It began with whispers.
By the third dawn, half the village had gathered outside Mira's hut.Mothers carried sick children. The old leaned on staffs carved with prayers.They called him the Silent Saint, the Laughing Healer, the Fool Who Speaks Without Words.
He did nothing — merely watched from the doorway, rain dripping from his hair. Yet every word they uttered became a thread in the tapestry of lies that wrapped around him.
"He blessed my crops," said one man, clutching a basket of perfect grain."He cured my son," said another, tears streaming."He knows your name before you say it," whispered a child.
Each lie shimmered in the air for a heartbeat — then became real. The fields flourished overnight. The sick rose from their beds. And the Fool, bound by his curse, felt every miracle as a chain tightening around his ribs.
Mira tried to stop them.
"He's not a god!" she shouted one morning. "He doesn't even speak!"
But the more she denied it, the more they believed.Doubt, after all, was just another kind of faith.
That night, the Fool sat by the window, staring at the mask on the table.Half-smiling. Half-broken.The reflection in the glass showed him two faces — one mortal, one divine.
He wondered which one was the lie.
Mira entered quietly. Her mismatched eyes glowed faintly in the candlelight.
"You have to leave," she said. "They'll tear this village apart worshiping you."
He met her gaze, silent. Then, slowly, he traced a single word into the dust on the table.
"Truth."
Mira frowned. "You want to find the truth?"
He nodded once.
She hesitated, then said, "There's a city north of here — Elaris, the City of Masks. Scholars there collect forbidden scriptures. If anything can tell us who you are, it's there."
He reached for the mask. The crack along its smile seemed to pulse faintly in agreement.
But far beyond the storm, in the golden halls of the heavens, a figure in black armor knelt before the Nameless Judge.
"He has awakened," the Judge said. "Find him. Before his lies rewrite the world."
The hunter raised his head. Eyes like molten silver burned beneath his hood.
"As you command."
The heavens closed like a locked door. And somewhere below, as the Fool stepped into the dawn beside Mira, a shadow began to follow.