Night settled over Raelor Village, quiet and ordinary as always.
But inside the small mud house at the edge of the fields, Riven Soltray lay wide awake.
He stared at the ceiling, chest tight.
The dream had returned.
Not just the images—
the whisper.
Soft. Distant. Familiar.
"Come back…"
Riven sat up instantly.
His breath trembled. This wasn't like before.
This time… the whisper didn't fade when he opened his eyes.
It lingered.
Like it was inside the room with him.
Riven pressed a hand over his forehead.
"What do you want from me…? Why me?"
No answer.
The night wind brushed through the window, cool and gentle—
yet something about it felt wrong.
It moved with purpose.
As if it was waiting for him.
His heart pounded.
Riven stood and stepped outside.
Raelor Village was silent. Houses dark. Animals asleep.
But the air…
The air felt alive.
A faint vibration hummed under his feet.
The same tremor he felt on the day of the black crack in the soil.
His mark—still invisible—burned faintly beneath his skin.
Riven staggered.
"Not again…"
The whisper returned, this time clearer.
"Come back… child of the Crescent."
Riven's breath stopped.
Child of what?
He looked toward the forest beyond the southern ridge.
A place villagers avoided, calling it a sleeping land, quiet but eerie.
Tonight… it glowed faintly with drifting blue mist.
Something—someone—was calling him from inside.
Riven took a step.
Then another.
His thoughts said no… but his body moved as if guided by instinct older than memory.
As he crossed the village boundary, the wind curled around him like a guiding hand.
The whisper deepened:
"You have forgotten… but we remember."
Riven swallowed hard.
He clenched his fists, both afraid and drawn by something he couldn't resist.
"I don't know who you are," he whispered, "but… I'm coming."
And with that, Riven stepped into the mist-covered path leading into the forest—
the same forest that had been waiting for him for fourteen years.
The forest greeted Riven with a silence so complete it felt intentional—like the trees were holding their breath, waiting for him to take the first step. Mist curled around his boots, soft and cold, and every crunch of dead leaves beneath him sounded far too loud in the emptiness.
He tightened the straps of his cloak and whispered,
"Just keep walking… I need answers."
The forest did not answer, but the shadows shifted, as if listening.
Riven moved deeper. The canopy above twisted into knotted patterns, letting only narrow beams of silver moonlight slip through. Those narrow shafts illuminated drifting pollen that sparkled like falling stars. It should have been beautiful, but Riven felt watched—observed by something ancient.
He kept his pace slow, deliberate.
He didn't know why the forest felt familiar.
Only that it did.
---
A Voice on the Wind
A gust of wind brushed past him.
Riven froze.
The wind wasn't random.
It carried a whisper.
"Come back…"
He spun around. "Who's there?"
The whisper faded immediately, dissolving into the rustling leaves. But something tugged at his memory—an emotion, a warmth, a feeling like a forgotten name lingering on the tip of his tongue.
"Was it… calling me?"
He tried to swallow the unease creeping into his mind, but the forest only grew darker the farther he walked. The path sloped downward, the air thickened, and then he reached it.
The place where the forest began to… breathe.
The soil pulsed faintly. The roots curled and uncurled like sleeping serpents. Flowers opened and closed with the rhythm of lungs inhaling.
Riven's heart pounded—fear, awe, confusion all mixed together.
"What is this place…?"
---
The Hidden Pool
The pulsing forest path opened into a clearing illuminated by an ethereal blue glow.
At its center lay a pool of water still as glass.
The light seemed to float just beneath its surface.
Riven stepped closer. The glow moved with his approach, brightening—almost reacting to him.
He knelt at the water's edge.
His reflection stared back, but not the one he expected.
His eyes—deep, golden—shimmered faintly like embers.
His hair moved slightly even in still air.
And there was a faint, almost invisible mark on his neck—shaped like a crescent, glowing softly.
"What… is that?"
He touched the mark.
It burned with a cold fire.
The pool erupted.
