CHAPTER 7
578 Words
The fox led me through parts of Nerath I'd never visited. Past crowded streets, past elegant gardens, past districts where glass towers gave way to ancient stone.
The city slowly became quieter. Older. Until the noise faded altogether. We stopped before a weathered archway almost hidden beneath climbing ivy.
No guards.
No merchants.
No visitors.
Only an old wooden sign whose faded lettering had long since become unreadable.
"What is this place?"
The fox slipped inside.
The courtyard beyond was small.
Peaceful.
A forgotten sanctuary tucked between the city's oldest buildings. A single cedar tree grew from the centre. Its roots wrapped lovingly around cracked stone. Beneath its branches sat a shallow pool as smooth as polished glass. No wind disturbed it.
The moment I stepped closer...a strange warmth settled over me.
Not outside. Inside. Like my body had finally remembered how to breathe.
I frowned. "...Why does this feel familiar?"
The fox climbed onto the pool's edge.
Watching me.
Waiting.
I knelt beside the water. My reflection stared back.
Tired eyes. Dark hair tied carelessly behind my shoulders. A faint scar across my left cheek. The woman I'd seen every morning for years.
I reached toward the surface. The water rippled gently beneath my fingertips.
Then a second reflection appeared beside mine. I froze.
Someone stood just behind me.
Tall.
Broad shouldered.
Long dark hair tied loosely behind his neck.
Amber eyes.
Calm.
Watching.
Every instinct I possessed screamed.
I spun.
Nobody.
The courtyard was empty.
I looked back.
The reflection was gone.
The water lay perfectly still.
My heartbeat refused to slow. "What..."
The fox hadn't moved. He simply watched me. Not surprised but almost sad.
"You knew." The words escaped before I could stop them. "You brought me here."
The fox lowered his head slightly. Not in guilt. In acknowledgment.
"You know something."
He held my gaze.
For one impossible moment...
I felt as though he understood every word.
Then a bell rang.
Deep.
Ancient.
Not loud.
Yet it echoed through my chest instead of my ears.
The warmth vanished and so did the peace.
The fox's ears snapped upright. His posture changed instantly. Relaxed curiosity disappeared. In its place stood something alert. Protective. He looked toward the western rooftops. A low growl rumbled from his throat. I'd never heard a fox make that sound. It wasn't fear. It was warning.
I followed his gaze. At first there was nothing. Then I saw it.
High above the rooftops, standing impossibly still atop one of Nerath's glass towers, was a figure cloaked in black. Too far away to make out clearly. Too distant to recognize.
Yet I knew—
Without understanding how—
It was looking directly at me.
The figure lifted one hand. Not in greeting. In recognition. Then its body dissolved into a cloud of black feathers that scattered across the sky. The fox barked sharply. Once. Urgently.
The hairs along my arms stood on end.
Something had just found me.
And somehow...
The fox had known it would.
That night, sleep came slowly. The city outside my window never truly grew quiet, yet I found myself listening for something else.
The sound of distant bells. The whisper of cedar branches. The feeling that someone was watching. Just before sleep finally claimed me, one thought drifted through my mind.
I had come to Nerath believing I was chasing a monster.
Now it felt as though the monster had been waiting for me all along.
- Writer
