CHAPTER 2: THE THING BENEATH THE TREE KNEW HIS NAME
The footsteps stopped.
Ethan held his breath.
Then a voice came from the darkness below.
"Ethan... you came too late."
Everyone froze.
It was his brother's voice.
But it sounded wrong—older, broken, almost hollow.
Ethan shouted his brother’s name, but the tunnel answered with a low groan. The wooden walls began to move, slowly tightening like the throat of a living creature.
One of the searchers panicked and ran back toward the sealed entrance, clawing at the bark until his fingers bled.
Then the glowing symbols on the wall turned red.
A hidden door opened beside them.
Inside was a chamber filled with watches, backpacks, wedding rings, children’s shoes... things left behind by people who had vanished over the years.
And in the center of the room stood Ethan’s brother.
Alive.
But he had not aged one day.
His eyes were completely black.
He smiled at Ethan and whispered:
"I told you not to open it... because now it knows your face too."
Suddenly, the tree shook violently.
Above them, the entire forest began to collapse inward, as if the roots were pulling the world down.
Ethan stepped back in horror.
Then his brother pointed behind him.
On the wall was a carving Ethan had never seen before.
It showed a man standing at the tree entrance...
holding the same notebook...
wearing the same jacket...
with the same scar on his cheek.
It was Ethan.
But the carving was hundreds of years old.
And beneath it were three terrifying words:
"THE NEXT KEEPER."
Ethan turned to run.
But the tunnel was gone.
Only darkness remained.
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And from inside that darkness, something massive opened its eyes.
End of Chapter 2...
