Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTQYAV2QTCD0X00ED4TR13P

The night air bit at Aurora's exposed skin as she pushed through the brambles at Richmond Park's edge. Her phone's dim glow cast just enough light to avoid the worst thorns, but shadows danced at the periphery of her vision. The Heartstone pendant pulsed against her chest, its warmth a sharp contrast to the autumn chill. "This is mental." She checked the crude map Eva had drawn. Three oak trees in a triangle formation marked the grove's entrance, but in the dark, every tree looked the same. The pendant grew warmer. A twig snapped behind her. Aurora whirled around, phone beam cutting through darkness. Nothing moved except leaves stirred by the wind. Her breath clouded in front of her face. The pendant's heat increased, drawing her forward until – there. Three massive oaks, their ancient trunks twisted into impossible shapes. Aurora pressed her palm against the nearest bark. The surface thrummed with energy that set her teeth on edge. "Right then. Find the flower, get out. Simple." Her voice sounded thin in the heavy silence. She stepped between two of the oaks. The air changed – became thick, syrupy. Her phone screen flickered and died. The pendant's glow provided the only illumination, casting everything in a blood-red tinge. The grove opened before her, a perfect circle of grass dotted with wildflowers that had no business blooming in October. Stars winked overhead through breaks in the canopy, but they seemed... wrong. Too close. Too bright. Too still. Aurora's boots crushed flowers as she moved deeper into the grove. The pendant's warmth had become uncomfortable, almost burning. She tugged it free from beneath her jacket, letting it hang outside. A whisper brushed past her ear – wordless, but deliberate. She spun around. The trees at the grove's edge shifted and writhed, though no wind stirred their branches. "Hello?" The word fell dead in the thick air. No echo. No response except another whisper, this time from behind. The flowers around her feet had changed. Where moments ago they'd been scattered randomly, now they formed a spiral pattern leading to the grove's center. Aurora hadn't heard them move. Hadn't seen them move. But they had. Her heart hammered against her ribs. The pendant's glow pulsed in rhythm with it, throwing grotesque shadows across the grove. She took a step backward, toward the entrance. Her heel caught on something soft. A flower stem had wrapped around her ankle. Aurora jerked free with a gasp. More whispers now, from all directions. The shadows between the trees deepened, took shape. Moved with purpose. "This was a mistake." She turned to run but stopped short. The three entrance oaks had vanished. Every direction looked identical – trees and flowers and shifting shadows that shouldn't exist. The pendant burned against her skin. Its light revealed flowers turning, tracking her movement like hungry eyes. The whispers grew louder, almost – but not quite – resolving into words she could understand. A sound cut through the whispers. Footsteps on grass, approaching from behind. Slow. Deliberate. Aurora's muscles locked. She knew, with absolute certainty, that she must not turn around. Must not look at whatever drew near. The footsteps stopped. Hot breath stirred the hair at the nape of her neck. Aurora ran. She crashed through flowers that grabbed at her clothes, her arms, her legs. The grove's edges retreated faster than she could reach them. The whispers became laughter – high and cruel and hungry. Something solid struck her shoulder, spinning her around. An oak tree where none had been before. The pendant's light showed more trees appearing, the grove shrinking, closing in. The footsteps resumed, unhurried. They didn't need to rush. There was nowhere left to run.