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/_______ /|___|\______ /____|__ \ /_______ /\____|__ /_______ /
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ISSUE 001
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oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo
->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

A Trodden Path

Jonah found himself at the park again, an expanse of forlorn green amidst the
city's concrete and steel. It was a bleak place, where the trees whispered
secrets and the wind felt as though it carried the sorrows of the entire world.
On that particular day, he felt an odd tingling sensation as he walked between
two ancient, gnarled trees that had always stood as silent guardians of the
park.

As if on cue, the sensation brought a series of fortunate events into his life.
A text alert informed him that an overdue promotion was finally approved. Later,
at the coffee shop where the barista usually messed up his order, his coffee was
perfect—dark and full-bodied, with just the right amount of sweetness. Strangest
of all, the random lottery ticket he'd bought on a whim turned out to be a minor
winner. For the first time in months, Jonah went to bed that night with a smile
on his face, attributing his good fortune to that mysterious walk between the
two trees.

Elated by the events of the previous day, he returned to the park, compelled to
pass between the twin trees again. As he did, he felt the tingling sensation
once more—but this time, something felt darker, almost sinister.

The unraveling began swiftly. His phone buzzed with an email; the promotion was
rescinded due to a sudden organizational reshuffle. Then, a large bird, perhaps a
crow, flew overhead and dropped its payload, splattering him with droppings. The
universe seemed to have tilted off its axis; the coffee he got was not just
wrong, it was atrocious—burnt and bitter.

Disoriented, Jonah trudged back home only to find his apartment had been
burglarized. The window was smashed and his possessions rifled through, valuable
or not, they were all gone.

By nightfall, Jonah felt crushed, struggling to rationalize his stroke of
horrendous luck. He lay in his bed, pondering whether to even visit the park
again. But as he drifted to sleep, a vision materialized. He found himself in
the park, but it was unlike any version of it he'd seen before. Everything
shimmered with an ethereal glow.

A Faerie, delicate but with a presence that filled the space, appeared before
him. "You have trodden paths not meant for mortals. Trods shift reality, bending
the luck that befalls you. You've tasted both sides, but now there's no going
back. The trees are gone, and so is the path you walked."

Jonah woke up in a cold sweat, the Faerie's words echoing in his mind. Compelled
to confirm the vision, he rushed to the park. True enough, the ancient trees
were gone, as if they had never been there at all. A deep emptiness filled him,
knowing that he had flirted with the borders of a world not meant for him.

From that day forward, Jonah's life settled into an average routine, neither
overly fortunate nor entirely dismal. But the park never felt the same, and he
could never shake the feeling that reality, once so stable, was now as elusive
and shifting as the wind that still carried the world’s sorrows.

He never did find out the name of the Faerie who visited him, nor did he ever
see the mysterious trees again. But the lesson stayed with him—some paths are
not meant to be walked, and once you've trodden on forbidden ground, there's
simply no going back.

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oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo oo1oo

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! Produced by I HATE IT HERE - https://www.tengushee.com/ihih !
| #FAEWAVE #ERIS
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EOF