In a world where love was a mere myth, Elrick lived on the fringe of an unfeeling society. The city was a machine, cold and indifferent, each person bound by their own desires, disconnected from the warmth of human connection. It wasn't cruelty—no, it was simply how things were. Love was an alien concept, like a forgotten language, no one even bothered to remember it. A mother would care for her child not with tenderness but as a matter of necessity. The idea of selflessness, of giving without expectation, had long since vanished from the world.
Elrick had always felt the sharpness of this absence. It wasn't a wound that bled, but one that gnawed at his spirit, making him feel more alone than even the darkest corners of the forest outside the city's gates. He lived there, in a small cottage barely touched by time, surrounded by the quiet embrace of nature. But even in this solitude, there was a hollowness inside him that he couldn't ignore. Something was missing, something more than the coldness of the city. He didn't know what love was, but he could sense its absence with every breath.
One evening, as the last traces of daylight dissolved into twilight, Elrick heard something that should not have been. A strange, distant rumble, followed by a flicker of blue light cutting through the darkening sky. He paused. The air seemed to hold its breath. There was a silence, thick and expectant, and then came the flash again—brilliant and otherworldly. It wasn't a fire or lightning; it was something else, something out of place.
His pulse quickened, curiosity gnawing at him like an itch he couldn't scratch. Without a second thought, he grabbed the lantern from his mantle, his hands trembling as the flame flickered in the wind. He stepped outside, his eyes scanning the horizon, and began to walk into the heart of the forest, following the strange light that beckoned him from afar.
The trees, ancient and silent, parted in front of him as if guiding his steps. And then, just as his feet reached the forest's edge, he saw it. A stone, lying in the underbrush, glowing with an intense, unnatural light. It shimmered in the soft twilight, casting an eerie blue glow that seemed to pulse with life.
Elrick's breath caught in his throat. It was no ordinary rock. The stone, no bigger than the palm of his hand, gleamed like a fragment of the moon itself. He stepped closer, his heart thudding louder in his chest. There was something impossibly beautiful about it, something almost alive in the way it seemed to hum with energy. The world around him grew quiet, as if holding its breath along with him.
His hand, almost of its own accord, reached out, fingertips brushing the cool surface of the stone. The moment he touched it, a sharp, electric sensation shot through his arm, making him gasp. The stone's energy surged into him like a wave, sweeping through his veins, igniting something deep inside him. It wasn't painful, but it was overwhelming, as if every part of him—every thought, every feeling—had been swept up in a tide of raw power.
Elrick's vision blurred, his body swaying as the stone's energy pulsed through him. His heart, once a quiet, steady rhythm, began to race, faster and faster until it was all he could hear. The air felt warmer now, heavier with some unseen presence. He staggered back, eyes wide, and collapsed onto the ground. The stone lay before him, still glowing softly in the quiet of the night.
For a long moment, Elrick couldn't move. His mind raced to understand what had just happened. He had touched something… what was it? What had he felt? It wasn't fear. It wasn't pain. It was something else, something he couldn't put into words.
Slowly, he rose to his feet, the strange sensation lingering in his chest, as if his heart had been touched by something otherworldly. He reached up to feel his chest, his heart hammering beneath his ribs. But the sensation—this warmth, this strange tugging in his soul—was still there, burning quietly inside him.
The blue light from the stone faded, leaving only the faint glow of the moon above. Elrick remained still, staring at the spot where the stone had lain. It had changed him. That much was certain.
He didn't know what had happened, or why. All he knew was that the world felt different now. The forest, the sky, even the very air around him seemed to hum with a newfound energy. But it wasn't just the world that had changed—he had. Something within him had been unlocked. Something he couldn't yet understand.
The next morning, as Elrick made his way back into the city, he noticed things he had never paid attention to before. The wind felt different—softer, warmer. The sun shone brighter, its rays wrapping him in a glow that seemed to penetrate deeper than skin. The city, bustling as ever, still felt cold, but now, there was a crackling energy beneath the surface, a pulse that resonated within him. And yet, when he looked at the people around him, their faces were the same. Empty. Indifferent. Their eyes were mirrors—reflecting only themselves. There was no warmth in their gazes, no recognition of one another as fellow souls. They were all alone, surrounded by people, but isolated in their own hearts.
Elrick knew, without a shadow of doubt, that he was different. For the first time in his life, he felt something stirring inside him. Something he couldn't describe, but knew to be love. He could feel it—warm, bright, and real—coursing through him. He could feel the beauty of the world, the bond between living things, the unspoken connection that tied everything together.
But no one else could.
He was the only one who could feel it. The only one who could experience love.
And that realization brought both a sense of awe and an aching sorrow. He wanted to share this feeling. He wanted to find a way to show them—show the people in the city—that love wasn't a myth. That it could exist, even in a world like theirs.
But how? How could he awaken them to something they had never known?
The journey ahead of him was unclear, but one thing was certain—he had to try. He had been given something precious, and he couldn't let it fade away into the shadows. He had to find a way to share love with a world that had forgotten what it was.
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