The morning light in Everveil Forest was softer than most places—filtered through layers of leaves and fog, gentle even at its brightest. But today, something felt…off.
Cira noticed it first when Lumen didn't follow her outside.
He always did. The moment she opened the cottage door to gather herbs, he was usually padding alongside her, tail flicking like a metronome. But this time, he stood in the doorway, unmoving, ears high and eyes narrowed at the trees.
"Elian's still asleep," she said gently, watching the fox. "Come on."
Lumen didn't move.
Cira's gaze followed his line of sight. The forest beyond looked as it always had—lush, dewy, layered in mist. But now that she was paying attention… It was too quiet. No birds. No wind. Not even the creak of branches.
She felt it—a heaviness just at the edge of her senses. Like the hush before a predator strikes.
She stepped off the porch.
Lumen growled.
Not loud. Not angry. But low and rumbling like a warning bell rung from deep underground.
Cira froze.
In the distance, somewhere just beyond the clearing, a shadow shifted.
Not an animal.
Too tall.
Too smooth.
Gone as soon as she saw it.
She drew her bow.
Her fingers hovered just above the string, the same way her breath hovered in her throat.
"Show yourself," she called—not yelling, but not soft either.
No answer.
Just that awful silence. Pressing in.
Then…
From the cottage behind her—
a sound. A gasp. A crash. Something falling.
She spun around and ran.
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Elian was on the floor. Pale. Sweating. His shirt was pulled open, and the mark on his chest glowed a deep red—not warm this time, but burning.
His eyes were wide with panic—but he wasn't looking at her.
He was looking past her. At the window.
"Did you see it too?" he rasped.
Cira didn't answer. Not yet.
She knelt beside him, helping him up, but his skin was ice-cold.
"Elian—what happened?"
"I—I don't know. I woke up and it was like something was pulling me—like the mark was waking up."
He looked at her now, and something in his voice cracked.
"There's something out there, Cira."
She froze.
"…I never told you my name."
Elian blinked. The words hung between them, still warm in the air.
"I—" He looked confused. "I don't know how I knew it. It just… came to me."
Lumen, standing at the threshold, flicked his tail once.
The glow from Elian's chest pulsed. Once. Twice.
And outside, deep in the fog of trees, something moved again.
Something had found them.
And it remembered him.
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