The day passed like any other. I mostly stay home, documenting my mental state and thoughts, enjoying some movies, and hitting the gym, where I train in martial arts. The coach is a former MMA rookie who never got the chance to fulfill his potential due to a severe knee injury. He is one of the very few people I respect.
He says I'm quite skilled and should pursue a career in fighting. He often points out that I have the soul of a fighter, which is the most important part. And in some way, I'm convinced that I have potential. I've always known that my soul longs for a good fight—one of the few moments where I truly feel alive.
I haven't decided yet to fully commit to a martial arts career, but maybe I will, because right now I feel like I lack any real purpose.
After waiting for my mother to fall asleep, I got ready to leave. Since venturing into the woods at night might be a little dangerous, I carried a retractable iron rod, a torchlight, of course a lighter and a pack of cigarettes—yes, I smoke even though I'm an athlete—and a small knife. Maybe the knife was a little over the top, but it felt… what can I say, cool, I guess.
After opening the front door carefully so as not to make any sound, I stepped outside and found a pack of stray dogs huddled together near our wall. One look was enough to tell they were scared—some were even shivering. Normally, they would run away after encountering a human outside their territory, but they didn't move a muscle.
"What could have scared them this much? Not even barking… a predator wouldn't explain this level of fear. I mean, the dogs here are gangsta. They're the reason I travel using my EV, because if I walk, these fools won't leave me alone. They're basically our night siren, warning us of danger."
I had a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should cancel my plans for tonight, but strangely, it felt more urgent to go to the hidden ground.
After deciding to trust my intuition, I set out.
The EV could only take me as far as the entrance of the spinney. From there, I began walking along a narrow trail that led deeper into the forest, using my torch to light the path ahead.
The night was eerie—the creaking of insects and the swirling wind through the woods created uncanny whispers. After a while, I finally reached the slope that opened into a wide grass field, stretching horizontally like a river.
It was a full moon night, bright enough that I no longer needed the torch once I stepped out from beneath the trees. The clearing looked almost exactly as it had in my dream—every curve of the land, every stretch of grass disturbingly familiar.
All except for one thing.
The lone tree.
It stood at the center of the plain, silent and unmoving. There had never been a tree there before—of that, I was certain. And yet now it existed, rooted in the exact spot where it had appeared in my dream, as if it had always belonged.
I stopped at the edge of the slope, my breath catching as a quiet unease settled over me. Had I finally lost it? Was I seeing things that simply weren't real?
The thought lingered… but so did the pull.
My eyes stayed fixed on the tree. Seconds stretched into minutes, and somewhere in that silence, hesitation gave way to something stronger. I exhaled slowly, steadying myself, and took my first step down the slope.
"What can I say?" I muttered under my breath. "Curiosity always gets the better of me."
Insane or not, this wasn't something I could just walk away from. Something about this place—about that tree—was wrong. Not just unusual, but beyond the rules I understood.
And there was no way I was turning back now.