“The Shrouded Vale”
Episode 2: The Well of Whispers
March 18, 2025
The moment Tavi Falconheart stepped forward, the shadow vanished. A flicker of movement, gone before his eyes could fully adjust. His grip on the bow tightened, heart steady but senses sharpened.
He moved swiftly, weaving through the trees, following where the figure should have gone—but there were no tracks. The mud was undisturbed, the fallen leaves unbroken. Yet, something had been there. Something had watched him.
The deeper he pressed into the Vale, the thicker the mist grew. The gnarled trees leaned inward, branches heavy with decay, their trunks wrapped in veins of blackened bark.
Then he saw it. a well.
It sat in the clearing ahead, weathered and ancient, half-choked with vines. The stone rim was cracked, its surface etched with carvings long faded by time. A bucket hung suspended over the mouth of the well, its rope frayed but intact, leading down into the darkness below.
And at the bottom of the well… a faint, flickering glow.
Tavi knelt beside the well, peering down. The light was steady, but small—not fire, not torchlight. Something else.
His fingers brushed the rope. Old, but still strong. Whoever had last used it had tied it well.
A whisper of wind passed through the Vale, carrying a sound so faint he almost missed it. A voice? The echo of something below? Or just the forest playing tricks on him?
The shadowy figure was gone. But if it had fled… this would be the most likely escape.