They traveled down the mountain for a time, pointing out things they found cool or funny along the way. Hyungseob seemed particularly entertained by the strange colored birds, and the squirrels who jumped from tree to tree. Euiwoong focused mostly on the changing environment around them.

The last time he had traveled this way he had been much younger, and it had rained almost the entire time so he hadn’t had time to appreciate it. The farther down the two went the more things changed, there were more trees here, and the grass grew tall and proud. It was impossible to see five feet in front of you at some points from the foliage being as thick as it was. Euiwoong hoped that his internal compass was correct, otherwise he suspected they might never make it out.

They had been traveling for a few hours in companionable silence when Euiwoong stopped dead in his tracks. Did that tree look eerily familiar or was it just him? He’d been in his share of forests, and he knew a tree from a tree, and these trees didn't look any different from the ones he had seen a few minutes ago.

Looking around he noticed that the whole area looked familiar, too familiar. They were in a small clearing now, and he was pretty sure that he had made a comment about those same rocks having old man faces hours ago. The flowers too, blue pink and purple, all arranged in a half circle around a bush, he had joked that it looked like someone had had to rush off in the middle of planting them. Somehow the thought unsettled him more now, what if someone had been planting them, only to realize that they were stuck the same way Euiwoong was now? What if they were watching them behind the trees, just waiting for the right moment to strike?

On edge, Euiwoong glanced over his shoulder, straining his eyes for something moving that shouldn't be. He swore he saw a strange shape duck behind a tree, and that only spurred him on faster, trying to catch back up to Hyungseob.

He decided not to say anything, Euiwoong didn't want to worry his friend, but still, Hyungseob may be dense but surely he’d realize that the environment seemed to be repeating soon too. Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic. But Euiwoong was a worrier down to his bones and within minutes he had planned out the rest of the hours that they had together, before they would surely be eaten by some monster or shrivel up in starvation. Hyungseob for his part seemed unphased, whistling some song that Euiwoong swore he had heard, but couldn’t place as he skipped through the forest.

What if we never find a way out? What if we’re stuck here forever? Euiwoong’s heart quivered and shivered in his chest. This was a bad idea, a bad bad bad idea. The forest around them seemed all too innocent, but if he strained his eyes he imagined that he could make out thousands of tiny monsters, jeering and salivating, all waiting for their chance to taste his flesh.

He kept a white knuckled grip on Sprout’s lead, begging his hands to stop shaking. This was their punishment, they had set off to do something and had doomed themselves in the process. Maybe they had stepped over some fairy king’s grave, or not said some sort of prayer before beginning. Whatever it was they would suffer, Euiwoong was sure of it.

It was in the middle of Euiwoong’s panic he noticed something that unnerved him more than anything yet. He couldn’t hear Hyungseob anymore. Hyungseob often ran ahead, his legs seeming to work faster than his mind on their way to hurry hurry hurry. That part didn’t worry Euiwoong, what bothered him was that Hyungseob was not a quiet person. The only time Hyungseob was silent was when he was eating. He mumbled in his sleep, chattered through the morning, whistled till lunch, and then sang till Euiwoong swore his ears were going to fall off, only to go to sleep and mumble again till dawn. The only thing worse than hearing Hyungseob was not hearing him.

“Hyungseob?”, maybe he was only a few steps ahead of Euiwoong, maybe he had just rounded a tight bend, and that was why Euiwoong couldn’t hear him, “Hyungseob?!” No response. Maybe Hyungseob was just playing games with him, Hyungseob was probably just hiding up in a tree, waiting for Euiwoong to pass by to pounce on him. They’d fall to the ground and laugh because How foolish was Euiwoong? Of course Hyungseob was right there all along! But all that never happened. Hyungseob wasn’t just around the corner, or in the trees, Hyungseob was gone.

Euiwoong bit down waves of nausea, his nails digging crescent moons into his palms. He was going to die out here and no one would find his body. Sprout eyed him warily, the feeling of his owner’s panic making him nervous. Where is the other human? He was here, now he is not. Is it because he smells like a bad thing? But Hyungseob is a good thing, where is that human?

