The wind stirred, carrying faint whispers that seemed to emanate from the tree's ancient bark. I strained to catch the words, my senses on high alert. The women's voices seemed to meld with the wind's susurration, creating an eerie harmony that played tricks on my mind.
“What should we do Jaakuna”. The second girl started “Our crops are dying day by day”. The tree hummed and spoke out in a slow methodical tone “Fret not young one if one more sacrifice and all the village's worries will go away”. The girls all nodded and they shuffled the third girl up. She had auburn hair and blue eyes were watery yet was resigned to her inevitable fate.
She made slow deliberate steps moving closer and closer to the tree. Her face was twisted in a mournful bitter expression. Clearly she resented having to give her life away to what amounted to nothing.
When she reached the roots on the tree she started climbing on to the tree until she reached the highest branch.She grabbed one of the nearby noose and tied it around her neck tightly. Sighing, I decided to act. knowing I wouldn't sleep well if I didn’t save the girl.
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For better or for worse I crouched down and sprang like a viper. As soon as I launched off the ground the wind blowing in my ear. The girl dropped like a rock and was approaching the ground at a dangerous pace. My facial muscles twitched into a smile whispering under my breath
“I love this”. The slick tar that was the foreign power source thrummed to life boosting my jump to inhuman heights. The magic now felt dirty in a good way, almost like a good hard day's work in the fields.
I caught her in my arms and sliced through the rope with a karate chop And landed smoothly on the ground. Pandemonium broke out screaming the girl launched a punch towards my face. I dropped her on the dirt. Looking down at her, I wonder to myself what's wrong with the girl.
Making distance A pot was thrown at me. Ducking I growled in annoyance and shouted “Calm THE FUCK down”. Moving Forward I close lined both of the two women still next to the tree they went down. The tree screamed and its branches waved in the air “Tainted! Tainted! Tainted! Don’t want anymore” with a final scream it went stationary and ceased to talk.
The oldest woman clambered up, fury etched on her face. "You have disrupted the ritual. You must fix it, or we're all doomed."
Staring at the woman, I recoiled instinctively. "Stay away," I warned her, the faint coolness of the wind taking the edge off my boiling temper. As I took a breath to calm myself, I couldn't help but wonder what events awaited me in the long nights to come. Little did I know that I should've let her die. Unfortunately that was not meant to be.