Chapter Nine: The Trace of Absence
The next morning was anything but ordinary.
The village awoke to shrill screams, breaking the stillness of the fog covering the fields.
A woman ran panicked through the alleys, her voice trembling:
"My son... my son has disappeared!"
The child was playing near the storerooms on the outskirts of the village, and suddenly there was no more.
No clear fingerprints, no blood, no struggle. Just an area of upturned dirt, as if the earth had silently devoured him.
… … …
People gathered around.
Faces were a mixture of panic and suspicion.
Whispers began to fly, like tiny sparks threatening to ignite a fire:
"He disappeared without a trace..."
"Didn't the elders say that the presence of that boy brings bad luck?"
"Maybe he... yes, maybe he's the reason!"
Lian wasn't far from the scene.
He had come with those who had come, but from the first moment he sensed that eyes were searching not only for the child, but for him as well. Those looks, heavy with suspicion, followed him like a shadow.
"I didn't do anything!"
He almost shouted, but swallowed when he saw how doubt consumed them.
… … …
An elder approached, his features as stern as stone.
He placed his cane in front of him, and his voice came out booming:
"Lian... until this mystery is cleared up, you won't be allowed to roam freely. No one denies that what happened to you in the fire was strange... and now, with this child missing, we fear that your powers are to blame."
Lian's heart sank a step back.
It was no longer just whispers behind his back.
It was the accusation made public.
"But I...!"
His voice broke before he could finish.
He himself didn't know how to defend himself.
How could he explain to them about the silver thread? About the voice that visited him at night? About the mysterious shadow he saw yesterday in the woods?
If he said any of that, would they believe him? Or would it only make them more afraid?
… … …
That night, he sat in his room, its walls closing in more tightly than ever.
His mother was behind the door, insisting he was fine, but he could hear her voice tremble with every word.
He realized that she, too, was afraid of him, even if she denied it.
He looked at his trembling hands and remembered the words of the mysterious voice:
"Trust no one."
But when he closed his eyes, the scene that wouldn't leave him returned: the missing child.
A heavy feeling swept over him, as if he were somehow responsible, even if he hadn't done anything.
It was as if the seed inside him was attracting calamities around him.
… … …
Before he could give in to despair, he felt a slight vibration at the window.
He turned quickly...
And there, once again, was the shadow standing at the edge of the woods.
This time, it wasn't completely still.
It seemed to be waving at him, a slow, mysterious gesture, as if beckoning him out.
His whole body trembled.
Was it a coincidence?
Or were the child's disappearance and the mysterious shadow related?
Whatever the answer, Lian realized that the danger was no longer limited to the village's fear of him...
There was something bigger, something watching from afar, waiting for a moment he didn't yet know.