Sprout pulled on his lead, wanting to find Hyungseob, but Euiwoong was frozen where he stood. The trees all seemed to taunt him, circling around the boy and his pig, growing in tight where they could. They knew where Hyungseob was, they were the one’s that took him. Euiwoong took a stuttering breath, calm down. Hyungseob was gone, so Euiwoong had to find him, simple as that.

With this new goal in mind he started off, breaking through the ring of trees around him, breaking through the barriers to the world of fairies and monsters, taunting taunting taunting, keeping an eye out for a familiar head of hair bobbing and looping, hollering and whooping through the trees.

It was darker here, than in the clearing, more sinister, the trees gnarled and and knotted. Even the air seemed oppressive, thick and tar like. Euiwoong could hardly make out any of his surroundings, everything was muted and rotten, except for the sticks that caught his clothing and scratched his skin as he and Sprout headed deeper into the forest. Euiwoong was not welcome here, that much at least was obvious.

“Hyungseob!” His call was swallowed up by the oppressive darkness that surrounded him. “Hyungseo-!” Euiwoong’s foot caught on something, what it was he couldn’t see, but he fell, landing in a pile of rotten leaves beneath his feet. He’d lost his hold on Sprout’s lead, and couldn’t feel the pig near him anymore. Euiwoong tried to scramble up, to see where his pig had gone, but it was no use. Thick roots curled around his ankles, and up his legs until his whole body was trapped.

Euiwoong in a few ragged breaths, this was not how he expected to die today. The roots tugged at his feet and Euiwoong was dragged farther into the depths of this god forsaken forest. Sharp rocks cut his face as he tried his best not to inhale a lungs worth of plant material. He cursed every good deed he had ever done, since apparently trying to be a good person got you a crazy werewolf friend and death by leaf inhalation.

The dragging stopped eventually, and Euiwoong imagined that if he had ever thought he could get out of this forest when he began, he surely wasn’t going to now. The roots still had a death grip on his legs, and he couldn’t see well enough to drag himself anywhere. He thought he could just barely make out the outline of a tree in the distance, but it was too dark to be sure, and even then it was a forest, having trees was kind of it's job.

“Damn stupid Hyungseob, damn stupid trees, damn stupid forest.” The roots squeezed his legs tighter, “Okay, sorry forest, you’re the the best part of this situation, I really appreciate you dragging me into the middle of nowhere, thanks.” The grip loosened. Wait, what? Can it understand me?, “Um, forest?” The leaves under his fingers seemed to spring to attention, “That’s what I thought.” This was weird, this was so so so weird. Wait, I think I have an idea.

“Hey, forest? Has anyone ever told you that you’re the only magical forest I’ve ever met? Really impressive if I do say so myself.” The roots loosened up more. So it’s a forest with an ego. Okay, that’s totally normal. Euiwoong didn’t have the time to think about the fact that talking to a forest was probably the stupidest thing he had ever done, it wasn’t stupid if it worked. “Yeah, and let me tell you, those flowers that I saw earlier? Absolutely the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Yeah, it’s true!”

The forest was positively swooning, even though it should be impossible for forests to swoon, just as impossible it should have been for there to be sentient forests, but apparently there was no God. Just a little bit more loosening up and Euiwoong could probably wiggle out of his trappings. “Oh and those leaves? The greenest I’ve ever seen, and let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot of trees in my life.” The roots loosened just enough and he started to wiggle out.

Bad idea, the forest seemed to realize it had been had, and not only tightened its roots around him again, but lifted him up by his legs, dangling him above the ground.

“Hey! What’s this all about!? I thought we were over this!” Damn stupid forests, who in their right mind would give a forest sentience? A fool, that’s who. If Euiwoong ever met the person who thought this was a good idea he was gonna give them a piece of his mind, or his fist, but that’s neither here nor there.

