The morning sun had risen well above the trees, casting golden light through the canopy. The trail was quiet aside from the squeaking cart wheels and the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze. Dave trudged ahead, pulling the cart with his usual dramatic effort, while Matt walked beside him, flipping through pages of the guidebook. Nia wandered a few steps behind, her gaze drifting to the treetops.
Dave broke the silence with his usual blunt tone. "So, uh… Nia. What's the deal with your wings?"
Matt stopped walking and shot him a glare. "Seriously?"
"What?" Dave looked confused. "She's a fairy. Fairies usually have wings. It's a fair question."
Matt shook his head and turned to Nia. "You don't have to explain anything if you don't want to."
But Nia didn't seem offended. She slowed her pace a little, eyes on the ground, her voice soft.
"No... it's alright. I've never really told anyone before. Maybe it's time."
Matt and Dave both fell quiet, listening.
"I was born without wings," she said. "In my kind, that's a sign. A bad one. A fairy without wings is seen as broken. Unlucky. My parents… they left me at the edge of the forest when I was still very small."
Matt's brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
"I should've withered," she continued. "Fairies who are abandoned… they don't live long. We're not like humans. We need the forest, we need each other. But I didn't die."
Dave's eyes were wide now, and even the cart had stopped rolling behind him.
"The forest didn't let me go," Nia said, eyes distant. "It wrapped around me like roots around a seed. It whispered to me, taught me how to survive, how to listen, how to use magic. I wasn't like the others, but it didn't matter. The forest told me I had a purpose."
Matt glanced at her. "What kind of purpose?"
Nia smiled faintly. "It said… one day, I'd find the people I was meant to walk with. That when I found them, I'd earn my wings."
Dave blinked. "So, like… literal wings? Or is this all a metaphor?"
Nia laughed quietly. "I don't know. Maybe both."
They walked in silence for a while, letting her words settle.
Matt eventually spoke. "That's… pretty incredible, Nia."
She nodded, brushing her fingers along a blade of grass as they passed.
Dave scratched his head. "Well, for what it's worth… you don't seem broken to me."
"Thank you," Nia said gently.
"And," Dave added, "if the forest is right, maybe we're those people you're supposed to walk with."
Matt gave him a surprised look.
Dave shrugged. "Hey, stranger things have happened. Like magical slimes and talking trees."
Nia smiled, her eyes warmer now. "Maybe so."
The trail began to narrow, winding closer to the thick forest line. The river beside them was calmer now, moving in a slow, quiet flow. Nia fluttered into a light jump and landed gently on Matt's shoulder, sitting sideways with her legs swinging off the edge.
Matt glanced at her. "Everything alright?"
She nodded, but her tone grew serious. "We're almost at the end of the river trail. Before we go any farther, you both need to know something."
Dave slowed down, one hand still gripping the cart's handle. "That sounds ominous."
Nia ignored the comment and pointed ahead. "The land up there… it's corrupted. The trees will look dead, the ground will feel wrong, and sometimes… the dead don't stay in the ground."
Matt frowned. "You mean like… zombies?"
"Yes," Nia said plainly. "And worse things. Shadows that whisper. Bones that move on their own. You have to be careful where you step. Sometimes, just touching the wrong patch of earth is enough to make something wake up."
Dave looked alarmed. "Wait—what? The old guy back at the stone house didn't say anything about us walking into corpse country."
"He probably didn't know," Nia replied. "This corruption is new. It spreads from a powerful lich that's taken root somewhere in the mountains. Its magic poisons the land around it. The forest can feel it. That's why it warned me."
Dave looked between Matt and Nia. "Okay, so this sounds like a good time to turn around. You know—backtrack, take the scenic route. One without rotting hands grabbing my ankles."
"There is no other way," Nia said. "The mountains ahead are steep cliffs. The river turns into rapids. If we want to reach the nearest kingdom, we have to pass through the corrupted zone."
Matt took a breath, nodded slowly. "Then we'll just have to be careful."
Dave groaned. "Careful is easy to say when you're not the one pulling a cart full of clanking pots and pans."
Nia patted his head. "Just don't trip, and you'll be fine."
They walked forward, the green of the trees beginning to thin out, and the first hints of gray, lifeless earth started to show between the roots.
The deeper they walked, the more the world around them changed. The trees were no longer green. Most had lost their leaves, and their branches looked more like claws. The ground was dry and cracked, with patches of black moss growing in strange patterns. Even the air smelled different—like old dust and burnt wood.
Dave stopped and looked around nervously. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Don't touch anything weird," Nia said from Matt's shoulder. "The ground here isn't safe. Some parts are full of decay magic."
Matt kept his eyes forward, watching for movement. "Nothing's jumped out at us yet, but stay sharp."
Up ahead, just beyond a twisted tree trunk, something caught Matt's attention. A pile of bones, half-buried in the dirt, lay completely still.
"Wait," Matt said, holding his hand out to stop the others.
Dave squinted. "Is that… bones?"
"Yeah," Matt answered. "Human, I think."
They stared at it for a moment. Then, without warning, the bones twitched. One finger moved. Then the entire hand clawed at the dirt, pulling the rest of the skeleton upright in jerky, uneven movements.
"Oh come on!" Dave shouted, backing up quickly. "Seriously?!"
