As he made his way down the path, he had this growing feeling that something was terribly wrong. Normally, the path was completely filled with ravens. They normally sat in the high branches of the trees, watching over the travelers that walked this path. The villagers considered ravens to be signs of good luck, as it was well known they wouldn’t tolerate the presence of the huge bears that lurked in the forest. However, today there were no ravens to be seen, and that made Calyx very, very nervous. The path seemed to stretch even longer than it already was, disappearing into the distance. He stopped, considering turning back. Surely everyone would understand if he explained he was worried about bears. Would they? He frowned, twirling the empty basket he was supposed to carry the vegetables in around one finger. The village was already short of food, what with the bears keeping the villagers away from the salmon in the river, and the lack of sunlight driving away most other game. He gave another deep sigh, and prepared himself, confidently striding down the path. Maybe as long as he appeared as if he believed so, everything would work out for him. Calyx tried to ignore the way the path seemed to just keep getting longer and longer, as if it would never end, and the way the trees seemed to lean in towards him, enclosing him in their dense branches. He walked faster and faster, trying not to appear nervous. His steps slowly fell into a trot, then a jog, then a run, until he was sprinting down the path, almost tripping over the stray tree roots that had slowly crept onto the path, so slowly that no one had noticed them.

His steps pounded in his head, matching the pounding of his heart. Calyx kept his head down, focusing only on the path in front of him. He watched the path continue past his feet, until he finally saw sunlight touch the tips of his shoes. He skidded to a halt, chest heaving, and looked up.

Calyx saw the clearing in front of him. He had never been so relieved to see something so gray and dingy in his life. He even took a moment to appreciate the few scraggly flowers that grew there. But as he crouched on the ground to observe the flowers, he noticed something odd. The sunlight coming through here was normally weak, and therefore made everything seem dull and desaturated. But as he looked closer, he saw that the flowers seemed healthier than normal, and much more colorful than they should be. Calyx furrowed his brow in confusion, and took a second glance around the clearing. He noticed that everything was fuller, greener, and denser than it was before. The forest looked as if it wasn’t choked by the lack of sunlight, and instead had all the sunlight it could ever ask for.