Night descended slowly over Elarion. A thin mist hung between the trees surrounding the old Veyne family house, making the forest behind it look like an endless black sea. In the distance, the call of a night bird rang out, occasionally followed by the crack of a branch, caused by either the wind or something moving among the trees.
Elvarra Veyne stood before her bedroom window, hugging her arms. She had been standing there for nearly an hour, staring at the same forest, but for some reason, tonight felt different. Something had made the hairs on the back of her neck rise ever since sunset.
She didn't know what.
Maybe it was just her imagination.
Or maybe it was because, for the past three nights, she had dreamed of the same place—a strange city with black towers soaring into the sky and streets perpetually shrouded in fog. In the dream, she always walked alone until someone called her name from far away.
Elvarra...
The voice always sounded like a whisper.
And every time she tried to find its source, she woke up.
Elvarra let out a long breath, then turned toward the small table beside her bed. A candle burned there, casting a yellowish light that made the corners of her room look darker than usual. She was about to pick up a book when something on the floor stopped her in her tracks.
Her shadow.
Elvarra stared at the floor, her brow furrowing.
The candlelight cast her shadow behind her. That was normal. She raised her right hand, and the shadow followed the movement.
But when she lowered her hand, the shadow moved a moment too late.
Elvarra blinked.
She raised her hand again.
The shadow followed.
This time, she lowered it quickly.
The shadow remained still.
Her heart began to beat faster.
"What...?"
Elvarra took a step back.
The shadow on the floor moved.
It wasn't following her movements. It was moving on its own.
The black figure that should have been the reflection of her body slowly stretched toward the wall, then separated from her feet. In the dim candlelight, Elvarra saw something that made her entire body go rigid.
There was another shadow behind her.
Two shadows.
Even though she was the only one in the room.
Elvarra didn't dare move. Her breath caught as the second shadow slowly raised its head. Its shape resembled a long-haired girl, but it had no distinct face.
"What do you want?"
Elvarra's voice came out smaller than she expected.
The shadow didn't answer.
Instead, its right hand slowly rose and pointed toward the door.
Three knocks sounded at the same time.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Elvarra flinched and turned around.
The second shadow had already disappeared.
"Elvarra?"
Rowan's voice came from beyond the door.
Elvarra immediately approached it, but before her hand touched the knob, her father's voice sounded again.
"Don't open it."
Elvarra stopped.
There was something strange about Rowan's tone. He sounded tense, almost frightened.
"Dad?" Elvarra pressed her palm against the door. "What's wrong?"
"Don't open the door. Whatever you hear after this, don't leave the room."
Elvarra frowned. "Why?"
There was no answer for several seconds.
Then Rowan said quietly, "Because someone is searching for our house tonight."
Elvarra's heart began pounding harder.
"Who?"
"You don't need to know."
"I have a right to know."
"Elvarra."
Rowan's tone turned stern.
The girl fell silent. In all her life, Rowan had never forbidden her from doing something like this. The man she had always known explained everything, even when the answers weren't pleasant.
But tonight was different.
"Dad," she said again, more softly this time. "What's really happening?"
"I'll explain tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Elvarra almost laughed nervously. "You always say that."
A long breath sounded from behind the door.
Then Rowan said, "If I didn't tell you sooner, it's because I wanted to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
Silence.
Before Rowan could answer, a knocking sound came from the window.
Knock.
Elvarra slowly turned.
Knock.
The knocking came again.
This time, louder.
Knock.
She stepped backward. The black curtains covering the window moved slowly, even though it was shut tight.
"Elvarra!" Rowan suddenly shouted from behind the door. "Don't look at the window!"
But her curiosity had overcome her fear.
Elvarra pulled the curtain aside.
A girl stood in the middle of the yard.
Her black hair streamed in the wind. Her face was far too pale for someone standing beneath the moonlight, and her clothes looked strange, as if they had come from another era.
But what made it difficult for Elvarra to breathe was the fact that the girl was staring directly at her.
As though she had come only to meet her.
Then the girl raised one finger to her lips.
Don't make a sound.
Elvarra stepped back.
The girl smiled.
Her lips moved.
Even though the window was closed, Elvarra heard her voice perfectly clearly.
"Don't trust them."
Suddenly, every candle in the room went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
"Elvarra!"
The door flew open. Rowan entered carrying an oil lamp and immediately stood in front of his daughter.
"Did you see someone?"
Elvarra pointed at the window with a trembling hand. "There was a girl outside."
Rowan stared at her.
For a moment, all the color drained from the man's face.
"You saw her?"
The question left Elvarra speechless.
"Dad... you know who she is?"
Rowan didn't answer. Instead, he walked toward the window and opened it carefully. Cold air rushed into the room. But the yard outside was empty.
There was no girl.
No footprints.
Nothing but mist drifting slowly between the trees.
"I wasn't lying," Elvarra said.
"I know."
His answer made her turn toward him.
Rowan closed and locked the window.
"Starting tonight, you can't leave the house alone."
"What?"
"And never go into the forest."
"Why?"
Rowan stared at her for so long that Elvarra felt there was something he was hiding.
"Dad."
"Don't ask any more questions."
"The more you keep telling me to stay quiet, the more I want to know."
Rowan sighed.
"You should never have seen it."
"Seen what?"
"That shadow."
Elvarra fell silent.
Her heart seemed to stop beating.
Rowan noticed. His eyes changed at once.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Elvarra didn't answer.
"Dad," she whispered, "what happened to me?"
Rowan opened his mouth, but no words came out. At last, he turned and walked toward the door.
"Tomorrow," he said.
Elvarra stared at his back. "You always say tomorrow."
Rowan paused.
Without turning around, he said, "Because some truths are better discovered after someone is ready to accept them."
The door closed.
Elvarra stood alone in the middle of the room.
She stared at the floor.
One shadow.
Only one.
For a while, she tried to convince herself that everything that had happened was merely a trick of the light, a nightmare, or perhaps a product of her own mind.
Until something appeared on the floor.
Black letters slowly took shape from her shadow.
NOCTHOLLOW.
Elvarra dropped to her knees.
The name felt unfamiliar, yet strangely, it made her chest tighten.
She had heard it before.
In old stories Rowan had always forbidden her to discuss.
A city that never appeared on any map.
A city visible only to those who had lost something.
Elvarra touched the writing.
In an instant, the letters changed.
YOU ONCE LIVED THERE.
Elvarra yanked her hand back.
"Impossible."
The writing changed again.
REMEMBER ME.
The candle on the table lit itself.
Elvarra turned.
On the bedroom wall, her second shadow appeared again.
This time, it was clearer.
A girl stood there with her head bowed, her long hair covering her face.
Then, slowly, she raised her head.
Elvarra couldn't move.
Because the shadow's face was her own.
A whisper sounded right beside her ear.
"Elvarra..."
She held her breath.
"They've found you."
The shadow disappeared.
At the same time, the sound of an old bell rang out in the distance.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Elvarra ran to the window.
Beyond the forest, a purple light slowly appeared among the trees. The mist parted, revealing an old stone gate that had never been there before.
Carved above the gate was an inscription Elvarra somehow understood.
NOCTHOLLOW — THE CITY THAT REMEMBERS.
And for no reason she could understand, a strange memory suddenly surfaced in her mind.
A little girl was crying in that very place.
Her hand was clasped around someone else's.
A man's voice came from far away.
"If you ever return, don't let them take your shadow again."
Elvarra closed her eyes.
The memory vanished.
But a name remained in her mind.
A name she had never heard before.
Veyra.
On the floor, Elvarra's shadow moved.
And for the first time, the shadow smiled.