The tree awakening

Suddenly, the forest grew silent. The trees, or perhaps their shadows, started to move and seemed to carry the forest with them. Anything caught in their wake became entangled in their branches until the shadows stopped. I could no longer see my companions in the branches, but new, fully grown trees stood where they had been taken. I ran back towards the relatively safe edge of the middle forest and have never crossed into the core of the inner forest again

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Phase One: The Forest Grows Silent

The first stage feels like a small earthquake, but this earthquake has no epicenter. It happens throughout the entire area with equal but small intensity. It also awakens a deep sense of dread in any living creature nearby, causing a cacophony of sounds as everything tries to escape. After this, the forest grows eerily silent, not even the wind makes a sound through the trees.

Phase two: Shadows.

The tree silhouettes begin to blur, like in a dream or on the middle of a very hot day.It becomes hard to define where the trees are, and they appear to move, traversing and taking the forest with them. No sound can be heard while the trees are in this state. Anything alive that comes into contact with these shadowed trees becomes automatically entangled in their branches, losing definition and moving with the shadowed forest.

Phase three: Aftermath.

The trees regain their physicality and the tremors stop. Anyone in the area who hasn't been caught in the tree branches experiences a sensation similar to awakening. Those who were caught in the shadow tree branches are gone, even if the trees are thoroughly searched. In the place where they originally stood, a new mature tree stands proud.

As with every phenomenon in the deeper layers of The Frontier Forest, there are only rumors and recollections from usually frightened adventurers, most of whom swear to never set foot in that layer of the forest again. This particular event has been recounted by several individuals, described in very similar ways. They all claim to be lucky survivors of the event, so it stands to reason it can be considered credible.