Saint Hiller was no longer what it used to be.
The mist—once reserved for dawn—now lingered throughout the day. It seeped through stone corridors, blanketed the bell tower, and crept over stained-glass windows. The sky was overcast but never rained. Clouds churned sluggishly above, as if they had forgotten how to fall. The air hung damp and heavy, yet never touched the ground. It was as though time itself… had forgotten how to move.
Even the ravens—once noisy sentinels on the castle’s highest spires—had fallen eerily silent. Occasionally, one would glide low across the courtyard, but its shadow on the ground always moved the other way. Students had begun to avoid looking at their own reflections. Too many whispers claimed their shadows… were no longer theirs.
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