"Chapter One: The seed that does not die
The village of Oren was waking up to the sound of water before the sun opened her eyes. The curve that pierces its edges was like the old guard, running for centuries, never stopping until the sky dries. The village houses are small, with narrow wooden windows and straw roofs, like they're tightening up to keep them from falling. People out there know each other by name and metaphor, nothing new happens but rarely... until Leanne comes.
I was born in the middle of autumn, on a cloudless night, when it suddenly rained down to tired ground. Her mother was pale, screaming in a strange silence, while the old lady muttered words no one knew. When the baby came out, all of the voices stopped, until the wind stopped by the window, as if the world were waiting to hear her first breath. But Lian didn't cry. She just opened her eyes-- gray eyes that look like light-wet metal. Grandma said, staring at her.
"Don't put out the bottles tonight... I was born with an eye to see what is invisible."
Since that night, everything has changed slowly. It rains when Lian is sad, and the flowers fade if she's angry. But she didn't know that as a child, she thought it was an accident. She likes to sit by the table, put her hands in the water and watch little circles expand until they disappear. She was saying in secret:
"Everything goes to rest...except me."
Since Grandma left, there's been a vacuum-like silence on Leanne's house. The mother was smiling a lot in the early days, as if she were resisting grief to make up, and then her smile gradually disappointed, until the house became alive with faint breath. And Leanne, she was spending her time at the table, talking to the water as if he were hearing it. She was telling him her little secrets, about her dreams and her fear of the night. And the water... he would answer it sometimes.
Once, she stared at his floating surface, licked her grandmother's face for a moment, then disappeared into the water. She shook, but she didn't scream. I realized at that moment, death doesn't mean leaving, it just changes the place.
The next morning, the village women came knocking. One of them said to Lian's mother in a voice of fear and hesitation:
"We found ash near the edge of the creek, like someone lit a fire at midnight... Did you see anything "It 's ... But the mother shook her head in exile, and her eyes avoided looking at her daughter.
Since that day, little things started to change in the village. The plant grew at a strange speed around Leanne's house, and the birds that used to fly away adopted their nests by the window. Even the cats followed her wherever she went, like something secret tied her up.
In the little school, the teacher was watching her silently whenever she wrote something on the board. Her line was coherent, but some days it flashed on paper like a light carving. And when Lian was asked about it, she simply said:
"I don't write... the words themselves."
One rainy day, the village witch came to their house. An old woman, with one eye, holding a black wooden stick. She sat in front of Lian, and she said a loud voice:
"Since you were born, the forest has not slept. The rain doesn't forget. And the wind whispers your name when you pass. Tell me, daughter of the broken light... Have you seen shadows walk in water "It 's ...
Leanne didn't answer, but she felt the question wasn't a question, it was a test. Then the witch smiled a strange smile, and she got up.
"The hour is approaching. And when the circle is complete, the origin will choose you himself... Beware of who sees you first after sunset."
That night, Leanne had a dream. She was standing in the middle of a sea of ashes, and the moon slowly fell to earth. Out of the smoke came a little hand that looked like her, holding on to a silver jewel and whispering.
"Get her back to the light... before it's too late."
She woke up shaking, and the rain hit her window glass unusually hard. At that moment she realized the whisper in her head was not a dream, and something deep inside of her began to wake up.
It follows chapter 2.