WORLD'S APART

chapter 1:A SPY IN THE SHADOWS (PART 3)

Dawn came with a sky streaked pink and gold. Kaelen rose early, her mind already working through plans. She needed to learn more — about the crack, the forest, the stranger.

Her feet took her first to Bram’s bakery. The scent of fresh bread greeted her as she stepped inside.

“Morning, herbalist,” Bram said with a smile. “Pie? On the house for a new friend.”

Kaelen accepted the offer, sitting at a small table near the window. “Bram,” she said, lowering her voice. “That crack outside town — has anyone tried to… fix it? Fill it in?”

Bram’s hands stilled on the dough he was kneading. “A few tried,” he said quietly. “Shovel dirt into it, pile stones. By morning, it’s clear again. Like the earth refuses to stay closed.”

Kaelen frowned. “What about the forest?”

Bram hesitated. “Folks don’t go in deep. Not anymore. Too many stories. Lights moving between the trees. Voices calling your name. No one ever finds anything, but…” He trailed off.

Kaelen nodded. “Thank you.”

She left the bakery with a fresh pie wrapped in cloth, but her mind was elsewhere.

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That afternoon, she visited the library — a small stone building that smelled of ink and old leather. The librarian, an elderly man with thick glasses, peered at her over a stack of books.

“Looking for something, miss?”

“Records,” Kaelen said. “About the forest. The land. Anything unusual.”

The man led her to a corner where dusty tomes lined sagging shelves. Kaelen spent hours there, paging through histories and legends.

One tale caught her eye — an old account of a rift between worlds, sealed by a guardian of the forest. The details were sparse, the ending unclear. But the pattern matched what she’d seen.

Another rift, she thought. And no guardian in sight.

As evening fell, Kaelen stepped out into the fading light, the town quiet again. She felt the weight of the mission pressing on her — the crack, the stranger, the magic leaking into this peaceful place.

But she felt something else too: determination. She was a spy. A survivor. And Elderwood would not fall on her watch.