Chapter 7: The Name Left Behind.

Chapter 7:

The Name Left Behind

Errin staggered back from the pale tree, his chest rising and falling with each unsteady breath. The valley had always been a quiet enigma, but now it had reached for him, pulled at something buried deep within his soul.

He pressed a hand to his temple, the vision still burning behind his eyes. The man in blue robes. The courtyard of stone. The flame.

You have returned.

But returned from where?

The old storyteller's voice echoed in his mind. The valley does not forget.

Had it always known? Had the people seen something in him that he had failed to see in himself?

The air felt heavy with expectation, though no one was there to witness his unraveling. He turned away from the tree, but its presence lingered at his back, like a silent sentinel waiting for him to accept the truth it had revealed.

As he made his way back to the village, the night stretched on, vast and endless. When he reached his hut, he did not sleep. Instead, he sat by the dying embers of the fire, staring into its glow, as if it might hold the answers he sought.

Who was he before the valley?

Had he truly been just a wanderer? Or had he been something more—something the valley had hidden from him until now?

The first light of dawn crept across the horizon, but Errin remained still. He was no closer to an answer, but one thing was certain.

The valley had begun to remember him.

And now, he had to remember himself.