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verge of collapse, sharpening my sister’s beaming grins and
basking in the undimmed wonder of things to come.
The twilight worked on the eternally autumnal trees of
the September Woods like a bellows upon fire, scarlet and
shadow creeping out of the surrounding woods, pooling dim
and deep all around. Finally, I rose and walked beneath the
burning ceiling of the forest, as I knew the time for waiting
had ended.
But for the characteristic heaviness that betrays the
waking world, I might have thought I was in a dream. The
forest was otherworldly, breeching almost completely out of
death. It was difficult to imagine, but necessary to realize,
that the September Woods was not my friend, but quite the
opposite—it was my sworn enemy. Perhaps more opposed
than even Jack himself, for my opponent served the Woods,
loved it, and was loved in return. It would not be kind to me,
and it would not give up its hero easily.
Somewhere deep in the Woods, I saw what seemed like
a bit of twilight caught within the tree branches, incapable
of descending with the sun, bobbing in the ink. The closer I
drew to the spot, the more of these lights I saw. Eventually,
they spread out wide before me, like the glowing, beating
heart of the September Woods. I was so taken by the lights,
I’d failed to notice that the wind had picked up, increasing in
strength by the moment. Before I had time to properly react,
great squalls of wind bearing dead leaves that felt like razor
blades held me aloft in the air. I was nearly immobilized.
The wind thickened the faster it gusted, until I felt as if I
were being crushed within a gigantic hand in addition to
being torn to bloody shreds by the whipping, serrated leaves.
I needed a moment of clarity, a space to operate. My
father delivered me into such a space. It took all my strength
to reach him, and when my hands wrapped around familiar
bones, a great rage came into me. The resulting blow from
the axe upon the thick wind was as deafening as it was
alien. A shriek rose from the Woods itself, lifting into the
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