The village, unnamed and forgotten by most, existed between the shadows of the land it was built upon. No one remembered the name it had once held, or even if it ever had one. The trees in the forest, twisted and black, had stood for as long as anyone could recall. Stories were whispered—long tales told by those who stayed up late or those who had too many cups of drink to swallow.

They were about stones. The glowing stones that littered the forest floor. They were beautiful, the kind of beauty that made the heart ache. Softly glowing pebbles that could catch the light of the moon and turn it into something else entirely. But the villagers, they only saw curses in the light. It was believed the stones shone when touched by spirits—spirits trapped between the worlds, souls lost and restless, forced to wander in the dark.

The people of the village, with their closed windows and drawn blinds, believed the forest to be a place where light had long abandoned its course, where only the shadows dared to tread.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

But L. saw no curse when she touched the stones. To her, they were things of wonder, not malice. They pulsed softly, as if they had a life of their own, a heartbeat, a breath that came and went with the winds that rustled through the leaves.

Each day, she went to the forest, filling her pouch with the stones she found, each one brighter than the last, their glow flickering like a firefly’s dance in the twilight. She knew what they were worth at the market. They were small treasures, coveted by the few who dared to look. They glistened in the hands of those who would trade them for silver, or gold, or sometimes just a bit of bread.

The village was poor, though not many spoke of it aloud. There was little money to be had, and fewer hands to earn it. So L. went to the market, where her stones would be exchanged for what little she could carry back. She walked among the traders, her face hidden beneath the hood of her coat, never looking anyone in the eye. They took the stones without a word, as if they feared the glow they carried.