The narrow Valley of the river Simme extended deeply into alpine territory, with the river collecting the meltwater from the icy peaks that surrounded it and taking it all the way out of the valley through a narrow ravine. Past the ravine began the Highland, a large extension of mostly flat land, where at some point most of the population of the area had lived. Snow-covered mountains surrounded the Highland and the two large lakes near its western end; the river Simme ultimately ended in one of them, named lake Thun.

Both the Valley of the Simme and the Highland with its lakes were visible from where Stefan and Franziska sat, far up in a vertical wall of rock part of the ravine that served as the only access point to the valley. They could hear the Simme far below, but the enormous leafy trees around it made it impossible to see anything else but a green coverage.

As it turned out, the creatures that emerged from the dust flowers inside the tunnel were sensitive to sunlight, and because the sun had just emerged from over the mountains, its rays reached some five steps inside the tunnel, keeping the monsters at bay.

The siblings sat with their feet dangling above an abysmal fall and looked bored into the horizon. Franziska looked down again; her brother had said that the distance to the ground was at least the height of a twenty-story building. She thought, however, that the distance to the treetop just below had to be no more than two stories.

“Don’t even think about it. We’re not jumping,” said Stefan.

“But we can make it! The branches look firm,” she insisted.

Stefan reached for a pebble, readied his slingshot, and hit a dust lice in the head. The monster screeched and attempted to retreat, but the passage was crowded with other lice. Angry, it scratched the nearest one of its peers, which in turn attempted to bite back.

The siblings laughed until they were in tears as they watched the monsters fight between themselves. Then, everything went back into the state it had been for the last half hour, with the children on the edge of the crumbled tunnel, and the dust lice waiting in the shadows behind them.

“Stefan, look! Is that a town?” Franziska was pointing at a location right outside the valley, towards the south and next to the next tall mountain.

“Yeah, it does,” he used his hand to shield away the intense sunlight and squinted. “But it looks abandoned. I can’t see many of the roofs and there are trees growing everywhere.”

“And what is that out there? Just outside the ravine. It looks like a bridge and a lake.”

“That…” he forced his eyes again; the trees were so tall they made it difficult to see what was right below them. “I think it’s a reservoir.” She gave him a blank look. “It’s an artificial lake; you can see the bridge passes right above the dam. It’s for making electricity and—” he forgot what he was about to say when a distant rumbling made his blood freeze: far into the valley, a summer storm was approaching.

It meant that soon the sky would become covered with dark rain clouds, and a quick but heavy thunderstorm would follow. This would only last for a few minutes and the sun would shine again, but during the time the storm lasted, the sun would not be visible in the sky. Silently, the siblings looked behind them at the monsters inside the tunnel. They didn’t know if dust lice had their version of reasoning, but judging by their now oddly calm behavior, they were sure that somehow the creatures knew what would happen in a few hours.

Stefan stood up and took a deep breath.

“Alright. Maybe you’re right and we can jump… what are you doing?”

Franziska had taken out the black and white sphere and crashed it against a rock. A thick and dark smoke emerged and the wind gently carried it away as it expanded.

“That way, Rosario will know where we are,” she said. “The wind is going from west to east,” she pointed from the valley towards the Highland, “she’s not too far from here, she’ll see the signal and come wait for us outside of the ravine.”

“Yeah… you’re right. Sometimes you are smart,” she smiled. “Only sometimes.” She now frowned, catching on the double meaning.

*****

Rosario woke up with a gasp. Still confused and with her sight foggy, she stood up, repressing nausea. That was the worst episode of… whatever was happening to her since the day before. She had a vague recollection of a dream, of wanting to go somewhere, but couldn’t remember any details.

Stefan and Franziska were not back yet, but the Sun was just rising from behind the mountains, suggesting she hadn’t been out for long. Tumbling, she went back to the camper to get some water when she noticed the vase lying on the side. The crystal dust lay spread thinly over the grass, barely producing any mist. Just what she needed.

She tried to scoop as much crystal dust as possible and put it back in the vase. As the particles came closer together, a thick pink mist emerged once again.

Ideally, they would have set up a protective boundary using whole crystals, but they were almost out of them, so crystal dust was their last option. This method proved effective as long as there wasn’t any strong wind and, as far as she could tell, there wasn’t any.

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, a distant thunder reverberated from the valley in the west. She automatically looked in that direction and for a moment thought she saw a dark rain cloud, but immediately realized it was a black smoke signal coming from the side of the mountain. Unless it was an unlikely coincidence and another crystal hunter used the same type of signal to show distress, this had to be from the children.

