The Darkness in Pandora

The Dark Forest

It had been a week, and the signs of the new best on Pandora could already be felt in tremendous force, a specific part of the forest had become as silent as the dead, and the once plentiful and beautiful lights had become dull and near nonexistent, the first few days the Na'Vi could only watch as they saw animals of all kinds flee the forest, from the fastest Direhorse to the deadliest Thanator.

The herbivores stampeded over anything and everything, hunters, and herbalists had to climb trees to avoid them, and the predators ran with them, not hunting but fleeing with them, it was a sight to behold to be sure. After all the animals fled the forest the Na'Vi watched as the lights dimmed in the forest, as if a darkness had rooted itself in those woods. No life moved, no sound sung, the forest had become cold, dark, and dead.

Eytukan had sent a group of his finest hunters to find out the reason for this phenomenon, but as soon as they crossed the treeline, those hunters were never heard from or seen again. Eytukan had a meeting with his Mate Mo'at about this and she discovered only Darkness, Eywa's light had completely left that forest. Life still flourishes, but Eywa had no rule there, the first place on Pandora to have such a place. Eytukan went there with his warriors to search for the missing hunters and came across what can only be described as a war zone. Arrows pelted trees, blood soaked the ground, and gore was strung up on the trees like decorations, their bows looked to have been bitten through, there was red blood as well but it looked rotten. A few thought it was the Sky People, but the only issue was the forest was completely intact, no bush was damaged, no tree carved, no metal shards, nothing. Sky People were infamous for their love of metal, but this was too clean to be them. Suddenly they heard a scream from one of the hunters and they rushed to the source to find nothing... but as they looked around they found one of the warriors was missing. They called out but no call was answered, they backtracked but only found his spear and a blood trail. They followed the blood and it led to a tree as they looked up they found the warrior skinned and hung up by his entrails with his lower half missing. What shocked them most was that this was only in a matter of minutes and they did hear a thing. They left the forest quickly after that, as fast as their legs could carry them, but as they left the treeline they noticed two more gone, they didn't dare enter the forest again, they heard bloodcurdling screams within the trees, but they could only stand and stare, fear gripping their hearts. The screams lasted for hours, but they noticed something, it was always the same scream and sounded wrong, like from the end of a long tube. Eventually, Eytukan declared the forest forbidden, and if anyone was to step past the treeline, was to be declared dead.

They kept this policy up, avoiding the forest like a plague, a few brave souls went in, but were never seen again. Most nights hunters hear unnatural screams coming from within the woods, or will sometimes hear their dead family calling to them from beyond the trees. A few foolish enough to follow the calls were added to the list of missing/dead that the forest had taken. No one knew why it was happening, not even Mo'at could explain it. The best she could do was tell everyone that Evil was now rooted in that forest and Eywa was powerless to stop its endless hunger. Children are told stories to keep them away from the forest, but of course, a few want to prove that they are brave and enter the forest, by the time the mother notices their child is gone it is too late, and the next day, the child's ear is placed in the sleeping pod of their mother. No one enters the woods now, not even to prove their bravery.

Grace had opened the School to build relationships with the Na'Vi and was told even by the children to avoid The Dark Forest at all costs. She grew curious and asked around about why, at first she thought it was a sacred place, maybe a place where they lay their dead. But no, she was told it was forbidden to all and would refuse to talk about it further. It took a lot of digging but she eventually talked to one of the few warriors who retired after that day, and he told her everything about that Evil place. She didn't believe something was amiss in the forest, but she couldn't escape the feeling of eyes on her whenever she was on the river that acted like a barrier between The Dark Forest and the rest of the world. She could never take that step to cross the water, she noticed how the fish avoided that side of the water, how dead yet strong the trees looked. The place unnerved her to no end.

The RDA took these reports and saw it as a golden area to build up. They were planning on mining there to get the rare metal they wanted and things were going smooth. Until the outpost went dark, they sent a rescue team to see what the issue was, and it was FUBAR. The mech suits were torn into pieces, the sealed doors were ripped clear off, and were found 50 yards away. The interior of the hub was covered in blood and the console was broken beyond repair, nothing was salvageable. The recovery team was going to leave but found their pilot was missing, panicked they ran through the woods and thought it was the Na'Vi they wanted to teach them a lesson, so they marched to the school and reached it as the men chasing Sylwanin reached it. They were about to light up the school before a roar was heard and suddenly screams and gunfire filled the forest. And as quickly as it started, it ended. The men were torn limb from limb, their guts covered the ground and one of their torsos was impaled on a branch, and another was still breaking but just bearly. Grace, Neytiri, and Sylwanin did what they could but he only uttered one word "w-w...wen...di...go..." The news of what happened spread throughout both the NTR and Na'Vi. Grace's school was shut down and Na'Vi closed their borders to the Sky People. Miles Quaritch was put on a scouting mission through The Dark Forest and was lost there for 3 days, he was the sole person to enter that forest and survive and was left with scars as a reminder of what he saw in that silent forest.