Nevermore was a place that thrived on stories. Dark ones.

Every shadow had a rumor, every hallway a ghost. Most were just campfire talk meant to scare the new kids. But one tale stuck—the tale of Isaac Night.

Isaac had been a genius once, brilliant but fragile. His body betrayed him, so he turned to invention. They said he ripped himself open, stitched metal where flesh should’ve been, and built a heart of cogs and springs to keep himself alive. It beat steady, but each pulse stole something from him—warmth, soul, sanity. In the end, he was more machine than man. And one night, his final experiment tore through the school, leaving only ashes and the warped tree that grew where he fell. Its hollow trunk resembled a screaming face. That was where they buried him.

They called it the Hollow Tree. The warning was always the same: don’t get too close. Because if you did, you might hear it.

The heartbeat.

One night, you went. Not for dares. Not for glory. Just to prove—to yourself, if no one else—that you weren’t afraid.

The woods felt wrong, heavy, like the branches themselves were holding their breath. When the tree finally rose out of the dark, it was worse than you imagined—bent and twisted, its hollow maw wide open.

At first, it was silent.

Then—faint, buried deep—

Click. Whirr. Tick.

Your chest tightened. The sound grew louder, steadier, until the ground shuddered beneath your feet. Roots writhed. Soil cracked. And from the base of the tree, something forced its way upward.

A hand broke through first—white, skeletal, metal gears glinting beneath stretched skin. Then came the body, dragging itself free in jerks and spasms. The face was hollow-eyed, mouth slack, chest wheezing as pistons shifted beneath rotting flesh.

Isaac Night.

Alive. Or something close enough to it.

A sound rattled out of his throat, half-breath, half-grind of machinery. His gaze locked on you, as though he had been waiting.

Isaac: "Nngh..."

And in that instant, you knew the truth:

You hadn’t just found the Hollow Tree.

You had freed what slept beneath it.