A cloudy day it was, as per usual of this region.

Only one source of light was clear enough to be viewed high above, although the routine swarm of sinister, dark-brown, churning atmosphere encircling it threatened to swallow it once more.

On this particular mountain, plant life abounded. The meager portions of sunlight provided sequentially dulled the colors here, though. As such, a near-black canary shade was present in most plants here, an almost terracotta tone reflecting off of them as they tried their damnedest to absorb it.

One particular tree in this middling region of the mountain felt a weight on its base. There, the shadows were darker than usual.

"Are we near?"

A boy dressed in tattered robes grumbled. He had spent a few minutes picking at a tree's bark in light of the lack of stimulation that this journey gave him.

Giving up, he turned around and slumped down onto the tree's base, weakly looking forward.

There, a man kneeled, examining the surrounding terrain. Ignoring the boy for a while, he continued to look over the same area many times.

Only after a time did he respond. "We should not be far, the area is starting to look familiar, at least." The man's customary robes were already dull and dirtied from this frequent examination, but he didn't seem to mind.

What interested him was the child's remark. This child had not said much throughout their trek, which in itself was strange. The man looked on with a curious gaze.

The boy continued playing with a piece of tree bark in his fingers before flicking it away and making an effort to get up.

He was not clueless as to why he had to accompany this man to wherever they were going. The circumstances surrounding his village were unusual enough, as was he, apparently. Frankly, he felt like a suspect in a criminal proceeding. There was no reason nor sense in trying to resist. It was just all too strange to try and understand.

"So, do we go now?" he asked, looking at the man with impatience. The man had been examining the ground for a bit longer than what was considered normal.

"Ah, yes." The man stood up and looked around before fixing his attention onto the boy. "Before that, could you go and gather some food?" The man gave a sly grin.

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This confused the boy even further. They were close to their destination, why must he hunt?

The boy stared for a few seconds and turned around. After walking a few strides, he muttered under his breath, "What a weird guy."

Although this terrain was something new to the boy, it didn't change much about the gathering aspect.

One of the glaring differences was the taste of the plants and berries here. They were remarkably dull. Perhaps due to the lack of valid nourishment, these "berries" looked and tasted more like nuts than anything.

Another would be the lack of fruits or anything similar. These plants seemed to be vying for sunlight more so than reproduction. Their leaves were spread widely outward in order to capture as much light as they could.

Strangely, these plants were also shockingly huge. In many cases, the boy had to spend a second or two moving individual leaves out of the way. This created a sort of canopy, darkening the surroundings drastically in certain areas.

Apart from these plants, the ground was quite barren. What else could compete with these kinds of plants?

The boy went about his business, collecting mostly berries along with some interesting-looking plants. In this environment, anything that stood out even a little bit had to be special.

As they were supposedly not far from their destination, he only gathered a couple of handfuls and cupped them against his chest, heading back. On his initial walk, he had taken no turns, only taking what he encountered. The path back was a straight one.

After a while, his surroundings began to look familiar once more and he grew relaxed. The man made it seem like these mountains were safe, but who can be certain?

He moved a leaf out of his face and was greeted by the tree that he had played around with earlier.

Only, the base of the tree was concave.

A feeling of intense dread enveloped him immediately. His eyes rounded. Slouched down on the base of this tree was something that gave the boy much shock, so much so that his mind dared not remember it.

His head darted away, only to be greeted by an equally shocking scene; motion. Motion in the ground. There seemed to be a border of such within a dozen feet surrounding the boy, the soil itself seemed afraid to advance further. Trees nearby without this barrier were similar in state to the aforementioned.

The boy's breath stagnated and his being trembled at the sight.

At this point, his mind was mostly blank, void of perception.

In the center of all of this, there was something. Or at least this was what the boy could discern.

This scene was a lack of one. It was certain that these surroundings were in causation of this, but the boy could not understand. He was fixated on the center.

The center of it all was something foreign to the boy, something that didn't belong. Such a violating calm.

It looked at him. The man looked at the boy. The boy was not capable of movement at this time; such horror had already surpassed his greatest imagination. He could only watch on.

"Did you bring food?" A host of noise entered the boy's ears, of which he could understand.

Akin to a waking dream, the boy could begin to see.

"We're pretty close as I'd expected. Pick those berries up, we're leaving." The man's voice entered his ears once again.

The boy could not bring himself to look around, only down. He had dropped his gatherings. In a weirdly ordered manner, he kneeled and began to pick them up.

Upon rising, he noticed yet another peculiarity. The plants and fruits that the boy had gathered were dry as far as he could remember, but now, they were covered in some viscous, sticky liquid.

They walked in silence for a while, the man occasionally studying their surroundings with growing certainty.

"Hey," the man stopped and looked behind him, "You have to prepare yourself."

The boy had not looked up so far, and the man's words seemed to fall on deaf ears. A strange expression covered the man's face as he shook his head and returned to scouting.