The trees had always spoken, but now… she understood them.

At first, it was a whisper to the winds, a shiver in the leaves. Then the words came- low, ancient, laced with something hungry. They spoke of roots that stretched beyond time, of things buried deep, still breathing beneath the soil.

“You are one of us now,” they sighed through the brittle branches. “And, so they will come for you too.”

The ground pulsed beneath her bare feet. A creaking yawn echoed through the forest, something shifting, walking.

The oldest tree groaned. A warning. A welcome. A death knell.

She had listened too long.