Tari had always been different.
From the time she was a child, she could hear things others couldn't whispers in the breeze, murmurs in the rustling leaves, even faint laughter when the wind danced through the trees. Her village, nestled between rolling green hills and a vast, whispering forest, called it a gift. But to Tari, it often felt like a secret burden.
On the morning of her twelfth birthday, she woke to the wind brushing against her cheek like an old friend. Come, it seemed to say. Tari sat up, her dark eyes wide. The voice was clearer today, more urgent.
She slipped out of her small wooden house before her parents could wake, her bare feet padding softly against the dew-covered grass. The village was still asleep, the sky painted in soft hues of pink and gold. The wind tugged at her loose curls, guiding her toward the edge of the forest the one place she had been forbidden to go.
The woods are not for us, her mother always warned. Strange things linger there.
But the wind was insistent. And for the first time, Tari hesitated at the tree line, her heart pounding.
Then, from deep within the forest, a melody floated toward her a song without words, one that tugged at something deep inside her. Without another thought, she stepped forward, crossing into the shadows of the ancient trees.
The moment she did, the world around her shifted. The air grew warmer, the colors richer. Flowers she had never seen before glowed faintly in the dim light, and the trees seemed to lean in, as if curious about the girl who dared to enter.
And then she saw it a flicker of movement between the branches. Not an animal. Not quite.
Something or someone was watching her.
Tari's breath caught. The wind swirled around her, whispering one word:
Run!!!
But it was too late.
(To be continued...)