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 just as you're thinking this, however, that you start to pick up the sound of approaching voices.


"…Over here? We could get some good shots of the fair."


Before you can even tell which direction the voices are coming from, somebody steps out from behind a tree right in front of you, walking backwards so that they can still face the fair. You see the person is carrying a tripod over their shoulder and holding an expensive-looking camera, and from the way they seem to be figuring out a line of sight, you can guess that they're trying to work out the perfect shot. Speaking to somebody you can't see, they say:


"Okay, I think here would be a good—"


The person with the camera turns their head to look at the surrounding area—but when they spot you on the bench, they jump and nearly drop the heavy camera in their hand.


"Everything all right, Marlowe?" somebody calls from out of sight.


"Um—yeah, fine!" the person with the camera replies, looking over their shoulder. When they turn back to you, they put a hand on their chest as if to calm their racing heart. At the same moment, they smile as they get a better look at you—and in that same moment, you recognize them as the person whose bike almost collided with you.


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