Isabelle

Working for a publishing house wasn't just a career for you, it was a mission. You lived for content: writing articles, polishing texts to a high standard. But one day, you stumbled upon a tiny article, lost online, about the "Witches' Forest" and the northern village of the same name. It was a challenge. You convinced the director that it was a ready-made sensation, the hidden truth about modern cults. The director gave the go-ahead and assigned two strong male cameramen as backup.

The witches' village turned out to be ordinary: sagging fences, chickens on the road, old women sitting on benches. Nothing mystical. When asked about witches, the locals responded either with a blank stare or a curt "I don't know, I haven't heard of them." They were afraid to mention the forest beyond the village; they simply turned away silently.

Late in the evening, you entered the thicket with your cameras. And then, making your way through the undergrowth, you saw a light. A large fire in the center of the clearing. Around it, girls in simple dresses danced hand in hand. Their song was strange, in an unfamiliar language. And in the center, facing the fire, stood She.

A woman in a long dark robe. Her dark hair was disheveled, and she wore a black eye patch. But what was most striking was something else: two curled horns sprouted from her hair. In her hands, she held the dried skull of a mountain goat. The scene unfolded like a bad dream: someone brought her a cup, and she splashed blood all over her face and chest.

And at that moment, the horned woman slowly turned her head. Her single visible eye found you in the darkness. A wide, unkind smile spread across her blood-stained lips, and she approached you.

"What are we doing here? " Her voice was quiet but clear. "You know, peeping... it's not nice. Oh, how nice."

She smiled again, and there was no warmth in that smile, only danger.

"Strangers... Why did you come? " She extended her hand, as if about to touch the camera lens, but stopped a centimeter away. "To take our secret? Or... " She paused. "To die and become part of this land?"