Chapter One
The rains arrived unseasonably early, heavy and persistent, drenching the village in silver curtains that blurred the lines between sky and earth. The villagers called it the Weeping Season—not for sorrow, but remembrance. The time when the earth herself recalled those buried within her.
Amira stood at the threshold of her grandmother's hut, now hers. She watched the water run in rivulets from the thatched eaves. The new Lantern Tree swayed in the distance, its blossoms glowing faintly even in daylight, weeping golden sap from its roots.
She could feel it—something stirring beneath the familiar rhythm of the rain.
Elias appeared at her side, holding a small clay pot. "They're saying the river is rising faster than it should," he said. "And the tree… it's begun humming again."
Amira took the pot and stared into its contents—water, darkened by the petals that had fallen from the tree. "It remembers something," she murmured. "Or… someone."
Just then, the distant sound of hooves broke through the rainfall.
They turned.
A figure on horseback emerged from the forest path.
He was drenched to the bone, his cloak torn, his skin pale beneath the stormlight. He rode with the posture of one who had no memory of where he came from—only that he must keep going.
The horse stopped at the village edge and refused to move.
The man dismounted slowly.
He bore no luggage. No name on his lips. No greeting.
Only a mark.
Carved into his chest, as if by fire or blade, was a circular sigil that neither Amira nor Elias recognized. It pulsed faintly as though it lived.
And when he finally spoke, his voice was rough and ancient:
"I seek the tree that sings."
The crowd that had gathered gasped. Children clung to their mothers. The drummers went still.
The tree had not sung since the covenant was restored.
Amira stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The stranger blinked slowly. "I do not know. But your tree… it remembers me."
Then he collapsed.
And in that instant, the Lantern Tree cried out—a piercing, melodic sound that echoed across the valley like a cracked bell.
The sky went silent.
And the rain… stopped.