Tales from a shattered world - the forest

Prologue

The untouched heart of a forest is an ephemeral thing of beauty. A world all of its own. A wild place where only the rules of nature may persist. Which beats only to the wild songs, the cacophony of insects and the heartbeats of the forest denizens are played. The hearts of all forests are special in their unique and sometimes twisted ways.

"Dammit! Dammit!"

Though very few are as special or more twisted than the forests surrounding foragers lake. A luscious natural utopia teeming with life. Where none would go hungry, where none would have to fight. From the smallest insects that flutter around droning on at night to the beasts that roam, trudging near their burrows, to feast on the nearby growth. Truly a herbivore's paradise. But where there is abundance, others will surely come.

"How did this happen! Those fools, where did they go."

It is only natural to want what is plentiful. The wood of the trees, the build houses that would soon become homes, the fertile soil to build cars to feed the masses, the exotic game that surely any hunter would want to mount on their walls. Each is valuable in its own right, yet the true value is not in the material itself but in the energy that flows through them.

"I shouldn't have come here. Why, why did this have to happen."

The air permeated with otherworldly energy, the malevolence of the lake. Allowing all life that resides to flourish. Though one must wonder, can all life thrive as they are now? Perhaps what humans perceive as life needs to be bent and twisted just a little.

"What even were those things! This can't be real!"

Butterfly wings that can cut through steel, a boar that may forever bleed, plants that draw you in with a dazzling glow, making you glad that it's the last sight you will ever see. A strange place, even to a strange world.

"What! No, no, how are you here!

Yet as it has been said, life flourishes here. The strange plants drop fruit aplenty. The animals retract their claws and fangs, no longer needing to hunt. A peaceful stillness.

"Stay back!!! I'm warning you!!!

But where there is stillness. There will be disturbances.

"What even are you!!!"

But they won't be cast aside and shunned. Why should utopia be cruel?

"No! No! Please don't."

They will be welcomed.

"AAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!"

Corrected.