Dawn arrived like a secret — pale and silent.
Aeren moved before the village stirred. She left no trace in the mud, her cloak gathering dew instead of dirt. The dream still clung to her mind, not fading like dreams should, but sharpening. Solidifying.
The forest from her vision was real.
It shouldn't have been.
But the pull was undeniable.
She passed the stone well, the sleeping houses, and the woman from before — now kneeling near a shrine that had long since crumbled. Their eyes met for a moment. No words passed.
Only memory.
Or maybe the ghost of one.
---
Beyond the village, past the edge of mapped paths, the hills unraveled into tangled undergrowth and stone. The forest began where logic ended — the air warmer, yet heavy. Time slowed.
No birds. No insects. No rustling wind.
Stillness.
Aeren reached the clearing from her dream. And there it was.
The forest.
Twisting trees with no roots. Branches that curled like they were trying to remember their shape. Leaves that shimmered like wet ink. And at its center — a scar on the earth. A perfect circle of white ash.
She stepped forward.
The world hummed.
A pulse beneath her skin again, but not the magic she once knew. This was older. Hungrier.
Rememberme, a voice whispered. Not aloud, not imagined — something in between.
Aeren fell to one knee, gripping her chest. Her heartbeat matched the thrum beneath the ground.
---
A memory surfaced.
A boy's voice. Callis. Laughing. Dying.
"I'll find you again, Aeren. Even if the world forgets."
She gritted her teeth. That name. That promise.
The forest shimmered — and a path opened.
Not walked, but offered.
---
She rose, cloak trailing ash. Her black-gloved hand trembled.
"I'm not the same," she whispered to the trees. "I don't remember how to be."
The forest whispered back: We do.
And it let her in.
---
📝 Author's Note – Kryen
Aeren's past is starting to bleed through. The forest remembers what the world forgot.
Chapter 3 will uncover who — or what — is still waiting within.