Jhoanna's POVThe darkness swallowed me whole.It wasn’t just the absence of light—it was something deeper, something that wrapped around my body like ice-cold chains, dragging me into the void.For a brief, terrifying moment, I felt weightless, disconnected from everything.Then—pain.A sharp, searing pain shot through my skull, forcing my senses to snap back into focus. My knees hit the ground hard, my vision blurring as I gasped for breath. The air was thick, heavy, filled with something sickly and rotten.Hans’ voice cut through the haze. “Jhoanna!”I forced my eyes open. The clearing was no longer a clearing. The tree had changed. Its gnarled branches stretched out like skeletal arms, its roots writhing across the ground like living creatures. Shadows pooled at its base, twisting and shifting, forming the shape of something—a figure, tall and thin, its body more shadow than flesh.It had no face. Just hollow, glowing slits where eyes should be.And it was reaching for my daughte
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