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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: The Village of Whispers

A few days had passed since Erik had seen the wolf.

He hadn't told anyone.Not his mother. Not his father.Not even Lia — and she told him everything, even when she broke a cup and blamed the wind.

But the image stayed in his head. The red eyes. The frozen silence. The way the wolf had looked at him, and then… backed down.

He didn't understand it.

But something inside him did.

"You don't have to understand yet,"the soul whispered, like a thought too old to speak out loud."You only have to survive."

🌲 Meanwhile, in the heart of Elderwyn…

Old men sat beneath the village tree, their wrinkled fingers moving prayer beads as they spoke in low tones.

"You heard the howls, didn't you?"

"Aye. And not the normal kind."

"Forest spirits restless again?"

"No… something darker."

The hunter Galdrin, a man with a scar across his throat, finally broke his silence. He only spoke when he had something worth saying.

"I saw the tracks," he said, voice like gravel. "Too deep. Too large. That wasn't no dog. That was a Forest Shade Wolf."

The others fell silent.

That beast hadn't been seen in years.

"Should we warn the elders?"

"No… not yet. Let's see if it returns."

They didn't know — the beast wouldn't return.It didn't need to. It had already met something greater.

🏡 Back at Erik's home…

Mira folded clothes while humming a soft lullaby. Lia played with a handmade straw doll near the fire. Erik sat by the window, staring out, eyes distant.

"Something on your mind, little farmer?" Mira asked gently.

Erik blinked. "Mama, do people sometimes… know things they're not supposed to?"

She smiled. "Like secrets?"

"No. Like... something really old. But it's inside your head, and it talks without a voice."

Mira paused, unsure whether to laugh or worry.

"Well," she said, kneeling beside him, "if it tells you to eat your vegetables, you should definitely listen."

He smiled, but the question remained.

"You're not mad," the soul said."You're just remembering… who you were never allowed to be."

That night, the wind returned. But not gently.

It howled.

The villagers shut windows, whispered old prayers, and placed salt outside their doors — old superstitions from even older times.

In his room, Erik sat awake.

He wasn't scared.He was... alert.

"The world remembers me," the soul whispered. "Even if it pretends not to. Something stirs because it knows… something greater is waking."

Then, without warning — a crack of thunder.

Erik flinched. But not because of the sound.

Because in the instant it struck — he saw a flash outside.

A figure. Hooded. Standing near the well.

He rushed to the window.

But it was gone.

Or maybe… it had never been there?

🏞️ The next morning

The village returned to its usual rhythm.

Cows mooed, carts rolled, and bakers filled the air with warmth.

Erik, like most boys, joined the other children near the training yard — a dusty patch where wooden swords clashed more than actual skills.

Thom, as always, shouted first.

"Alright! Let's do the Stone Circle Test!"

Galen groaned. "Again? That's for babies."

"No, no — but this time, we go alone."

The "Stone Circle" was a local dare — a ring of mossy stones deep in the woods, said to be cursed or blessed, depending on who you asked. Rumor said standing in the center alone made you hear voices.

Erik's heart skipped.

"I'll go," he said.

They stared.

"You? The farmer boy?"

"I'm not scared."

Truth was — he wasn't.

He had already heard a voice far older than any stone could hold.

🌿 Minutes later – The Stone Circle

The woods were darker than usual.

Branches clawed at his shirt. Crows watched from above. But Erik kept walking. The path curved, twisted, and finally opened into a clearing.

The stones stood silently — ancient, moss-covered, unbroken.

He stepped into the center.

Nothing happened.

Then — a breeze.

And then…

He heard it.

But not the soul this time.A different voice. Older. Fainter.

"...You live…?"

Erik's breath caught.

"No… not him. A fragment…?"

The soul inside him stirred.

"Leave. Now."

The wind howled again. This time real. Trees bent. Leaves scattered.

Erik stumbled back, gasping.

He didn't know what that was — but it wasn't the soul he knew.

Something else had felt him.Something ancient and angry.

He returned to the village pale and quiet.

Thom laughed. "What happened? See a squirrel ghost?"

Erik just smiled faintly. "No. Just… wind."

But the soul inside wasn't smiling.

"Something sleeps in these lands. Something that remembers me. I hoped they were all gone… but it seems even silence has ears."

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