The forest didn’t seem to care about the boy thrashing around in it’s grip, and as the blood rushed to Euiwoong’s head he swore that never ever in his life was he going to go into a forest again. “Come on! Forest! Listen to me!” Still nothing, whoever made this forest also seemed to give it the personality of a petulant child.

“What’s even your problem?! I have done nothing to you!” The only answer Euiwoong got was he was lifted a few more feet off the ground. “Listen, I’m looking for my friend, have you seen him? Is that what this is all about?” The forest seemed to sigh, far away trees sagged, and a cold gust of wind rustled the leaves under him.

“Is that what this is all about? Do you not like my friend?” Another sigh, and Euiwoong was lowered closer to the ground, “Why? What’s he done to you?” The forest paused, thinking. Suddenly the roots that still bound his legs contorted, and he was laid softly down as it seemed like the whole forest was shaking and twisting. The wind kicked up and blew leaves into his face, nearly suffocating him while he tried to readjust after hanging upside down for so long.

The wind died down, and the sound of wood twisting around wood stopped too, it was all deadly quiet as Euiwoong tried to strain his eyes to see what was around him. He thought he heard footsteps in front of him, “Hyungseob?” The footsteps stopped, it was too dark for him to make out anything but a vague outline of someone in front of him. “Seob?”

“Alright, first of all I am not Hyungseob! Secondly, who do you two even think you are?! You think you can just barge into any old forest and it’ll be totally okay because ‘Oh, we just own the world!’ Well let me tell you something, that is not how this whole thing works.” Alright, so the person in front of him wasn’t Hyungseob, but then who were they and why were they talking so fast?

“Um, sorry not Hyungseob, we just didn’t realize tha-”

He was cut off by the angry voice again, “Well of course you didn’t realize, no one does, do they? But then does that make it okay for you to trespass wherever you please? No, it doesn’t.”

“Listen, I’m sorry-”

Again Euiwoong was cut off, “Well sorry doesn’t cut it! What does sorry do? Nothing! You better have some good explanation as to why you think you’re entitled to tramp through any forest you like!”

“As a matter of fact, I do! You see-”

“Oh! So just because you think you have a good reason you think that gives you the right to-”

“Would you just shut up and let me finish?!” Silence, “Thank you, so my friend Hyungseob and I, we need to help save magic or something, because apparently it’s dying and that means the werewolves are dying, and I know this sounds stupid, and it is, but he really believes it and someone has to watch him or else he’ll probably die. Because he’s stupid.”

“Oh. Oh? Oh! Well if that was the case, why didn’t you say so earlier!” The voice was much happier now than it had been only a few seconds earlier. In fact Euiwoong thought he could make out a figure running towards him. At a very fast pace. A very very fast pace. In fact Euiwoong thought that the figure wouldn’t be able to stop in time at the pace it was going. Oh no, it’s gonna run into me. Euiwoong rolled out of the way just in time for the something, or somebody to crash into the pile of leaves he had been in just a few seconds ago.

“Jesus!”, The form- boy?- on the ground began to pick himself up, “Are you okay?”

Suddenly he was met with an arm full of boy as the strange kid flung himself at Euiwoong, because apparently strange forest boys don’t know the concept of personal space, “You’re Euiwoong, right?! How could I not have realized it earlier?! And to think I put you through all that! Please forgive me!” The first thing he noticed was that the boy had dusty purple hair. How the hell someone got purple hair Euiwoong didn’t want to know. People defying the rules of the universe was obviously going to be a common occurrence if he was traveling with Hyungseob.

“Uh yeah, I’m Euiwoong, and um, could you please let go of me? You’re squeezing a little tight.” Not to mention that the kid’s weird hair was currently suffocating Euiwoong in an attempt to be as close to him as physically possible.

The boy jumped away, smiling wide at him. Euiwoong wasn’t the most trusting person in the first place, but to have a boy pop out of a weird forest, with weird hair, nearly hug him to death, only to smile afterwards sent off every alarm bell in his body. Euiwoong tried to scoot back farther from the boy, but was met with the unyielding bark of a tree behind him, and the boy only scooted closer.

