The water was black. No reflection. No sky. Just depth. And then—a ripple, though there was no wind.
Elara spun. An old woman stood in a doorway, shawl pulled tight. Her face was a map of wrinkles, but her eyes—those eyes were too young. Too clear. They held the same unsettling light as the village’s lone streetlamp, flickering though it was midday. Mother Village -Ch. 1- -Ch. 2 v1.0- By SHADOW...
“You shouldn’t have come back.”
She stumbled back. Her heel caught a root, and she fell hard on the damp soil. For a moment, she lay there, stunned. Then she felt it: the ground was warm. And it was pulsing , slow and steady, like a heartbeat. The water was black
“Elara.”
The main street was empty. Doors were shut tight, curtains drawn. Yet she felt them watching—the narrow gaps in shutters, the slight tremble of lace. A child’s ball rolled out from an alley and stopped at her feet. No one came to fetch it. Just depth
Before Elara could ask what that meant, the woman shut the door. The click of the lock was soft, but it echoed like a gunshot in the silence.