The day was beginning to give way to dusk as the boy and the girl stood up, still feeling the unease from their encounter with the shadows in the abandoned village. There was something terrifyingly unknown about what they had witnessed, and although they had managed to escape, the sense of danger lingered in the air.
“We need to keep moving,” the girl said, breaking the silence as she looked down the path leading deeper into the forest. “It’s not safe to stay here.”
The boy nodded silently, still unable to find the right words for what had happened. As they walked, their minds were filled with unanswered questions. What were those shadows? Why did they seem to move on their own, as if they were alive? And most importantly, why were they chasing them?
As they ventured further into the forest, the surroundings seemed to grow denser and darker. The sun disappeared behind the horizon, and soon the only light accompanying them was the faint glow of the stars. The silence of the forest, broken only by the crunch of their footsteps on the fallen leaves, felt heavy.
“Do you think they’re following us?” the boy asked, his voice low and filled with concern.
The girl didn’t answer immediately. She glanced back, into the darkness that now covered the forest, and shook her head.
“I don’t know,” she finally said. “But something tells me these shadows aren’t just from the forest. There’s something more behind this.”
The boy remembered the words from the parchment: “Flee by nightfall, for those who remain will fall under the mantle of shadows.” It had warned the villagers of an impending darkness, and they had fled, but something about the message still unsettled him. The shadows they had seen weren’t natural. There was something about them, an ancient and malevolent power that he couldn’t explain.
“Maybe...” the boy began, hesitating to voice what was on his mind, “maybe those shadows are magic, but not the kind we know.”
The girl looked at him, her eyes reflecting the light of the stars. She knew the shadows weren’t normal, but she didn’t want to jump to conclusions either.
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“Magic?” she repeated, thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen magic like that. But if it is, it’s something beyond our control.”
The boy nodded. He knew the shadows were a mystery they couldn’t solve on their own. And as they walked, a feeling crept over him: the shadows were just the beginning. The world he knew was full of magic he didn’t understand, but also forces that seemed intent on keeping secrets hidden.
After a while, the path led them to a small hill that jutted out of the forest. They decided to stop there for the night, feeling that the elevated ground would give them a safer view of the surroundings. As they prepared a makeshift fire, the boy couldn’t stop thinking about what he had learned from his mother’s stories.
“My mother used to tell me about ancient creatures,” the boy said as he stoked the flames. “She said they existed before the magic we know, before mana. They were beings that lived in the shadows, older than the gods themselves. I don’t know if her stories were true, but...” he paused, looking at the fire. “Sometimes I think those things still exist, hidden in places like this.”
The girl listened in silence, her eyes fixed on the crackling fire between them.
“Maybe they weren’t just stories,” she said after a while. “What we saw in that village… it’s not something mana can explain. Maybe there’s more to this world than we know.”
The boy nodded slowly. There was something comforting about knowing he wasn’t alone in his thoughts. But at the same time, a new worry began to take root in his mind. If the shadows were part of something older and more powerful, how could they face it without magic?
“So, what do we do?” the boy asked, breaking the silence. He knew they couldn’t just keep running.
The girl thought for a moment, then looked toward the horizon, where the stars twinkled in the distance.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But if there’s something more behind those shadows, maybe we can find someone who knows. A traveler, a wise person... someone who can explain what’s happening.”
The boy sat quietly, considering her words. He knew there was more to their journey than he had imagined, and each day confirmed it. The shadows were only the beginning of a much larger mystery.
As the fire began to die down, the boy gazed at the stars for a long time, allowing his mind to wander between memories and questions. Somewhere in the world, answers might exist, but he also knew they wouldn’t be easy to find. The path to the truth was full of dangers, and each step they took led them further from the familiar.
With the first rays of dawn, the boy and the girl stood up, ready to continue their journey. Despite the fear the shadows had planted in their hearts, they couldn’t stop now. There was too much at stake, too many mysteries to unravel.
The forest seemed calmer in the daylight, but the boy knew the shadows weren’t far away. As they walked, he felt that the world around him was growing stranger, vaster than he had ever imagined.
And so, without looking back, they pressed on, certain that their journey had only just begun.