Rosario went back to the cave opening and pulled on the rope Stefan had used as a guide; it seemed to be locked in place. Had a rockslide trapped them and forced them to find another exit? She quickly packed everything into the van while several scenarios played in her head, trying to explain to herself how those two could have left the cave and end up on the side of the mountain. Last, she left a box with emergency supplies next to the cave, and after climbing into the driver’s seat, she activated the engine. It started on the first try, for a change.

*****

Stefan put one foot on a small gap in the rock wall and, with one hand, held up the large red crystal they had found in the tunnel. The smooth surface of the crystal acted like a mirror and cast light inside the passage, forcing the dust lice to back up, and giving Franziska a few steps more to gain momentum.

She took six steps back, focused one last time, ran forward, and jumped.

The moment Stefan lost sight of her, he panicked and almost lost his footing.

“I made it!” he heard his sister’s voice from below. He stood on the edge of the tunnel and looked down at the nearest oak tree. Franziska was holding on to a large branch and waved at him. “It hurts a bit, but there are enough branches to hold on!”

“I’ll toss you the backpack first!” he said as he packed the red crystal and secured the buckles.

He did his best to aim, but his nervousness made for a clumsy throw and Franziska missed it.

“That was way off!” she complained.

“We’ll find it later… somehow, I guess.”

“I can’t hear you! Just jump!”

He hesitated, and realizing that waiting wouldn’t give him any more courage, took two steps back, ran, and jumped.

It felt so much worse than he thought. First the sensation of not feeling anything around him but wind, then the leaves, then the branches scratching his skin, until everything stopped and Stefan realized he was hugging to some branches with all his strength. He opened his eyes and saw Franziska just below, standing on a large tree branch.

“I knew you could do it!” He wanted to say something, but his heart was racing and his throat felt tight. With effort, he climbed down from the tangle of smaller branches.

“We can sit for a moment,” his sister suggested. “Look, your backpack is down there. I think we can get it back.”

Stefan lay on his back over the mossy branch.

“That’s good. At least we won’t be back empty-handed.”

“That big red crystal must cost a fortune!” she said, reaching up with her arms. “Well, if it’s useful. I don’t know what it does. I’ve never seen that color before.”

“Me neither, but all crystals have to do something,” he shrugged. “I’m sure there must be some that’ll pay, even if it’s just to study it.”

“Maybe Rosario will want to keep it to study it.”

“Maybe.”

“Hey Stefan, this is an oak tree, right?”

“Yeah, a behemoth oak.”

“Do big oaks give big acorns?”

“What do you mean?” he sat up and saw Franziska pointing towards something on a branch below.

A behemoth oak tree was at least twice the size of a regular summer oak, and Stefan had to agree that if this was indeed a giant acorn, then it seemed to be even larger than an adult person.

“I can’t see well… Let’s get closer.”

The siblings were on a branch immediately below the forest’s upper leaf cover, yet it was so dense it felt like midday had turned to evening. The tree was old and its branches covered in moss, so they had to be extra careful not to slip. Fortunately, it had so many branches it was easy to get hold as they descended. As they got closer, they realized it was not one but five acorn-like structures growing down from the same branch.

Stefan tapped it; it felt wooden, yet it resembled the cocoon of an insect.

This was bad.

Very bad.

Monster trees, as they were colloquially called, were once regular trees that after the Collapse had become giant. As a rule of thumb, large mutated vegetation produced crystals on their roots, and smaller species generated carnivorous structures, like the ones they had encountered inside the tunnel. The children were now standing on an exception: a behemoth tree that produced monsters.

“Stefan…”

“I know… let’s go.”

They descended another two branches and made it to where the backpack had landed. It was next to another cluster of cocoons. Stefan picked it up and secured the belt strap. He then turned and, as he did so, the pack became close to one of the cocoons. During that moment, Franziska thought she saw it move slightly.

She grabbed her brother by the arm and pushed him away.

“What…?”

“Your pack was close to the cocoon, look.” She put her hand over it and felt the movement even stronger. “I think these monsters are sensitive to some crystal in the backpack…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but both knew it. Now the creature inside was awakening, and it was angry.

Stefan thought the situation was bad enough, but now Franzi was pointing in a direction deeper into the valley. She was silent, which meant she was in fear. He slowly turned around in the direction she showed.

They were about halfway down the tree, at a point in the forest where the trees had mostly uncovered branches and almost no leaves. As the wind slowly caused the canopy above to shift, fleeting streams of light illuminated the forest, revealing that every tree, as far as they could see, had more of those cocoons attached to their branches.

There were hundreds, no, thousands of them. All about the same size.

The forest was dead silent as they took in the surrounding reality. Then they heard a muffled scratching sound from above. The monster inside the cocoon, the one they angered, was trying to get out.

*****