Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 62
The group headed west through the village, soon spotting a towering black shape in the distance, faintly visible through a shroud of mist.
Ethan estimated it was about half a mile away, a fifteen-minute walk at most.
They’d borrowed a cart, an axe, and some rope from the guesthouse, and as they set out, Ethan noted the time: just past eleven.
They were traveling light now, but hauling the tree back with the cart would slow them down, so a round trip might take an hour if they managed it in one go.
With the four o’clock deadline, they had roughly four hours to fell the tree.
The group moved cautiously, eyes scanning their surroundings, and after about ten minutes, Ethan finally got a clear view of the dark shape.
As the village head had promised, reaching the west end made it obvious what the Darkgold Tree was.
It was a stunning natural marvel, standing alone in a hundred-meter radius with nothing else around.
About thirty feet tall with a trunk roughly a foot thick, it looked ink-black at first glance, but closer inspection revealed golden streaks occasionally flickering from the base toward the branches.
Its bare limbs, devoid of leaves, should have felt desolate and lifeless, yet Ethan sensed a vibrant pulse of vitality for reasons he couldn’t pinpoint.
A faint thud, like a heartbeat, seemed to echo from the tree, stirring an uneasy feeling in him.
The sound vanished quickly, though, as if it had never been.
He glanced at the others, who appeared captivated by the tree’s strange beauty and grandeur.
“Did you hear anything?” Ethan asked, testing the waters.
They shook their heads, and his heart sank slightly; apparently, only he’d noticed.
He didn’t think it was a hallucination, and a nagging sense of danger lingered.
Still, he trusted his instincts, and with his snake pendant showing no reaction, the tree seemed harmless for now.
Ethan decided against sharing this with the group; the observation carried risk, aligning with his expectations, and telling them would only spark panic, dragging out pointless arguments.
The tree wasn’t thick, and he could likely chop it down alone in an hour, but that missed the point: everyone had to contribute for it to count.
He grabbed the axe and approached the Darkgold Tree, swinging hard and landing a heavy thud.
His expression shifted; the wood was far tougher than expected, his full-force swing leaving only a shallow mark.
At this rate, felling it would take much longer than planned.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.