Chapter 4 The scent of Truth

The forest was too quiet.

Not peaceful.

Not still.

Empty.

Lyra walked slowly beneath the towering trees, fog brushing against her legs like smoke from something long extinguished. Her boots barely made a sound on the mossy floor. In her hands, she carried a small bunch of lavender and forget-me-nots-her father's favorites.

He once said flowers were the earth's memory.

That they grew where love had been buried.

The trail curved through twisted oaks and ancient pines, until it opened into a small glade where grass grew taller than her knees, wildflowers swayed in silence, and light barely touched the ground.

There, in the middle of it all, stood the grave.

Caius Fenwood

Loyal Father. Brave Protector.

The words were carved deep into the stone, though moss had begun to grow in the cracks. Lyra knelt, her knees sinking into the soft earth. She placed the flowers gently down.

"Hi, Dad," she whispered. Her voice caught in her throat. "I brought your favorites."

She didn't cry. Not yet.

But it was close.

"I miss you. More than I thought possible. Things are falling apart, and I... I don't know what I'm supposed to do without you."

A cold wind stirred the grass.

Lyra wiped her cheek, trying to stay strong.

Then she saw it-nestled near the flowers, so still it might have been placed with care.

A feather.

Black.

Slick.

Wrong.

There were no birds around. No sound. No reason for it to be there.

She reached for it-drawn by a strange, almost magnetic pull-when a voice broke the silence behind her.

"You always talk to the dead?"

Lyra jumped to her feet, turning fast.

Elias stood under a tree, arms crossed. His usual smirk was softened by concern.

"You scared me," she said, pressing a hand to her chest.

"Didn't mean to," Elias replied, stepping closer. His gaze dropped to the feather. "That yours?"

Lyra shook her head. "No. It was just... there."

He crouched to examine it. His expression darkened.

"That's not good," he said quietly. "A crow feather on a Fenwood grave... that's a mark."

"A mark for what?" she asked.

"For something that doesn't belong near the dead," he said. "Something watching."

Before Lyra could speak again, a voice rang through the trees-panicked.

"Lyra!"

Selena burst into the clearing, breathless, eyes wide. "You have to come. Jasper found something. Something wrong."

They ran.

Through fog and branches and breathless silence, they climbed to a ridge overlooking the village. Jasper stood near a jagged hole in the earth, face pale, hands shaking.

"Look."

Lyra stepped closer and peered down.

A yellowed bone jutted from the soil-too smooth, too clean. A black string was tied around it, and strange symbols-etched in something red-ran along the surface.

Her blood ran cold.

"I saw something like this near my father's grave," she said.

"You're right," came a voice behind her.

It was Athenana, the village lorekeeper. She moved like smoke-slow, wise, unstoppable. Her silver hair was tied back with a raven feather charm. Her eyes lingered on the bone.

"This is no animal," she said. "This is sealing magic. An anchor. A lock."

"A lock for what?" Jasper asked.

Athenana didn't answer at first.

She looked toward the woods.

Then she spoke, her voice like stone against steel.

"For something that cannot die. Or something that was never truly alive."

The air turned heavy.

Lyra stepped back. "I need to go back. To his grave. Now."

They returned quickly. But the grave was no longer untouched.

New footprints circled the stone.

Large. Bare.

But inhuman.

Toes too long. Impossibly deep.

Clawed.

"They weren't here before," Lyra whispered.

Elias crouched. He sniffed the ground, then grimaced.

"No scent. Not man. Not beast. This thing... it doesn't belong in this world."

Tristan stepped into the clearing, sword already drawn. His voice was like iron. "Whatever it is, it's watching."

Lyra stared at the ground.

Her fingers brushed the earth.

It was warm.

Too warm.

"There's something buried here," she said. "With my father."

Jasper stepped forward, alarmed. "Lyra... you're not seriously-"

But she was already digging.

Her fingers moved fast, tearing at roots and dirt.

Elias joined her. Then Tristan.

Together, they unearthed something hard. Something sealed.

A box.

Old, rotted, soaked in damp earth.

Black string wrapped around it, knotted tight.

Tiny bones-bird bones, maybe-were tied into the cords like protective charms.

Athenana stepped forward slowly.

"This is powerful binding. If you open this... something may be freed that should have stayed lost."

Lyra's voice was steady. "If my father hid this, I need to understand why."

She untied the cords. They fell away like dead vines.

The box creaked open.

Inside-

A heart.

Not dried.

Not shriveled.

Still beating.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Defiant.

Selena gasped. "That's impossible."

Lyra stared. "Is this... his?"

The heart beat faster.

Faster.

Faster.

Then-

Footsteps.

Wet. Dragging.

Coming closer.

A man stepped from the shadows between trees.

Tall. Familiar.

And wrong.

His skin was too pale.

His eyes-black, endless.

His clothes were damp with earth and rot.

Lyra's knees went weak.

"Dad?" she whispered.

The man smiled.

But it wasn't his smile.

It was cold.

Mocking.

Empty.

"That's not him," Elias said, stepping in front of her.

Tristan raised his blade.

The man opened his mouth-like he wanted to speak-but no sound came. Only a dry breath.

Lyra took a shaky step forward. "He's trying to say something..."

But Athenana's voice cut through the air.

"That is not your father. That is something wearing him."

The heart in the box began to pound louder.

Then another sound.

A low growl.

Not from the pale man.

From the trees.

A voice-low, growling, ancient-rumbled from the darkness.

"She is not yours to awaken."

The pale man froze.

Everyone turned.

The trees exploded.

A creature leapt from the shadows.

It landed in a spray of dirt and leaves, claws dug into the ground, eyes glowing white-hot. Its fur was as black as the void. Its shape... not fully beast, not fully man.

It roared.

The ground shook.

The forest howled.

Lyra screamed-

-and the world went black.