PlayerOliver

When you were a kid, you lived with your grandmother in the small town of Silvertree, on the edge of a magical forest. Grandma is a witch, and she taught you how to use your magic to affect the natural world, too. “Magic is a part of you,” she always told you. “Learning how to use it means figuring out who you are.”

Now you’re 19 and on your own. After years of living in the forest while you perfected your witchcraft, you’ve returned to take care of your grandmother’s house and crow-familiar while she’s gone. Figuring out who you are feels more important than ever - not to mention, figuring out what Silvertree is. A lot is just as you remembered: the friendly generous next-door neighbors with a kid just your age, the proud town council, the quaint little shops with quirky punny names, the gentle shadowy forest full of magic.

Stone in the shoe

It's not like anything you've heard before, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. The combination of soft breeze and water in the fountain makes you feel peaceful, and this song seems like the perfect soundtrack. You're caught a little by surprise when the song finishes and the crowd starts to applaud, and you find yourself missing the tranquil music.


As the band thanks the crowd and starts preparing for another song, your eye is drawn past them, past the fountain, towards a flash of red you see in the corner of your eye. When you look again to see what it was, you realize you're looking in the direction of the sculpture you saw yesterday—or at least, the place where the sculpture was. You can see from where you're standing that the vandalized sculpture has been removed entirely, leaving nothing but an empty patch of ground where it once stood.


You know it's not a huge thing, but it's strange to think that something like that could happen to such a prominent piece of artwork, and nobody has any idea who it was or even why it happened. You wonder if you'll ever get to find out, or if it was just one of those things somebody did for no reason.


At the same time, you can see that this lonely, empty space has attracted a few onlookers, with people pacing around the spot in confusion. One person in particular catches your eye, however, as with another spark of red, he turns away sadly from the missing sculpture, holding a notebook in his hand. Even from this distance, you have no difficulty recognizing Robin, your redheaded next-door neighbor.


Just as you notice him, a younger girl with identical red curls cuts across your view and runs up to Robin, seemingly beckoning him towards something else in the park. Robin, however, looks reluctant to move away, and after trying a couple more times to tug on his arm, the girl sighs and gives up. She starts to wander away from Robin on her own, but as she does so, you get to see her face more clearly—and in the same, surprising moment that you recognize her as Vada, the girl who helped you yesterday in the pet store, she spots you.


For a second, her eyes go wide. Then she starts to wave. Before you can react, she rushes back towards Robin and says something in his ear, at which point Robin finally agrees to turn around. As he does, Vada points in your direction, and you lock eyes with Robin himself. He seems surprised—and maybe the tiniest bit embarrassed—but when he sees you, he smiles and waves as well.


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