“I’m Daehwi, at your service!” Okay, so at least the boy had a name, that was good.

“Uh, nice to meet you, Daehwi. So um, could you tell me what’s going on here?” Euiwoong wasn’t very well versed in the world, but he knew that whatever was going on here wasn’t normal. At all.

“Ah! We’ll you see, this is my forest!”

“Your forest? Aren’t you a bit young to be owning property?” Not that Euiwoong could really say anything, with his farm and all, but still it was normal for people to own farmland, Euiwoong had never heard of someone owning a whole forest.

“Owning property? Euiwoong, this isn’t a forest to be owned, I thought you would know that by now!”

“How did you know my name was Euiwoong anyway? I never told you! Were you following us?”

“No, silly! I never have to follow anyone anywhere! As long as they’re in my forest I can hear them loud and clear!” Okay, now Euiwoong was getting really weirded out, if he could see more than a few feet in any direction he would run, but who knew what monsters inhabited this forest, just outside his field of view. I mean, it sounded like Daehwi came from the forest, so that alone was reason enough for Euiwoong not to trust it.

Daehwi stared up at him for a moment, seeming to think, “You really don’t get it do you? Euiwoong, I am this forest.”

Okay, maybe Euiwoong really did hit his head and die after falling down earlier, because he could accept a lot of things in life. Magical mountains? Well the proof was in the pasture as they say. Werewolves being alive? Stretching it, but not completely out of the realm of possibility, especially after he saw Hyungseob with his own eyes. Even magical forests he could get behind, but magical forests being a really weird clingy boy with purple hair? That was just too much, everything was too much.

Not for the first time that day Euiwoong cursed the moment that he saw Hyungseob, and decided to save him. Obviously if any God ever existed then they were long dead now and everyone was living in hell, because there was no other explanation for Euiwoong’s life up to this point.

“Uh, Euiwoong? Still with me buddy?” Daehwi waved his godless hand in front of Euiwoong godless face as they sat in a godless forest in a pile of godless leaves.

“Uh yeah, um… Yeah. So anyways, you’re a forest and I’m dead, alright. Um, on that note, have you seen my friend Hyungseob?”  Daehwi sprang off Euiwoong, as though he was just hit by a bolt of lightning.

“Hyungseob! I can’t believe I forgot about him! Come on Euiwoong, get up! We gotta go find Hyungseob!” Daehwi grabbed Euiwoong’s hand, yanking him out of the leaves and pulling him into a semi standing position. “We gotta go!”

“Wait, find him?! I thought you were the forest, I thought you knew everything about everything? What’s this about having to find Hyungseob?!” Euiwoong had just begun to trust this guy, and now he springs on him that he doesn’t know where Hyungseob was? Maybe Daehwi being some deranged serial killer wasn’t such a far out thought.

“Well, technically yeah, but there’s some stuff going on right now that I don’t have complete control over. Some parts of the forest are mutating, they don’t listen to me anymore, and I have no control over what they do. I won’t go into detail about what they have been doing, but I think it’s best that we find Hyungseob, and soon.” Well, there went all of Euiwoong’s confidence that Hyungseob and Sprout weren’t dead. Daehwi really knew how to inspire faith in a guy.

“So you have no idea whatsoever about where my friends are?”

“Well… Not exactly, but I do know where they might be and right now that’s better than nothing.”

“And where is that?”

“You’re not gonna like this Euiwoong.” Well no, Euiwoong knew he wouldn’t like it, but he didn’t like anything about this whole situation, so what’s a little more garbage thrown into the mix.

“Daehwi.”

Daehwi sighed, “I think they might be at the Hangman’s Tree.” Euiwoong knew right then and there that they truly were in hell. “But it’s not that bad! Trust me! As long as we get there quickly they won’t be hanged!”

