The Next Morning, The Village Was Abuzz With Whispers Of The Woman's Death. Rumors Of Dark Forces Spread Like Wildfire, Each Tale More Terrifying Than The Last. Some Said She Had Been Cursed; Others Claimed To Have Seen Her Soul Dragged Screaming Into The Shadows.
I Kept My Head Down, Pretending To Know Nothing. But The Unease In My Chest Grew With Every Passing Hour. The Ring Burned In My Pocket, Its Weight Growing Heavier By The Second. I Could Feel It, Almost As Though It Pulsed With a Heartbeat Of Its Own.
The Livestock Were The Next To Suffer. Farmers Woke To Find Their Animals Dead, Their Bodies Drained Of Blood, Their Eyes Hollow. The Air Was Thick With The Scent Of Decay, And The Once-Bustling Market Fell Silent.
And Then Came The Disappearances.
It Began With a Young Boy, Barely Old Enough To Walk, Snatched From His Bed Without a Trace. Then a Merchant Vanished On The Road To Prague, His Cart Found Overturned And His Horse Dead. By The End Of The Week, Six People Had Gone Missing, Their Fates Unknown.
I Tried To Convince Myself It Was Coincidence, a String Of Bad Luck, Nothing More. But Deep Down, I Knew The Truth. The Ring Had Brought Something Into This World—Something Ancient, Something Hungry.
The Dreams Grew Worse. I Saw The Shadow More Clearly Now, Its Form Shifting And Writhing Like Smoke. It Whispered To Me In a Language I Couldn't Understand, But Its Intent Was Clear. It Wanted Freedom.
By The Time I Realized The Magnitude Of My Mistake, It Was Too Late.