Night had already swallowed most of the forest.
Deep inside the Western Ghats, the sound of axes echoed between the trees. Five woodcutters pushed through the dense undergrowth, their lanterns swinging weakly in the dark.
"Enough," one of them muttered nervously. "We've already come too deep."
The man leading them stopped and turned around.
Ramesh.
Broad shoulders. Greedy eyes.
He wiped sweat from his forehead and pointed ahead with his axe.
"The wood here is thin," he said. "You want real money? The deeper trees are stronger." Another woodcutter shook his head. "People don't come here for a reason." Ramesh laughed. "Stories?" he scoffed. "Nothing wanders here." The men exchanged uneasy glances, but followed anyway. Branches cracked under their feet.
The deeper they walked, the darker the forest became. Even the lantern light seemed weaker, swallowed by the thick canopy above.
Somewhere far away...
Something moved.
Beneath layers of twisted roots and ancient stones, a massive body shifted slowly. Someone had been sleeping. For decades.
Its enormous scales rubbed against the damp earth as it slowly lifted its head.
Noise. Intruders.
The creature began to move.
Silently.
Its body slithered through the forest like a living river of scales, twisting around tree trunks and crawling across thick branches. Leaves trembled as the massive body passed. The forest itself seemed to hold its breath. The woodcutters continued walking.
Then one of them froze.
"Did you hear that?"
A low scraping sound echoed behind them. Another turned his lantern. The light trembled across something in the darkness.
Something huge.
A curved surface reflecting dull green light.
A scale.
A thick drop of saliva fell from above and hit the ground with a wet sound. The men slowly lifted their lanterns higher. More scales appeared in the shadows.
Massive.
Endless.
And something in the darkness moved. The lantern light shook violently. Then-
A long, deep hiss filled the forest.
And the men screamed. Morning arrived peacefully in the nearby village. Sunlight spread across mud houses and narrow pathways. A few villagers noticed something strange.
The woodcutters had returned. They walked slowly into the village carrying bundles of wood. But the wood looked... wrong.
Small. Dry. Broken branches.
Not the thick forest timber they usually brought. "Back already?" a villager asked. None of the men replied. They simply walked past him. Their footsteps were slow.
Mechanical.
Their eyes empty.
A faint crackling sound followed them, like dry sticks rubbing together. A dusty road outside the village.
A white sedan approached slowly and stopped near the entrance.
The driver's door opened first.
Raghav stepped out and stretched his shoulders after the long drive. He was tall and strongly built, his posture straight even after hours on the road. His dark shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his sharp eyes immediately moved toward the forest in the distance.
The passenger door opened next.
Kabir climbed out carefully, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Compared to Raghav he looked leaner, quieter, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw the endless line of trees.
"Look at that canopy," he muttered, already reaching for the camera hanging from his neck.
The back door opened with a soft thud.
Aarohi stepped out and stretched her arms above her head, tying her hair back loosely as she looked around the village. There was a confident calmness in the way she moved, her gaze quickly scanning the land around them.
"So this is the survey area," she said.
Raghav looked toward the forest. For a brief moment, he felt a strange chill. The village looked normal. Too normal. But several villagers were silently watching the newcomers.
And the near market place... The woodcutters stood in a group.
Watching. Not blinking.
Night fell quickly in the village. The three newcomers slept inside a small rented house near the forest edge. The village was silent. The wind moved gently through the trees. Everything looked peaceful.
Until it came.
A sound from deep inside the forest. A massive, echoing HISS. So loud it vibrated through the night air. Kabir turned slightly in his sleep. Aarohi slept peacefully. But Raghav's eyes slowly opened. He sat up in the darkness.
Listening.
The sound faded back into the forest. Raghav looked toward the window. Something was very wrong here. And somewhere deep in the forest...
Something ancient was awake.