The forest didn't speak that night, but the people of the village did.
By morning, a rumor had spread everywhere — someone had seen John Eldrin and Alice Nightrune together in the woods. Not fighting… just talking. Smiling. Together.
To others, it was more than just a meeting. It was a secret. A betrayal.
---
At the Eldrin house, the mood was tense. John sat quietly at the dinner table. His father looked angry. His mother looked disappointed. His two younger brothers stayed silent. But his grandfather, Edran, stared into the fire without saying a word.
"You were with her?" John's father finally asked, trying to stay calm but failing.
John didn't answer.
"You're risking our family's name," his father added. "For what?"
John looked down. He didn't know how to explain it. It wasn't just about Alice. It was something more.
His youngest brother, barely ten, looked around and softly asked, "Why can't they just be friends?"
No one replied.
Edran stood up and walked to a bookshelf. He took out an old, folded piece of paper. The corners were burnt, and the writing was hard to read. But a strange red symbol — shaped like a triangle with points — was still visible. He stared at it for a moment, then hid it before anyone could ask.
---
At the Nightrune house, things weren't much different.
Alice's mother was upset. Her older brother kept pacing, talking about honor and family pride. But her grandfather, Vorian, sat calmly, staring into the fireplace like it held answers.
"She doesn't understand the danger," her father said.
"She understands more than we think," Vorian replied quietly. "And less than she needs to."
Upstairs, Alice sat near her window. She could hear everything. A soft breeze came through the trees, and she thought she heard a whisper — but maybe it was just the wind.
Back downstairs, Vorian opened an old wooden box. Inside was a silver badge — the crest of Arcanwell Academy, the magical school he once attended. It was old and cracked.
He turned it over. On the back were three faded sets of initials:
E.E. — V.N. — C.D.M.
He stared at them quietly for a long time, then slowly closed the box.
---
And in the silence, Edran remembered a third face — a smile once filled with wonder, now buried under shadows no one dared name.