—--
Amidst the thick, ghostly, night mist, a lady in heavy cloak galloped through the moonlit forest, her horse's hooves echoing in the stillness, followed by the distant hoot of an owl.
Guided solely by the moon's silver glow, the cloaked lady pressed onwards for hours until finally, she emerged into a clearing dominated by an ancient wooden tree. She had spent days trying to locate this place again, going around in circles and hiding herself away from the enemy, but there was no need to run further as she was finally facing the ancient tree.
Its gnarled branches reached out like skeletal fingers, and out of all the trees within this deserted perimeter, this one stood tall with no leaves on its skeletal branches.