“Oh yeah! That’s fine! As long as we get there quickly my best friends won’t be killed! Yeah! Great!” The world around Euiwoong began to spin, and even Daehwi’s grip on his arm wasn’t enough to keep him up. The edges of his vision blurred, and Euiwoong couldn’t help but think that he was finally dying, and had just been hallucinating this whole time. Yeah, that doesn’t sound so bad. None of this is even happening anyway… Everything went black.

When Euiwoong woke up he certainly wasn’t where he was when he had out. Is this what the afterlife is like? He thought he was being carried over someone’s shoulder, though he couldn’t be sure. The person who was carrying him shifted their grip and it was only then that Euiwoong remembered, Forest… Hyungseob… Sprout… Daehwi… Wait a second.

“Daehwi what the hell do you think you’re doing.” The person- Daehwi- stopped.

“Oh. Hey Euiwoong, I hoped you would sleep for a little longer.” Daehwi wasn’t bubbly like he had been before, he sounded distant, hollow.

“You okay buddy?” It was a little awkward, talking to his new friend’s , but there were worse things in life. Like pretty much everything else that’s happened today. Really today put his whole life into perspective, he’d probably never complain again as long as no day was as bad as this one.

Daehwi adjusted his hold on Euiwoong, startling him out of his thoughts, before starting on again. “Daehwi? What's going on?”

“We’re almost there, Euiwoong. Don't worry.” It was then that Euiwoong realized that they were in a very different area now. The air was damp and carried the smell of death and decay. They were in a marsh, he realized, and everywhere he looked rotten trees stuck up out of the muck at an angle, like blackened hands reaching out of the earth.

What captured his attention most though was that everything around him was glowing. It seemed like everything was coated in a film of purple mold that shined as brightly as candles. “Daehwi, what is this place?” He got no response, just Daehwi walking through the muck, every step parting the carpet of purple. “Daehwi, please answer me. What’s happening? Where are we?”

“Just a little bit farther, just hold on a little longer.” Well like hell was Euiwoong just going to let himself be carted around by a mysterious forest boy, who may or may not be carrying him directly to his death, so Euiwoong did the only thing he could think of, he started flailing around. He kicked his legs as high as he could, and tried to aim for Daehwi’s stomach, he pulled and scratched at Daehwi’s shirt and tried to make it as difficult to hold his as possible.

“Jesus Christ, Euiwoong, stop!”

It was no use though, Daehwi’s grip on Euiwoong loosened and he slipped out of his grip. Euiwoong dropped into the murky water with a splash and the world underneath him seemed to open up, swallowing him into the mud. Water filled his mouth, and nose, rushing into any crevice it could find, nearly choking him. He closed his eyes, but it was too late, vibrant colors bloomed in his vision, erse caricatures of humans danced and dipped and swam in and out of view. From somewhere far off he heard drums.

As suddenly as he fell in, hands wrapped around his torso, each touch an electric shock, and pulled him out. “Damn, Euiwoong! I told you to stay still!”

Euiwoong just gaped at him, wet hair sticking flat to his forehead as the mud streaked down his face. Daehwi’s hair wasn’t dusty purple anymore, it shone brightly, each strand like a purple flame. The swamp too no longer just glowed, it burned, every service alight with iridescent color. Euiwoong looked down, he glowed too, dimmer than his surroundings but quickly becoming more intense.

“Daehwi,” he breathed out “What just happened?”

Daehwi’s face fell, “I’ll tell you later, but right now it’s about Hyungseob, okay? Everything’s gonna seem weird, but right now you just have to focus on Hyungseob.” Euiwoong nodded, barely understanding anything the other was saying, instead focusing on the colors flowing from his mouth every time Daehwi said something. Red, blue, orange, pink, mixing and swirling, nearly obscuring his view.

Daehwi understood that his words were falling upon deaf ears, so instead took Euiwoong’s hand, pulling him behind him. Euiwoong’s legs were weak, and didn’t want to work right so their progress was slow but steady, and eventually Daehwi stopped. Euiwoong was too busy gawking at their surroundings to notice until Daehwi pulled him close.

