The village square bustled with activity as Darian and his friends returned from the river. Traders' carts lined the streets, their goods ranging from sacks of grain to glinting trinkets enchanted with faint magical energy.
"Let's stop here!" Mira said, tugging Darian toward a cart piled high with colorful fabrics.
As Mira admired the wares, Darian noticed a group of villagers talking in hushed voices near the well. He caught fragments of their conversation.
"...that boy's father… strange things happen around him…"
"…Clara won't speak of it, but I remember the night he came to the Hollow…"
Darian stiffened. They were talking about his father again. It wasn't the first time he'd overheard whispers like this, but no one in the village ever gave him a straight answer. Even his mother avoided the subject.
"Hey, you okay?" Mira's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Yeah, just thinking," Darian muttered, glancing back at the group before following her.
---
That evening, as Darian worked on his latest invention—a gadget designed to filter river water for irrigation—he finally broached the topic with his mother.
"Mom, who was my father?"
Clara froze, her hand stilling over a pot of herbs.
"Why do you ask?"
"I keep hearing people talk about him. Like he wasn't from here. Like he wasn't… normal."
Clara sighed, sitting down beside him. "Your father was a good man, Darian. But he was different, yes. He came to this village for reasons I don't fully understand, and when he left…" She hesitated. "He left because he had to."
"Had to? What does that even mean?"
"Someday, you'll understand."
Frustrated, Darian returned to his work. But as he adjusted the wires in his device, he couldn't shake the feeling that his father's absence—and his mother's silence—was tied to something far bigger than he could imagine.