The stain should have been gone.
Yet Kael found himself thinking about it all morning.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the wagon.
The black mark spread across the wood like spilled ink.
Or woven threads.
Neither explanation made sense.
Which was exactly why it bothered him.
"Kael?"
He blinked.
Matron Elen stood in front of him with folded arms.
"You've been staring at that bucket for three minutes."
Kael looked down.
The water bucket in his hands was already full.
"...Right."
The matron sighed.
"Thinking again?"
"Maybe."
"Dangerous habit."
A few younger children giggled.
Kael managed a weak smile and carried the bucket inside.
But even as he worked...
His thoughts drifted west.
Toward the gate.
Toward the hunters.
Toward the Black Forest.
By midday, curiosity finally won.
It usually did.
The western district was quieter than the bustling market near the city center.
Most travelers entered through the western gate before continuing deeper into Havenfall.
Today, however, fewer people lingered.
The atmosphere felt different.
Tense.
Uneasy.
Like a conversation everyone wanted to have but nobody wanted to start.
Kael slowed as he approached.
The damaged wagon was gone.
Only damp cobblestones remained.
A pair of guards stood nearby.
One noticed him.
"You again."
Kael immediately recognized the same man from yesterday.
"I was just passing through."
The guard snorted.
"Children are never 'just passing through.'"
Kael couldn't argue with that.
The older guard beside him chuckled.
"Let the boy look."
"He'll hear the rumors anyway."
The first guard sighed.
"Fine."
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He leaned against the wall.
"What do you want to know?"
Kael hesitated.
Then asked:
"The hunters."
The guard's smile disappeared.
"What about them?"
"What happened?"
The two men exchanged a glance.
The older one answered.
"Something attacked them."
"A monster?"
"Probably."
Probably.
That wasn't a reassuring answer.
Kael frowned.
"You don't know?"
"We know something killed three experienced hunters."
The guard's expression darkened.
"We know it happened less than five kilometers inside the forest."
"We know the survivors wouldn't stop shaking."
His voice lowered.
"And we know none of them could describe what they saw."
Kael felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"None?"
The guard shook his head.
"They remembered the attack."
"They remembered running."
"But every time they tried describing the creature..."
His face tightened.
"They forgot."
Silence.
Kael stared.
Forgot?
That didn't make sense.
"Memory loss?"
A familiar voice interrupted.
Kael turned.
Finn jogged toward them carrying a notebook beneath one arm.
Of course he was here.
The blond teenager looked far too excited.
"That's fascinating."
The guards looked less enthusiastic.
"It's troubling."
Finn ignored the warning.
"Have there been previous cases?"
The older guard sighed.
"Unfortunately."
Finn's eyes lit up.
"How many?"
"Too many."
Kael immediately recognized that tone.
The guard regretted answering already.
Finn opened his notebook anyway.
"When did it begin?"
"We're done talking."
"Did it start recently?"
"We're done."
"Were there common locations?"
"Finn."
Kael grabbed his shoulder.
The boy blinked.
"Oh."
The guard pointed down the street.
"Leave."
"Now."
Finn finally nodded.
"...Understood."
The moment they were out of earshot, Kael looked at him.
"You were interrogating them."
"I was researching."
"Those are sometimes the same thing."
"Exactly."
Kael groaned.
They walked in silence for several minutes.
Then Finn suddenly spoke.
"My parents mentioned memory loss."
Kael stopped.
"What?"
The blond boy pulled a small journal from his satchel.
One of many.
Its leather cover was faded from years of use.
"My father's notes."
He flipped through several pages.
"Here."
Kael leaned closer.
The handwriting was neat.
Precise.
Exploration Log — Year 642
Three members of the expedition reported gaps in memory after entering the western region.
No visible injuries.
No signs of poisoning.
Subjects unable to recall specific encounters.
Symptoms worsen when questioned.
Kael's stomach tightened.
"That's from five years ago."
Finn nodded.
"Exactly."
He turned another page.
The next entry was shorter.
Much shorter.
As though written in haste.
Something beneath the roots.
After that—
The remainder of the page had been scratched out.
Not crossed out.
Destroyed.
The parchment itself was gouged.
As though someone desperately wanted those words erased.
Kael stared.
"What happened?"
Finn's smile vanished.
"I don't know."
For the first time since they'd met...
He sounded afraid.
The city bell rang twice.
Afternoon.
People moved through the streets around them.
Merchants.
Travelers.
Children.
Ordinary life.
Yet Kael couldn't shake the feeling that something invisible was moving beneath it all.
Something ancient.
Watching.
Waiting.
The sensation lingered as they reached the old bridge.
Finn leaned against the railing.
"My parents disappeared in the Black Forest."
Kael looked at him.
The words were calm.
Too calm.
"I know."
"I used to think they were lost."
Finn stared at the river.
"Now I'm not sure."
Kael remained silent.
Sometimes silence was better than empty comfort.
"I want answers."
Finn laughed weakly.
"Guess we're both chasing something."
Kael nodded.
"Looks that way."
A sudden gust of wind swept across the bridge.
Papers rattled.
Leaves danced through the air.
Then—
Something flashed.
Only for an instant.
Kael's hand flew to the pendant beneath his shirt.
Warm.
Again.
The same warmth he'd felt before.
His breath caught.
The world seemed to blur.
Just slightly.
Like heat rippling above stone.
Then he saw it.
A thread.
Black.
Thin as spider silk.
Floating through the air.
Kael froze.
It stretched westward.
Toward the Black Forest.
Toward the distant mountains of trees.
The thread pulsed once.
Then vanished.
The vision lasted less than a heartbeat.
Yet it felt utterly real.
"Kael?"
Finn's voice snapped him back.
"What?"
"You alright?"
The bridge.
The river.
The city.
Everything was normal again.
Kael swallowed.
"...Yeah."
A lie.
A terrible one.
But he wasn't sure how to explain what he'd just seen.
Because he wasn't sure he believed it himself.
That evening, Havenfall's western gate closed earlier than usual.
More guards stood watch atop the walls.
Crossbows loaded.
Torches prepared.
Nobody explained why.
Nobody needed to.
Rumors traveled faster than truth.
And tonight...
The city was nervous.
Far beneath the Black Forest...
Beyond collapsed temples.
Beyond drowned roads.
Beyond forgotten kingdoms consumed by roots...
The cracked black obelisk trembled.
A second fragment fell.
The sound echoed endlessly through the darkness.
Something shifted.
Ancient eyes slowly opened.
Not human.
Not beast.
Older.
A whisper drifted through the ruins.
The voice was clearer this time.
Stronger.
"...The Candidate has begun to see."
Black Threads stirred throughout the underground city.
Like veins awakening after a long sleep.
The ancient presence listened.
Waited.
And smiled.
Far above, beneath an ordinary sky...
Kael slept uneasily.
Unaware that he had just seen his first Soul Thread.
And unaware that something buried beneath the world had finally noticed him