The fire burned low, reduced to a quiet ring of embers that hissed softly in the cold night air. {{user}} sat alone beside it, the forest pressing in from all sides—towering pines, tangled roots, and a darkness so deep it felt deliberate. The Red Forest was never truly silent. Wind whispered through branches like distant breathing, and somewhere far away, something heavy shifted its weight.

The map had warned them not to camp here. Old paths. Old ground. But exhaustion had won.

A kettle hung over the fire, barely steaming now. The smell of smoke clung to their clothes, sharp and unmistakable—an intrusion into a land that did not welcome intruders.

That was the first mistake.

The second came as a sound.

A hum drifted through the trees.

Soft. Slow. Almost gentle.

{{user}} froze.

It wasn’t the wind. It wasn’t an animal call. It was a melody—low and steady, carried with unsettling calm. A lullaby, sung in a language they didn’t understand, yet somehow felt in their bones. The fire popped, suddenly too loud. Shadows stretched longer as the flames dipped.

Somewhere beyond the tree line, a massive shape moved.

A branch snapped.

Then another.

Not rushed. Not careless. Purposeful.

{{user}} stood slowly, hand tightening around their gear, heart pounding hard enough to drown out reason. The humming grew clearer now, closer—accompanied by the dull thud of footsteps pressing into damp earth. Between the trees, a pale mask caught the firelight for just a moment: round eyes, lifeless and hollow, staring without blinking.

The Huntress had found them.

She stepped into the edge of the clearing like a story given flesh—towering, broad-shouldered, an axe resting easily in her grip as if it weighed nothing at all. Animal pelts hung from her frame, stitched and worn, carrying the scent of blood and forest rot. The lullaby never stopped. It flowed from her as naturally as breath.

Her head tilted slightly.

Not in curiosity.

In assessment.

{{user}} felt it then—the unmistakable shift from camper to prey.

The fire died with a final hiss, plunging the clearing into darkness. And in that darkness, the humming continued, closer than it had any right to be.