OctavioERuiz

The Echo of Days

In an ordinary city, hidden among forgotten alleys and faceless buildings, an impossible bookstore appears. No one remembers seeing it before. No one knows who runs it. But its doors open for those whose lives are about to change forever.
Elías, a poor boy who sells newspapers to care for his sick grandmother, steps through those doors unaware that they will lead him to another world, a world where books are alive, words hold power, and fate is written in ancient ink.
There, he meets Echo, an enigmatic girl who is more than human, and Ilyara, a young woman who guards the secret of a long-forgotten magic: the magic of words.
Together, they will discover that not all worlds are safe… and that some stories can be devoured by darkness.
A novel about family bonds, the weight of memory, and the voice of stories yet to be told.

The echo of days (en. ver)

At dawn, the forest sounded different, no longer like a distant whisper, but like a conversation between branches. Elías woke to the crackle of light on the mossy roof and the soft aroma of wind-baked bread Tissa had left at the door.

Amelia was still asleep, wrapped in peace. As if her illness had been nothing more than a shadow that had finally faded.

He stepped out carefully, the leaf-map in one hand and his stomach full of doubts. He needed work, food, stability, something that would let him stay, something to make this second chance Lunareth had given them worth it.

At the base of a white tree, sitting on a smooth stone, was a girl with dark hair tied in a messy braid, holding a leaf between her fingers as if reading something invisible written on it.

She wore a lavender cloak embroidered with symbols Elías couldn't understand. Her eyes were light, far too light, as if they reflected the sky and the world's questions all at once.

"You shouldn't be walking alone here," she said without looking at him. "The forest doesn't know if it can trust you yet."

"And do you?" Elías replied without thinking.

She smiled, just a little, a quick, almost hidden smile.

"That depends. Did you come here by accident, or by destiny?"

"I just wanted to take care of my grandmother."

"Good answer," she said, letting the leaf fall. It floated through the air and vanished before it touched the ground.

"I work in many places. But today I'm here to see if the new traveler can read."

"Not books. The signs. The things not written in ink."

"I… used to sell newspapers. In my world. That's all I knew how to do."

"Newspapers?" she repeated, genuinely curious. "Printed news? What a strange idea…"

"I work at the House of Living Messages," she said. "There, news isn't printed. It's grown. Leaves that fall on certain days hold words. The sky whispers of change. The wings of birds carry truths. And a few chosen ones… can read them."

She looked at him again, more seriously this time.

"You came through the bookstore. That already says a lot."

She stood up. She was taller than Elías expected. And graceful, even in her simple clothes.

"Come with me. The keeper doesn't hire outsiders, but maybe you're not just that."

"Ilyara," she said, and her name seemed to blend into the murmur of the trees. "And yours?"

"Then, Elías, boy of the newspapers… come see if Lunareth has something to tell you."

As they walked together among trees that seemed to listen, Elías felt something he couldn't explain. As if he had met her before. As if her voice had already lived in his dreams, speaking to him from another world.

And though he understood none of it, for the first time since arriving in Lunareth…

Chapter 4: The Girl Beside the Talking Leaves