Chapter Ten: The Shadow's Call
The night was unusually dark.
The clouds were too heavy to allow the stars to appear, and the air was thick with the smell of wet dust, as if the sky itself was holding its breath.
Lian sat by his window, unable to sleep.
The recent events haunted him like incessant shadows: the forest fire, the child's disappearance, the eyes of the village, and the whispers that killed him more than they protected him.
But what troubled him most... was the shadow.
The entity he had seen twice, at the edge of the forest, silently watching him.
"Why me?"
He whispered to himself, then clenched his fist tightly.
The silver thread flickered for a moment between his fingers, before disappearing as if mocking him.
… … …
At midnight, something he hadn't expected happened.
A strange voice pierced the silence, unlike any internal whisper he had heard before.
It wasn't from the seed, and it wasn't from within him.
It was an external voice, deep and wounding to the ear and soul simultaneously:
"Lian... come."
His entire body trembled.
He jumped from his seat toward the window, his eyes widening.
There, at the edge of the forest, the shadow was present.
This time, it wasn't just a still image.
It moved... then turned its face, slowly retreating between the trees, as if beckoning him to follow.
His heart was torn between unbearable terror and deadly curiosity.
"If I follow him... I might find the answer."
"And if I follow him... I might not come back."
... ... ...
It took him no more than a moment to decide.
He put on his old cloak and walked out with cautious steps, as if the ground might betray him.
He didn't notice his mother's tears watching him from afar, nor the eyes still watching the village, fearing the unknown.
The forest welcomed him with a heavy silence.
The sounds of insects faded, the wind stopped, and everything seemed to fall silent out of respect for the stranger awaiting him.
The shadow was there, a little further away, edging between the black trees.
The closer he got, the further he took.
Until Lian was running after him, his heart feeling as if it were about to burst out of his chest.
And suddenly...
The shadow stopped.
In a small clearing in the middle of the forest, where the trees opened into a circular void overlooking the sky, the shadow stood still.
Then he slowly raised his hand.
A starlight flashed from the sky, a silver thread similar to the one emerging from Lian's body, only larger, wider, and more majestic.
The shadow turned toward him, its voice echoing clearly this time:
"The astral path... is not yours alone. You are not the first to awaken the seed... and you will not be the last."
Lian's blood froze.
He felt the world around him begin to change.
The ground shook slightly beneath him, the sky slowly splitting as if to reveal a previously unseen secret.
But before he could comprehend what was happening...
The shadow rushed toward him at a speed beyond anything he had ever known.
And that was the beginning.