The forest was dark. Stars enveloped the night sky, the full moon shone brightly. Students slept in the dormitories. Birds and squirrels rummaged through leaves and pine needles.
Underneath the ropes course lay thousands of tiny fragments. The pieces were too small to be seen by the human eye. The kids on the course had had no idea what lay below them. They had no clue that evil waited at their feet.
The fragments rose from the snowy ground, emitting a pale, blue light. Up they went, higher and higher, floating like tiny butterflies, and finally merging on the logs of the ropes course.
They came together piece by piece, the glow becoming brighter with each connection. They formed a shape. The shape of a man. He was tall and pale, with dimples on either side of his mouth.
When all the pieces joined, the man balanced steadily on the logs, his arms at his sides. And then … he smiled.