Gemotions

He found it without even searching. The absence was the loudest thing in the field, a gaping void where the oak used to stand. Its absence was a shock. The air seemed to buzz with a strange energy, a palpable silence that thrummed against his skin.

Daniel’s legs felt like lead. He walked towards the clearing, each step measured, deliberate. He knelt, his knees cracking on the dry earth.

His hand trembled as he reached out to touch the newly cut wood. The grain swirled in patterns he didn’t recognize, like a map he couldn’t decipher. A strange heat bloomed in his chest, making it hard to swallow.

"Unbelievable," he breathed, the word a mere fragment of what he was experiencing.