The skeleton turned its empty eye sockets toward them and let out a dry, rattling sound like something scraping a tin can. It started stumbling toward them, arms out.
Matt grabbed a long stick from the cart and stepped in front of Nia. "Stay behind me."
The skeleton lunged, but it was slow. Matt swung the stick and hit it across the ribs. Several bones snapped, and the skeleton stumbled. Dave ran up and kicked it hard in the chest. It flew back and landed on a rock with a loud crack—the skull split open, and it stopped moving.
They all stood still, catching their breath.
Dave looked down at the mess. "Okay. That was the worst thing I've ever kicked."
Matt kept looking around. "We need to keep moving. That one was slow, but we might not be so lucky next time."
Nia nodded. "That was just one. The deeper we go, the more dangerous it gets. Let's not waste time."
Nobody argued. They moved faster now, heads low and eyes scanning every shadow. The dead woods were quiet again, but none of them trusted that silence.
They just wanted to get out of there.
They hadn't gone much farther when the ground became worse.
It wasn't just dry and cracked anymore—it was crawling with danger. All around them, pale, rotten hands stuck out from the dirt like weeds. Some twitched, others reached slowly. A few swung blindly, as if waiting for something to pass close enough to grab.
Matt pulled Nia closer to his chest while guiding the cart with his free hand. "Step carefully," he said. "Just avoid anything moving."
Dave grumbled, lifting his feet high with each step. "This is a nightmare. Why is everything in this place trying to grab me?"
He was mid-step when a cold, bony hand shot out and clamped around his ankle.
"Gah! Get it off me!" Dave shouted, kicking his leg.
But it was too late. A full corpse burst from the soil—jaw open, skin hanging like wet paper—and bit into Dave's lower leg before he could react. He screamed and stumbled backward, slamming his other foot into the corpse's face. With a loud crack, the skull shattered and the rotten body fell apart.
Matt rushed to him. "Dave! You okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" Dave sat on the ground, holding his leg. "It bit me! That thing bit me!"
Nia hovered close, looking pale. "That's bad. Decay magic from a bite can spread. If it reaches your chest, it could kill you."
Dave's eyes widened. "Are you saying I'm gonna turn into a zombie?"
"No," Nia said calmly, "but you might die from the infection. We should cut the leg off before the magic spreads."
"Excuse me?!" Dave shouted. "No! We're not cutting anything off! I still need that leg!"
Matt looked at the bite. It was already turning red and slightly swollen. "We need to do something fast."
Dave fumbled through one of the bags on the cart and pulled out a plastic container. "Hold on, I've seen worse cuts on wilderness survival shows." He opened it and pulled out a tube of antiseptic cream, a roll of bandages, and a bottle of painkillers. "We clean it, wrap it, and hope for the best."
Nia looked doubtful. "That doesn't stop decay magic."
"Well it might stop infection," Dave said, applying a generous amount of cream. "And if it buys me time, we can find someone who knows how to remove this magic properly."
Matt helped him clean and wrap the bite while keeping a close eye on the shifting hands around them.
"We need to move," Matt said. "Slowly. Carefully. And no more stepping on suspicious ground."
Dave stood up, wobbling slightly but determined. "If I turn into a zombie, you better bash my head in. But until then, I'm not losing a leg."
Nia sighed. "Fine. But if you start to smell weird, I'm going to assume the worst."
They pushed forward, each step slower than the last, as the trail of hands reached out for them like the forest itself wanted to pull them under.
They finally broke through the corrupted zone as the dead trees thinned out and gave way to signs of life. The ground turned firm again, patches of grass slowly appearing like hope poking through the dirt. Sunlight filtered down through healthy leaves, and a breeze carried the smell of green things—fresh and alive.
Dave collapsed on a flat rock beside the trail, panting. "I never want to see another skeleton again."
Matt dropped the cart's handle and stretched his arms. "We made it. We're out."
Nia fluttered off Matt's shoulder and landed beside Dave's leg, her eyes focused on the bandaged bite. She tilted her head, curious, then carefully peeled the wrapping back. The skin underneath looked normal—maybe a little red, but clean. Healthy. No black streaks, no signs of spreading magic.
She blinked. "It's… gone."
Matt leaned over. "What is?"
"The decay. It's completely gone. Like it was never there." Nia looked at Dave, wide-eyed. "That cream you used—it cured decay magic."
Dave sat up a little straighter, his expression shifting from tired to smug. "You're kidding."
"No one's kidding," Nia said. "Normally decay magic lingers for days, even with magical treatment. This… this healed it in hours."
Dave looked down at his leg, then at the tube of antiseptic cream still in his pack. He held it up like it was a sacred relic. "To all the poor folks who've lost limbs out here because they didn't have this…" He stood, bowed his head, and said with exaggerated seriousness, "May your ghostly legs rest in peace."
Matt rolled his eyes. "You're unbelievable."
"I'm a pioneer," Dave said. "A medical innovator. A man with a first-aid kit from Walmart."
Nia giggled. "You might be more important to this world than we thought."
"Finally," Dave said with a proud grin, "someone who sees my true worth."
They pushed the cart back onto the trail and continued forward, now surrounded by the comfort of green forests and the promise of safer roads ahead. For now.