In the humid, frigid valley, silence reigned, broken only by the rustle of wind through the leaves—a sound that carried a lurking, pervasive sense of dread.
The ground was buried under thick layers of dead leaves. Beneath the fresh fall lay leaves long since rotted, creating a carpet like a perennial brown snowfall in a deep, desolate valley rarely visited in early winter. Terrible and dangerous creatures lurked in every secret nook, perhaps hidden within the cliff faces or coiled amidst the trees.
For instance, at the foot of the hill across the stream, a brown bear watched with predatory hunger; a small green snake coiled around a moss-covered trunk; and within the seemingly tranquil shallows swam centuries-old carp and a millennial water monster.
Chapter 167