircases, and a hall that was going down that looked like it could collapse in every second. 

Looking at it for a few seconds, Michael closed back the hatch, trying to make as less noise as possible, and put the couch back.

Outside of his house, it was now morning, and Michael started washing his teeth, behind his home, in a white tank top and short pants.

In the next morning, he saw his neighbour go into the woods with his horse, but not before telling Michael to be afraid of the tree man.

"It comes out only if you fear him, if you not, then you will always be immune to it"

Knowing from the start that Mr.Sulf was a bit of a crazy old man, living alone in the forest before he would arrive, so he didn't really took what he said in full seriousness, but he sure knew that the old man had something to hide and he wanted to find it out.

"Do not be curious, Mybel, nothing good will ever come from it..."

Continued the old man with a fainting voice, continuing to look in front of him, while his horse slowly took him deep inside the forest.

Michael went back to Mr.Sulf's house, but now with light by his side, which was an oil lamp blocked inside a glass compartment. It only lighted a small percentage near him.  Going down the stairs, with a very careful pace and a stance that would help him get back faster than he came down, in case if the dirt falls down on his head.

Arriving down, it was colder than he thought, Michael started shriveling and exhaling a cold breath. Walking around the dirt room, that was a bit wet, making his steps sound like squased watermelon, Michael didn't found nothing interesting, only darkness, until he saw some roots of a tree that pulsated with an black liquid inside them. He squatted down and touched the end of one of the long roots that got all the way near his shoes. Touching it, it burned the tip of his index finger, making Michael grunt in silent pain that he wanted to keep him, because he didn't want to make any noise. Now, he started following the root that he touched, going deeper and deeper in the dark scenery. The root started to get thicker and thicker, but as he got closer, the liquid started flowing out from inside the roots.  He raised the oil lamp to face-height and saw a missing place in the dirt wall, that was covered with branches, with leaves stuck to them. Uncannily, the missing place from inside the wall, was the same size of a human.

As he got closer to the missing shape, he heard some whispering voices and fainting laughs, with a hint of a joyful and sing-songy voices

"Beware of the tree man, tree man"

Quickly turning himself towards the zone from where he heard the voices, his eyes widened in fear.

"Was it an hallucination?"
Is what he thought to himself

No. It was no hallucination, someone actually whispered the sentence from afar, something like 25 meters or so.

He slowly but surely followed his way towards the exit, thinking to himself that it wasn't really a good idea to come there.

Arriving in the final at the place where he come from, Michael almost broke his nose in the thick dirt wall that was in front of him, thinking that there would be stairs.

Touching the entire wall in a quick motion, slowly panicking and losing his mind, Michael knew that was the place that he came from, but was it, actually?

He kept his palm stuck to the dirt wall and started running towards the left, with the hope that the door was somewhere near.

"Beware of the tree man, tree man"

Continued the voice, now being heard from a much closer zone

Michael stopped for a moment and ran faster now, but what is that...? He found it, the corner of the room, but he had to find out which corner were the stairs placed. His breath was shaking as well as his hands, constantly looking at his back, checking for the voice again.

"Beware of the tree man, tree man"

Continued the voice, getting a bit deeper now, almost angry

He stopped for a moment again, and took a run for it all the way across the room, which was a high risk for him with almost no rewards.

Running and running and running, Michael thought that the room would never end, but that was when he hit his head as hard as he could, breaking his nose, which resulted in blood gushing out all over his mouth and under his nose. He fell down on the floor from the massive impact, wiggling his hands in the watery mud, Michael slowly raised his look and oil lamp towards the surface that he himself in. It was a tree, an entire twisted tree, covered in mold. Blinking once, the tree got a bit closer, blinking again, the tree was much closer. Knowing that something was up, Michael slowly raised himself, without looking in another direction, and kept an eye on the tree. Because he couldn't see much with the oil lamp, only a small orange-pale circle around it, Michael was more scared than he ever was, not knowing if anything is lurking around him, or if it's only the mysterious tree that he bumped himself into.

The voice started again, now filled with rage and anger, as his vocal cords would be raised to sky limits.

The voice was close to his ear, so the loud noise scared the living soul out of Michael, making him flinch behind him, moving the lamp held in his hand, like a decoration. But behind him there was nothing, no one, only darkness.

Turning back to the normal position, thinking that it could be a good idea to head that way, the tree was now in front of him, like it was staring without eyes. In a blink of a moment, the tree created a face that emerged from the top of it, it created a human face, with a combination of a tree structure, the most uncanny and horrying thing that he ever saw in his entire life. Blinking once, suddenly, the face inside the tree created a pair of eyes, human eyes that followed his every movement. His oil lamp was slowly fainting, because the oil was running out. 

The voice was heard again, even louder now, without finishing the sentence that high pitch eerie noises came out from it.

Michael was screaming in pain, while blood dripping and flesh ripping noises came out from the zone that he was in.