The winter night was crystal clear and cold, smothered only by a deep silence which hung in the air. There was no breeze, no flutter of leaves, no distant rumble of vehicles or voices. The stillness was unnatural, sending a shiver down the boys spine as he trod the winding path through the woods.

The towering trees above formed an impregnable wall so dense not even a sliver of moonlight penetrated the suffocating darkness. The boy held his phone before him, hunched over, futilely attempting to saturate the damp path with its light which seemed an unnatural and unwelcome intruder to the night.

The back of his neck prickled and he whipped his head around, certain he would see the shadow of a figure behind him, perhaps drifting out of the darkness, but there was nothing. Suddenly the path turned and a small hut emerged, old and wooden with a thin column of smoke rising drifting above it.

A flicker of fire light jumped behind the cracked, dusty windows and the boy took a deep breath, reaching out to push open the warped door.

It screamed on its hinges, the noise amplified a hundred times as it echoed around and around in the deep tunnel of trees.

"For gods sake!" snarled a voice and a hand grabbed the boys arm roughly, heaving him inside where he stumbled back upon one of the old mismatched armchairs by the fire. He sank into it, heart pounding as the figure pulled the door shut, peering out the murky window to the darkness beyond.

"You're late" he snarled limping back towards the fire and sinking into a seat opposite the boy. "He told me 10.30"

"I got lost" the boy retorted sharply "you couldn't have found somewhere slightly closer to...well anywhere really?"

The man smirked and leaned forward in his chair so his face was revealed by the flickering fire light. He was old, his skin puckered and weather beaten as if he had never spent a day inside. Scraggly ashen hair fell to his bony shoulders but the bare top of his head shone like a polished jewel. An elongated ropey scar danced down his features to the edges of his thin grey lips, pulling the corner of his mouth into a hideous grimace. His skin was translucent and grey, everything about him appeared feeble and weak, his gnarled hands clasped on his lap, his thin shoulders hunched down in the chair, everything except his eyes, gleaming, ocean deep cerulean. There was life in those eyes, they spoke of strength and determination, convincing the boy this man was capable of anything. Something stirred in those deep pools, something hard, a cruelty, a desperation which unsettled the boy to his core.

"So you're the one he's sent" the man asked, amusement shimmering in his eyes, "I suppose you're looking for the answers" The boy picked nervously at the aged cloth on his chair, it was floral, ugly, from another time "I think I'm entitled to them" he retorted, not risking lifting his eyes, fearful of being ensnared in the man's powerful glare.

The old man snorted, "You listen here boy and you listen well" he spat "You leave this cabin tonight and there's no turning back, once the wheels are set in motion you don't ever get off." He paused as if that particular thought gave him great pleasure "It starts with something small, isolated, seemingly unimportant, and then it grows, slowly, invisibly, like a cancer, until it's too late."

He leant forward even further and the boy unwillingly lifted his eyes to the commanding and almost manic gaze "Our world is about to change" he said in a slow and quiet whisper leaving no room for argument "and it's already begun" he lent back in his chair, gazing into the fire so the flames danced in his eyes, "It's already begun" he repeated quietly as if he had already forgotten the boys presence. There was an intensity in his gaze, a hunger as if he had waited his entire life for what would follow.