The Silent Echo

Chapter 1: The Awakening

The forest was silent except for the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind. Elara stood at the edge of the clearing, her breath forming small clouds in the crisp morning air. She had been walking for hours, her boots caked with mud, her cloak damp with dew.

Something was wrong. The birds had stopped singing an hour ago, and even the insects had fallen silent. The ancient trees seemed to lean away from the center of the clearing, as if repelled by some unseen force.

Elara tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword. The runes along the blade pulsed faintly, reacting to the magic in the air. She had been sent to investigate rumors of dark magic in these woods, but she hadn't expected to find anything. The villagers were prone to superstition, seeing witches in every herb woman and curses in every misfortune.

But this... this was real.

The ground at the center of the clearing was blackened, the grass withered in a perfect circle twenty paces across. At its center stood a stone altar, covered in markings that made Elara's eyes water when she tried to focus on them. The air smelled of ozone and something metallic—blood, perhaps.

As she stepped forward, the runes on her sword flared brighter. A whisper of sound made her turn, but it was too late. The shadows at the edge of the clearing coalesced into a figure, tall and gaunt, its features hidden beneath a tattered hood.

"You should not have come here, child of light," the figure said, its voice like dry leaves scraping against stone.

Elara raised her sword, the blade glowing with its own inner light. "Show yourself," she demanded, her voice steadier than she felt.

The figure laughed, a sound that sent chills down Elara's spine. Then it moved, faster than anything she had ever seen, and the world dissolved into pain and darkness.