“Well, you wanted to know where we were going, here we are.” Daehwi gestured in front of him, and it was only then that Euiwoong was able to take his eyes off the ground.

Euiwoong fell to his knees, Daehwi’s strong grip on his arm the only thing keeping the mud from him up again, “Daehwi, what the .” In front of them, only about 30 feet away, had to be the biggest tree Euiwoong had ever seen, it’s base was easily as thick as any house in his village, its roots stuck out of the earth like giant man eating snakes, and its branches seemed to stretch for miles up and around them. Strange vines hung from the branches, and some looked to be bearing fruit. Human shaped fruit.

“Daehwi… That’s…”

“Yep, those are people.”

“But why? Why the hell would something do this?” There had to be more than a thousand bodies hanging, all shapes and sizes, all ages. It wasn’t even all humans either, there was livestock too. Horses and sheep, all strung up, limp. He strained his eyes for Sprout but couldn’t find him, he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“Long ago there was a village on this very spot, but a wizard named Orsco cursed the village. That purple mold that you see? That’s part of the curse. It infects everything it touches, taints it. This was once a holy forest, a protected area against darkness, but now its heart has turned black as night.” Daehwi paused, seemingly collecting his thoughts, “There was a boy, Samuel, he fought back against Orsco and the curse, but he failed. He was the tree’s first victim, and in short time the rest of the village hanged, suspended in time, their souls hanging in limbo as their corpses hung from the tree.”

“So… What do we do, Daehwi?” Euiwoong stood up, gazing as far as he could into the tree.

“I can’t do anything, the magic is too strong for me, and besides, I’ve already been infected. That’s where you come in.” Daehwi pulled back a patch of reeds to reveal a small sword, shining brightly against the gloom. “That was Samuel’s sword, from when he fought Orsco. Only those that haven’t been affected by the curse can touch it. I obviously can’t, but you might be able to.”

Euiwoong gulped, if it was true that whatever the mold touched it tainted, then he may have doomed them all by falling into the water. Hyungseob, Sprout, Daehwi, even the whole village that loomed far above them, but he had to try.

He stepped toward it, stumbling slightly as the mud at his feet. He looked at Daehwi, trying to gauge his emotions, but the other’s face was blank. Well, here goes nothing. He grasped the sword by its hilt and pulled it out of the muck. He was immediately hit by a wall of emotion. Failure, rage, despair,  disgust, it all rammed into him at one, nearly bowling him over. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes, This must be what they’re feeling, hanging up there like that. He swallowed, willing the emotions to go down. He looked at the sword, runes covered the hilt, while a long crack ran down the length of the blade to the tip, where it looked like the point had broken off.

He breathed deeply, clutching the sword closer, “Okay, what do I need to do?”

Daehwi smiled, “Nothing major, just carve up that tree, and try not to die. Oh yeah, you’ll also have to fight Orsco.”

“Daehwi, what?!”

“I never said it was going to be easy, did I? I would’ve done it myself if it weren’t for the fact that I physically can’t. Besides, you look like someone who knows their way around the sword.”

“Daehwi I have never held a sword in my life. I am a farmer, Daehwi. I till fields, milk cows, I don’t fight wizards.”

“Oh. Well, too bad, the sword’s chosen you, you can’t back out of this now. Besides, I have a feeling that you might do better than you think.”

“What part of can’t fight don’t you get, Daehwi?!”

“Call it a forest spirit's intuition. Now get out there and fight some wizards!” He pushed Euiwoong closer to the god forsaken tree. Euiwoong sighed, I am never, ever, ever going to be nice to anyone ever again. Look where it’s gotten me, you try to be a good samaritan and you end up fighting a cursed tree. Well, at least if he was going to die, he was going to die with a sword in his hands. Okay Euiwoong, let’s do this. He stepped closer to the tree, disappearing into the maze of roots.