Water rose up, spiraling into a shape—a tall, translucent figure formed from liquid and light. It hovered over him with a face that was neither human nor monstrous, but something in between, ancient and sorrowful.
Riven stumbled backward.
The being spoke, its voice like ripples on a silent lake:
"You have returned far too soon."
---
A Past He Can't Remember
Riven's breath caught. "Returned? I've never been here before!"
The water-being tilted its head.
"You carry the Mark of the Fallen Crescent. Only one bearer exists at a time."
"I don't understand what that means!"
The pool dimmed, then flared bright.
"You will. And soon."
Riven swallowed. "Please… just tell me who I am."
The being reached out a watery hand, touching his forehead.
A shock wave of images flooded his mind—
—A boy running through these same forests.
—A girl laughing beside him.
—Flames swallowing a village.
—The dark silhouette of a titan-shaped creature emerging from the fire.
—Riven standing between the flames and someone small—someone crying his name.
Riven gasped and fell to his knees.
The vision shattered, leaving only fragments behind.
"That was… me? That couldn't be my life. It can't be."
The being withdrew its hand.
The pool darkened.
"Memory cannot be erased, only buried."
Riven stared at it, breath shaking.
"I want the truth."
The being hesitated.
"Then prepare yourself. The truth hunts you, Riven."
---
The Forest Wakes
A sudden jolt shook the clearing.
Trees groaned.
Branches snapped.
The ground trembled beneath Riven's feet.
The being turned sharply.
"It is here."
"What is here?!" Riven shouted.
But he already sensed it.
The same oppressive force he felt near Eclipse Peak.
The same ominous chill that seeped into his bones.
Shadows pooled in the trees like ink gathering for a purpose.
A creature stepped forth.
It had a body made of pitch-black fog, shifting shapes with every breath.
Its limbs were long and angular.
Its eyes—two hollow white voids—pierced straight through Riven.
The creature screeched, the sound sharp enough to tear through the air.
The water-being placed itself between Riven and the monster.
"Back!" it commanded. "This forest is sacred!"
The creature growled, unfazed.
Riven stumbled backward. "What does it want?!"
The being answered without looking at him.
"You."
The creature lunged.
---
The Crescent Awakens
The water-being shot forward, forming a barrier of spiraling liquid.
The monster slammed into it, screaming as steam erupted from its body.
Riven crawled backward, heart racing.
"I can't fight that! I don't even know what it is—"
The mark on his neck burned again.
Harder.
Hotter.
The burning spread across his chest, down his arms.
Light burst from his skin—soft at first, then blinding.
The water-being's voice echoed:
"Accept it! Let the Crescent answer!"
"I DON'T KNOW HOW!"
But the mark did.
Golden energy exploded around him in a wide arc.
The creature howled, recoiling as light scorched its shadowy form.
Riven rose to his feet, eyes glowing with fierce amber fire.
His voice sounded unfamiliar, deeper—
almost overlapped with another:
"Stay… away from me."
The light burst again, tearing through the air.
The monster screeched one last time before collapsing into a dissolving puddle of black mist that seeped into the soil.
Silence returned.
Riven collapsed.
---
The Message Left Behind
The water-being floated near him, its shape flickering from the strain.
"You awakened a fragment of it… sooner than expected."
Riven coughed. "Fragment of what?"
The being hovered closer.
"Of yourself."
It pointed toward the forest's deeper darkness.
"If you seek the truth, you must go beyond the breathing trees, past the Gates of Echoes. There, the past you have forgotten waits for you."
Riven nodded weakly.
He didn't know if he was ready—but he knew he had no choice.
The being's form began to dissolve back into the pool.
Before fading completely, it whispered:
"Find the girl who once called your name."
Riven froze.
"What girl?! Tell me her name!"
But the being vanished, the pool going still once more.
Riven clenched his fists.
"Who was she… and why does everything feel like it's tied to me?"
He looked toward the deeper darkness of the forest—
toward the path he now had to walk.
He exhaled, steadying himself.
"All right. Let's see the truth."
And with determined steps, Riven walked into the depths of the forest that breathed.
---