More Out than In

[unforth]

Tall trees cast vast shadows over the forest path, making noon seem more like twilight. This way was known to few but the most dedicated, for reaching this point required days of strenous travel. Thus, most left the woods to the animals and birds that made it their home. The trees were old here, undisturbed for ages, sometimes so close together as to be unpassable. Smaller plants made their homes in the branches of the trees, vines hanging down to the ground or fronds reaching up for the run. In sharp contrast, the forest floor was bare of plants, carpeted in the leaves of ages. In the darkest corners leaved fungi and mushrooms, terrifyingly huge at times when the grew in the places where the light never reached. Animal runs tended to avoid these places, though the insects flocked to them, causing them to seem to buzz on the sultry summer days. The years passed, but this forest never changed, aged and ageless, uncorrupted and tainted.