Leon had always found the forest behind his house to be a rather ordinary place - full of twisted paths, old moss and buzzing mosquitoes. However, something had changed for some time. The birds, usually busy in the morning, were silent as if under a spell. The neighbours' dogs had stopped barking at passers-by, and at night there was something coming from the darkness that was hard to describe - a quiet, pulsating rhythm, as if echoing the heart of the forest itself. Leon was not the type to give in easily to curiosity, but this was different. Today, as he was walking home from school, he saw something even stranger. At the edge of the forest, where the tarmac road ended, stood a deer. Its fur glistened in the afternoon sun, but its gaze was completely absent. She seemed to be looking straight at Leon, but through him, as if she was looking for something deeper in the forest. The boy approached cautiously, his heart thudding in his chest. The deer did not run away, but suddenly made a low, squawking sound - more like the cry of a bird than the roar of an animal. For a moment, Leon had the impression that something flashed in her eyes. Then she disappeared between the trees. During the night, he could not sleep for a long time. Finally, disregarding the late hour, he put on his sweatshirt, reached for his torch and slipped out of the window. As soon as he slipped between the tall grasses, he felt cold and damp on his hands. Every sound seemed louder than usual. Leon walked deeper and deeper, guided by the same echo he had already heard several nights in a row. At one point, by an old fallen oak tree, he saw a mysterious circle of animals. There were foxes, hedgehogs, two roe deer, even an old woodpecker he sometimes saw in the yard. Each looked into the darkness, at the centre of the circle. Leon clung to a tree and watched as the animals slowly turned their heads right towards him. Then, from deep in the forest, there was a crackling sound and a blinding flash of light lit up the night....