Chapter 3: A Village in Silence

The dirt path home was one they had walked countless times before, yet tonight it felt different. The usual comfort of the worn trail was gone, replaced by an eerie stillness that neither Harvey nor Julia could shake.

The sky had begun to darken, streaks of orange and violet bleeding across the horizon. They should have heard the distant chatter of villagers finishing their evening routines, the clatter of pots, the laughter of children still playing near the well. But there was nothing.

Just silence.

Harvey's stomach tightened. He exchanged a glance with Julia, who had slowed her pace. Her brows were furrowed, lips pressed together.

"You hear that?" she murmured.

Harvey frowned. "I don't hear anything."

And that was the problem.

As they rounded the last bend in the path, the village came into view—but it was wrong. The small houses, the market stalls, the flickering lanterns that should have been lit by now… they were all there. But no people.

Not a single soul.

Harvey felt his pulse quicken. The weight of the unease they'd felt at the tree now settled heavily in his chest.

"Where is everyone?" Julia whispered, stepping closer to him.

Harvey swallowed. "I don't know. But we should—"

A loud crack echoed from deeper within the village, followed by the sound of something—someone—moving.

Julia grabbed his arm. "Harvey—"

He held up a hand, signaling her to be quiet, and strained his ears. The sound had come from near the elder's house.

Harvey's instinct screamed at him to run. To turn back, to flee into the forest and never return.

But this was their home. Their only home.

And something was very, very wrong.

Steeling himself, he took a slow step forward. "We need to find out what's going on."

Julia hesitated but nodded, her grip tightening on his sleeve.

Together, they moved forward—toward the silence, toward the unknown.