Their path to Roran's village led them through the Shadowwood - a vast and very dense forest locals avoided whenever possible. Its trees grew tall and twisted, with their long limbs cast out across the narrow paths like skeletal fingers, their branches whispering to each other in the wind. Every rustle of leaves and distant cry of an animal seemed amplified in the stillness of the woods, and an unease came over Lily as they walked deeper into the forest.
Roran walked a few paces ahead, his shoulders tense, looking back every so often to make sure Lily was still there. He could feel her fear and uncertainty, but the same emotion about his determination. For so long, he'd walked through the darkness alone; now, with Lily by his side, a spark within him seemed to have ignited.
"Does the Shadowwood always feel like this?" she asked softly, breaking the silence.
Roran nodded, his face pale in the dim light seeping through the canopy. "People say it's haunted," he said. "They tell stories about those who go inside and never come out, or the strange lights that'll mislead travelers." He paused before finishing. "But lately, it's gotten worse. It's as if something is feeding on the land, growing stronger with each night that passes.".
Lily felt a shiver at his words, though she smoothed out her expression. She'd seen enough darkness, faced down the Harbinger himself. This shadowy forest, unsettling as it was, was not enough to stop her. ".
They stepped along, the trail winding deeper into woods until the air grew thick with the scent of damp, earthy smell that clung to their clothes. Light began to fade, and dusk started to fall, making Lily more irritable by the second. Shadows began to stretch out, moving in impossible ways, twisting and changing as if alive.
It began to grow dark, and by now they had reached an open clearing where Roran paused, his arm up, gesturing down to the village in the valley. There, from the fields and orchards a faint, sickly glow seemed to cast an unnatural pallor on the land.
"It's here," Roran whispered, his voice barely audible. "The darkness… it's been spreading."
Lilie felt her hair rise on the back of her neck. She sensed a malignant power seeping from the earth—a dark, pulsating aura that felt both ancient and insidious. It was unlike anything she had ever encountered before: a force that seemed to have taken root in the very earth itself.
Gazing down at the afflicted village, Lily knew that this journey was going to test her in ways she hadn't yet conceived of. She was neither dealing with a straightforward exorcism nor banishment; this was going to be a confrontation with something old-something that had festered in silence and shadows, waiting for that moment to emerge.
Taking a deep breath, Lily steeled herself; her mind hardened its resolve. She came to banish darkness, but in this unknown threat, she knew that all the strength, courage, and the powers of her people would be what she'd rely on to really go through what lay in front of her.