Chapter 969

In the following days, no direct contact came. But signs appeared: glyph-etched stones buried near saplings, new glowing graffiti on stones that solidified each morning. The watchers returned, now appearing deeper inside the orchard, sometimes watching domestic chores with ivory patience.

That afternoon, Jude took a small group, Scarlet, Layla, Emma, to seek meaning behind the black cloth's glyph. They followed spirals through mist deeper than before, tracing faded markings on stones near the river's bend. At a break in the slope they found a flat stone set into the ground, carved with the glyph and surrounded by a half-circle of smaller stones.

The glyph glowed pale on that stone.

EMMA knelt and brushed moss from its surface. "Is this… a door?"

Jude reached out. "It's a marker."

He traced the spiral, the glyph pulsing like a heartbeat. Then he pressed his hand into the spiral groove. The ground trembled.

Layla gasped. "Earth's speaking."