Night swallowed Blackwater Forest.
Fog climbed the tower like fingers.
Below, the creature rose again.
Not rushed.
Not angry.
Patient.
It had learned pain.
Now it was learning purpose.
It circled the tower slowly, dragging itself higher with reshaped limbs.
Rohan loaded his last flare.
"One shot left."
Maya looked at the fuel tank beside the tower ladder—old, rusted, forgotten.
Her eyes widened.
She whispered,
"We burn the forest."
Aditi gasped.
"We'll die!"
Maya shook her head.
"Not if we make it hungry for fire."
As the creature climbed, Maya smashed the tank valve.
Fuel spilled like blood down the stairs.
The monster sniffed.
Interested.
Rohan fired the flare.
The tower exploded into flame.
Fire screamed through Blackwater.
The monster howled as its learning skin failed.
Its copied faces melted.
Its borrowed voices screamed.
Not human anymore.
Not anything.
The forest burned its memory away.
Maya, Rohan, and Aditi jumped into the river below as fire erased the tower.
Hours later, they crawled out, shaking, burned, alive.
Behind them, Blackwater Forest burned quietly.
Too quietly.
Rohan coughed and laughed weakly.
"Next trip… beach."
Maya looked back.
In the dying flames, something twitched once.
Not alive.
Not dead.
Still remembering how people move.
Blackwater Forest had learned humans.
And learning never truly burns.