Forbidden Forest – Boundary Zone of the Silent City. Afternoon – Day Three of the Expedition.
The forest had undergone a terrifying transformation.
If on the first day the trees still resembled organic flora, and on the second day they appeared sickly, then on this third day, they looked like a graveyard of industrial evolution. The massive Oak trunks were no longer the warm brown of living wood; they were a dull, polished metallic grey. Their bark hadn't just hardened—it had mutated into a layered alloy that shimmered like cold steel under the dim light. The moss clinging to the rocks wasn't green or vibrant; it was a pale, flickering violet, pulsating with a rhythmic glow that mimicked a dying indicator light on a failing machine.
But the most haunting aspect of the environment was the sound. Or more accurately, the total, suffocating absence of it.
