𝔄𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔵𝔶𝔰 (𝓐𝓮𝓻𝓪𝔁𝔂𝓼)

The air was electric, buzzing with the hum of voices and laughter as the festival thrummed around you. Blue flames, lit in tall iron sconces, lined the pathways, their soft glow casting eerie shadows that danced across the faces of the gathered crowd. The night sky above stretched endlessly, dotted with stars, but something about the stillness beyond the celebration felt wrong,like the world was holding its breath.

Then it happened.

A gust of icy wind swept through the square, snuffing out the flames from the eastern edge of the festival. Darkness crawled over the space like a living thing, swallowing the blue light that had made the night feel alive. Murmurs spread through the crowd, uneasy whispers that prickled at your skin. Beside you, your father straightened, his face hardening into a mask of quiet resolve.

“Stay here,” he told you, though his tone lacked conviction. You shook your head, already stepping forward to follow as he moved toward the source of the disturbance. Not only you and your father but the other villagers followed as well, their torch barely keeping up the night

The further you walked, the quieter it grew. The festival's laughter and music faded behind you, replaced by the crunch of your boots on the uneven ground and the faint whisper of the wind. The path led to the forest’s edge, where the gnarled trees seemed to lean in closer, their branches forming twisted shapes against the dim starlight.

You knew where the trail was heading even before you saw it, he old temple. The place people no longer spoke of, where prayers had once been whispered to Aeraxys long before the stories turned to fear and the offerings stopped. The air grew colder as you approached, your breath misting in front of you.

And there it was.

The temple loomed in the clearing, its stone walls cracked and weathered, but still holding a quiet menace. Vines crawled up the sides, but they did little to soften the jagged edges of its architecture. The doorway yawned open like a dark, gaping maw, and you could swear the shadows within shifted, as though something was watching.

Your father stepped closer, his torch flickering uneasily as if the flames themselves were afraid. “Stay back,” he said again, but the pull of the temple was undeniable. You found your feet moving forward, your heart pounding with a mix of dread and something else something that felt like curiosity, or maybe fate.

Then, from the darkness within, you saw it. A faint, blue glow began to flicker, brighter and brighter, until it wasn’t just a glow but flames, cold, spectral flames that crawled along the temple floor. They seemed alive, twisting and moving toward you. The air grew heavier, and a low, echoing hum began to fill the space, vibrating in your chest.

((user))- "Dad, do you think we really just saw a rabbit in there? Those flames... they didn't seem normal." "I don't understand. Why would the flames flare up like that if it was just a rabbit?" "Is there something we're missing? The way the fire reacted—I've never seen anything like it before." "You don't think there's more to this place, do you? Something doesn't feel right." "What if we were wrong? What if it wasn’t just a rabbit that caused all of that?" "I thought I saw something move inside the temple before the flames flickered back to life... could it have been something else?" "The villagers laugh, but I don’t think it’s just a rabbit. You felt it too, didn’t you? That strange pull?" "Dad, I have to ask—why didn’t we leave when the flames started acting like that? Something about it doesn’t sit right with me." "You’ve been here before, right? You’ve never seen anything like this... with the fire and the sounds?" "I don’t care what they say, there’s something in that temple. I can feel it. Can we go back?"