Don't enter the woods

A cryptic warning left behind.

This... I think he left this note for us. I don't know when he left it though. He's been gone for a month, and we just now looked through his stuff. The note might've been there since he left... but I think he came back to leave it. I think something happened to him, and he chose to leave whatever explanation he could. That's what I like to believe at least.

— Alfrida , in the Weirboran Inn.

This note was all that was discovered after a citizen of Weirborough vanished into the surrounding woods.

---

It was dark. But I could see.
It was silent. But I could hear.


Don't enter the woods.


I was wandering through the trees.
Stepping over bushes, pushing through vines.
I thought I heard wildlife...
But no. It was silent.


Don't enter the woods.


I had entered the woods.


It wasn't long before I had left what I know behind.
Time passed, and soon my only company was the trees around me.
A trickle of water ran down a nearby hill, feeding a larger stream.
Had it rained recently?


Don't enter the woods.


I bent down to take a look at some tracks on the ground.
Beside the prints, a bush with glistening red berries.
The shine on the berries had caught my eye.
I thought about eating them.


Don't enter the woods.


I walked for what seemed like hours.
I saw faces of people I once knew, people I once loved.
Their faces were on the animals around me.
I didn't realize there were so many animals around me.


Don't enter the woods.


I reached a point where large rocks burst from the landscape.
The rocks were gray, and black, and brown and green.
The moss growing on them writhed under the warm sunlight.
I must have stood there for hours staring at it.


Don't enter the woods.


I was broken from my reverie by the coming of darkness.
Or was it always dark?
I left the stone behind, and continued forward, always forward.
The ground beneath my feet was soft, each step leaving a noticeable indent behind.


Don't enter the woods.


I followed light I thought I saw.
In the end I found it coming from a field of flowers.
In the heart of each flower, I could see truth.
I was stuck on the outside though, unable to reach the truth, despite my grasping.


Don't enter the woods.


After that, I was utterly lost.
I lost myself, I lost myself, I lost everything.
But... I was okay with losing myself, of losing everything.
I didn't have to go looking anymore.


I had entered the woods.


Please don't enter the woods.

Type

Forest, Boreal (Coniferous)

Location under

The Floor of Dexterity

The Woods

Located on the Second Floor, also known as The Floor of Dexterity. These woods take up the majority of space on this floor, broken up only by the lazily spiraling Spillway , Westbank and Northrun rivers.
The banks of the rivers, and the first 50 meters or so visible from the shore, are safe within the woods. The trees are younger, the ground is clearer. These areas, along with the flat swathes of land at the end of each river, are where the citizens of the second floor call home. It's where they've always called home, ever since Locorin disappeared, and the Tower became a scarier place to live.
Beyond this zone of safety, the trees grow older, and the ground becomes softer. Dark things live in the woods. The woods are commonly spoken of as an accursed area, somewhere no sane soul should go. The last person to enter the woods did so from Weirborough ; he never returned.