Deep in the forest beneath a heavy canopy of trees there stands a massive pine tree that almost looms over the surrounding area and it has probably been seen for many years and is the keeper of many secrets, one of which is very dark. Centuries ago an entire town desperate to rid themselves of an ancient entity which threatened their lives decided that there was no way to win a battle with it so they decided to set a trap. They built a frame to look like a doorway leading to another realm in front of the largest tree they could find and lured the entity to it, convincing it that beyond the doorway was a world full of treasures and delights that it would never have to worry about having a hunger again. The entity in its arrogance not believing that such a weak group of beings could ever defeat it, gladly slipped through the doorway only to find itself inside of the tree. Before it could react, they quickly chatted and drew a symbol on the trunk of it effectively sealing it inside the tree. Satisfied they left the woods convinced that no one would ever be hurt again by it or so they thought.
Skipping ahead, it has been over 100 years and the forest has grown thick with undergrowth and the pine tree has continued to expand in girth and height, bearing the secret that no one had given a second thought at least not till that day and what happened next was not intentional by any means. Greg was 35 with a muscular build but he was not a body builder by any means. He enjoyed the gym but he was tired of the city life and decided to sell his home, pack up his essentials into a backpack and set off to explore the wilderness in hopes of discovering himself without the pressure of city life breathing down his neck. He would stop at the local gas stations for food and a rest but eventually he found himself in a place much farther from the rest of the world- in the forest itself. The beauty of the falling leaves, the birds chirping, the soft wind whispering through the branches gave him a new lease on life and he decided that he was going to make a home for himself out there.
Once he found the perfect spot he set down his backpack and unstrapped the ax he had purchased from a local store a few stops back and set off to find a tree that would help him to realize his dreams of the ultimate cabin in the woods. He really did not have much experience when it came to building but he had the drive and he was willing to do whatever it would take to make his dream come true. He listened to the leaves crunch beneath his boots with each step he took stopping every few minutes to scan the area looking for the one tree that would help him to get his project started. That is when he saw it, the massive pine tree that seemed to call to him as his eyes studied it from top to bottom. It would take a lot of work to chop it down by hand but he was determined. As he got closer to it, that is when he noticed a symbol barely visible now from all the years of growth, carved into the side of it but he shrugged his shoulders and chalked it up to some one marking their path on their travel though the woods.
He smiled to himself as he raised the ax, lining up his swing perfectly with the faded symbol on the trunk and with all of his might, he brought it forward and let the sharp edge hit the trunk directly in the middle of the faded mark. The sound that he got was not what he was expecting, there was no chopping noise but it sounded like the axe had struck something metal and he stopped for a moment and leaned in close, noticing a dark substance oozing from the cut in the bark but there was nothing metal that could be seen. He stuck his finger into the dark liquid and rubbed it between his fingers and it felt sticky like sap but because he was not an outdoors type of person he would not know that there was something wrong with it. The atmosphere in the woods had drastically changed, the wind stopped blowing, the birds stopped chirping, a pin drop could have been heard from the silence that fell over the forest. Greg honestly did not notice any of it as he continued to chop at the tree with his axe till it was finally felled, crashing down to the forest floor. After the tree was down, he spent the next week cutting the tree into smaller manageable pieces so that it could be easily carried back to the clearing where he planned on building his cabin. The work was long and tedious and he did not exactly have all the proper tools needed so by the end of the week he had grown a bit frustrated and decided to take a walk towards the stream he had passed by on his way there and sat down by the edge of it contemplating if it had been a bad idea. He spent maybe a couple of hours just listening to the rippling water as it ran over fallen branches and piles of stones before he took a deep breath and decided to give the work another attempt.
He trudged slowly through the leaves, kicking at them as if they would somehow give him the answers to solving his building issues when he looked up and stopped. The piles of wood he had left only a few hours ago were now planks, neatly stacked and ready to be assembled. His eyes darted around wondering who or what had been there in his absence but there were no tracks of any kind. He rubbed his eyes and looked again but the wood remained the same, stacked and waiting for him to put it to use. Some one was invested in seeing that it got built and for that he felt a bit unnerved but also a little grateful. The work after that felt much easier, almost as if he had done this kind of job before, each board fitting perfectly into place. He even managed to leave open areas for windows and an open space for a door which he eventually built and installed turning small pieces of wood into pins to secure it in place. He stood back and genuinely smiled, pleased with how it had all fallen into place but a small part of him wished he could thank the person who helped him with the wood and the inspiration to not give up.
Using some of the brush from outside and a little bit of wood that was left over, he constructed a platform inside the cabin into something sturdy enough to use as a bed, covering it with some of the brush, dead leaves and adding moss to ensure it would be comfortable enough to sleep on. He did not have any furniture so he would have to learn how to build it but for now he was content to have a shelter because by looking at the sky he could tell that a storm was brewing in the distance and not knowing when it would hit, he would rather be safe inside. Safety, it seemed like such a simple thing to want but he had no idea what he had done or that he would never be safe again.
Greg, tired from all of the work, decides to call it a night and he curls up on the makeshift bed and closes his eyes unaware of what is happening around him.He unknowingly gave the entity access to his mind when he touched the dark sap after he made the very first cut in the tree and now the entity had trapped him inside of itself and it would take over his mind without him seeing it coming. He would end up living as a guest in his own body, simply to be used as a tool by the entity who was now seeking revenge for all the years it spent trapped inside of the tree.
The morning breaks and the storm is almost upon the cabin as it sits quiet and unassuming. There is the familiar crunch of leaves that get closer and closer but it is not from Greg, it is from another traveler who lets out a sigh of relief as they see there is a well maintained cabin, shelter for them and they hurry faster almost racing up the steps to the front door and knocking. After the third knock the door slowly opens and Greg appears, his face shallow and his eyes almost blank with a smile on his lips that does not reach far. Before the hiker can even speak, Greg does ...
“You look lost. Please come inside and make yourself at home.”
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