The sun overhead drifted, casting it's golden rays that swam through the forest canopy. Mist clung to the grass, curling like ribbons through their tiny spaces as the sun warmed the forest. The familiar scent of fresh earth and flowers filled the valley, as it always did.
It was a normal day, almost too normal even.
Ren sat at the edge of the stream, his chest resting on his bent knee as he watched the rippling water. The soft breeze touched the surface, causing gentle ripples across the stream that caught the sunlight. His reflection, partially distorted, looked back at him with it's dark eyes.
This morning, his training was very brief compared to usual. His father hadn't pressed him this time, no harsh training nor games. Just a glance, a nod and a quiet "Rest today, and listen. Let the world come to you." and then left after giving him a ring to wear, saying he'll understand when he grows up more.
He didn't ask why.
He just quietly sat for the rest of the day, listening.
He walked slowly through the woods, the earth beneath him felt warm and familiar. He could sense the threads around him, pulsating faintly. But he felt something different, unlike before when they danced around him with glee, they felt..... quiet, not dead, just still.
Like it was holding something back.
A squirrel came across his path, looking at him boldly with it's eyes, before dashing up a tree. The birds still sang, the waterfall still roared softly. Everything was the same, still alive, yet something still felt off to Ren.
When noon came, Wu appeared as he always did, calm and composed, he came carrying a tray of food.
"Young mastee" the old butler said with his usual polite bow "Grilled fish with herbs, cooked by myself."
Ren smiled "So you do more than sweeping the path."
Wu smiled, barely "Occasionally"
He didn't linger for long.
Ren sat quietly beneath a tree to eat, the air cool around him. The fish was delicious. Mei didn't appear to tease him or flick berries at him, no jokes.
Her absence made the silence sharper.
Evening fell like a curtain slowly and softly. The shadows stretched long across the grass. Fireflies began to blink in the distance.
Ren sat atop the hill where Mei usually comes to tease him and watch the stars with him. The skies above was clear, the stars shyly twinkling into view. He sat down and waited.
But that made him feel it again, stronger.
A pressure in the air.
A silence deeper than silence.
He narrowed his eyes.
The threads around him weren't wo quiet anymore, they recoiled, like animals when sensing a predator. The gentle playfulness he became used to, had turned alert, distant even. Like a crowd holding it's breath.
He reached out, trying to catch a thread from the valley. And for a moment, her caught something, but just as quick as he caught it, it disappeared, he still felt it though.
A thread, dark, wrong.
He didn't like it, his chest tightended.
Ren looked toward the village below. The lights still shone brightly from the cottages. Faint laughs could be heard. A mother calling her child in. Smoke rising from the chimneys. Everything looked the same.
But it wasn't.
It didn't feel like it was.
Not to him.
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Meanwhile, on a hidden cliff, two figures could be seen, observing where Ren sat.
"It seems we need to commence our plan, he looks to be aware of it, and that might endanger the plan if we dawdle any longer."
One of the figures stated their observation.
"The dely ends tonight." The other figure replied.
"Yes."
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Back in the valley,
Ren still sat beneath the stars, his eyes closed. His breath calm, deliberate, but he didn't feel at ease, his mind wasn't quiet.
The dreams had returned.
The vast starless sky.
The woven moons.
The formless shadow with no facial features, just it's presence, watching him from beyond.
He didn't understand anything, but he felt a huge weight pressing on his soul.
"Hah~Maybe I'm going crazy again." He sighed, thinking he was going to become like his past life again, before opening his eyes to the vast sky above.
And that's when he heard it.
Faint, distant, but unmistakable.
A scream.
High, raw, intense.
Then another.
And another.
He stood.
A low thrum moved through the threads, like a sudden gust through leaves. It wasn't rythmic, nor natural.
The world didn't hold it's breath anymore.
It began screaming.