The crisp March breeze carried the first hints of spring's floral awakening as it danced through the ancient oak trees of Arncliffe Woods. For the free-spirited Jessica Beaumont, this equinox celebration amongst nature's rejuvenation was a beloved annual ritual.

Ever since she was a young girl exploring those same forests, Jessica felt a profound connection to the earth's cycles and seasons. While other children dreamed of travels or riches, her deepest wish was to exist in harmonic flow with the natural world around her.

On the morning of the vernal equinox in 1978, Jessica woke before dawn as she did every year. She carefully woven flowers, moss and twigs into an intricate circlet to crown her free-flowing chestnut curls. Slipping into a diaphanous ivory dress, she embraced the image of a wood nymph or fairy creature celebrating spring's return.

The 21-year-old artist had an old soul's appreciation for pagan traditions. While her peers planned boozy equinox parties, Jessica's annual rite beckoned her into the forests outside the village alone. There she would meditate, compose poems, and feel the earth's life force reignite within her spirit.

Clutching her leather satchel filled with sketch pencils and a journal, Jessica meandered the dewy trails towards her favorite clearing. Her bare feet caressed the carpet of fresh greenery sprouting from the loamy soil. Ozzie, her faithful mutt, bounded alongside, yapping gleefully at newly arrived songbirds in the canopy above.

As the pinks and violets of dawn's first light streamed through the trees, Jessica reached the verdant heart of the woods. This was her sanctum - a tranquil grotto encircled by twisted oaks, their low-hanging branches draped in renewing ivy. A small brook bubbled over ancient stones, replenished by meltwaters from the winter thaw.

Here Jessica sat cross-legged upon the damp earth, closing her eyes and surrendering her senses to the vernal renaissance happening all around her. She breathed in the crisp petrichor of forest air awakening, felt the warm maiden kisses of sunbeams spreading across her face, and listened to the sonatas of newly-returned birds composing from the treetops.

For Jessica, the equinox marked nature's delicate transition from the dormancy of winter's chill to the lively exuberance of blooming springtime. This was her favorite moment - when the environment seemed perfectly suspended between seasons in peaceful equilibrium.

Surrounded by unfurling fronds and flower buds straining towards the invigorating sunlight, she became consumed with inspiration. Her journal pages filled with poetry and sketches reflecting the vibrant rebirth transpiring all around her. Jessica's soul overflowed with profound connection to this verdant resurrection after winter's slumber.

As midday warmth embraced the forest, Jessica rose stretching her lithe form skyward to embrace the day's energies. Ozzie scampered ahead as she wandered deeper into the trees, following the chorus of peepers and flowing waters to a secluded pond.

Mirrored in the crystalline pool, Jessica admired her simple beauty - earth-toned eyes, sun-kissed freckles, and those telltale wildf lowers woven into her tresses. With a ethereal smile, she shed her dress and pillowy undergarments before slipping into the cool, rejuvenating waters like a mythic sylph.

Floating in blissful reverie, Jessica allowed the pond's gentle current to cradlesway her body as sunbeams danced across her bare flesh. She completely surrendered herself to nature's nurturing embrace in that moment, transcending the material world.

Ozzie's frantic barking from the shoreline roused Jessica from her trancelike state. She kicked towards the muddy bank, concerned some hiker or threat to her secluded haven had disturbed the tranquility.

But as she emerged from the glistening shallows, only Ozzie awaited - growling and barking fearfully into the shadowy hedgerows surrounding them. A sudden darkness seemed to seep across the sun-dappled forest floor. An unnatural chill crystallized the very air around her.

Before Jessica could gather her strewn garments, an inexplicable force gripped her - a paralyzing wave of unspeakable dread cutting straight