It was the third night in a row I felt it—that presence.
Eyes watching me from the woods. Not hostile... just curious.
So I went.
With a wooden stick in hand and my heart racing, I followed the edge of the forest behind the village. The moonlight barely reached through the leaves, and the trees whispered secrets I couldn't understand.
That's when I saw her.
A girl, around my age, sitting alone on a rock surrounded by glowing moths. Her hair was dark as midnight, but her eyes—
They were silver.
She didn't look surprised. As if she knew I would come.
"You touched the Grid," she said softly, not a question.
I froze. "How do you know that?"
"Because I heard it too," she whispered. "And once you hear it... you can never go back."
I stepped closer. "Who are you?"
The wind blew harder, carrying a faint hum through the trees. The threads of the Grid pulsed in the air around her.
"I'm not supposed to be here," she said.
Then she vanished—like mist.
Leaving behind a single symbol burned into the rock where she sat.
It was the same one I saw in my dream.
The symbol was still warm.
I knelt by the rock, tracing its edges with my fingers. It wasn't just carved—it was burned into the stone, glowing faintly with a soft blue light. A part of the Grid, perhaps?
I didn't recognize the shape. It wasn't from any language I knew. But it felt... familiar.
Like something buried in my past life. Or maybe, something older than both.
---
I tried to draw it in my notebook, but the moment my pencil touched paper, the shape vanished from my memory.
Gone.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall the lines.
The Grid had taken it back.
---
Over the next few days, I returned to the grove. Hoping to see her again. The girl with silver eyes. But she was gone.
Still, the forest felt... different.
More alive.
The Grid was stronger there—more visible. Threads danced between the trees, whispering things I couldn't yet understand.
That's when I heard it.
A name.
Not spoken aloud, but woven into the air itself.
> "Elira."
The same name echoed through the Veritas Grid.
And something—someone—whispered in return.
> "You're not ready yet, Kael."