The Nursery Door of Gurgyl

The forest opens into a circular clearing where the trees lean inward like curious children. In the center stands a soot-black iron key suspended above a ring of root-bound timbers, while an abandoned stove and crooked chimney protrude from the earth nearby. The floor is damp with black leaves, but three flat stones marked 3, 6, and 10 remain clean. Every few breaths, a hidden floorboard creaks beneath the moss, the chimney exhales a thread of cold smoke, and the timber circle gives a faint groan as though something enormous is shifting on the other side.