Elara Voss moved through Tartiib’s marketplace like a wraith, her faded woolen cloak blending into the crowd’s muted hues. The rumors here spoke of a shadow—vast, nameless, starved of light—but the Teran family’s gold ensured silence. Their fear was palpable, coiled beneath polished armor and forced smiles. They dared not provoke what they could not .

  Beyond Tartiib’s walls lay the forest . Its name echoes through history. Tyas,full of ancient beings ,wheter creatures or trees.

  Outsiders whispered of its layers

  The Outer Ring. A tangle of thorns and half starved predators, where even seasoned hunters tread lightly.

  The Inner Maw. A realm of twisted magic, where beasts with scales like iron and breath like frost prowled. Humans rarely venture this deep.

  Thr core A myth. No living soul had breached it and returned sane.

  The forest defied normal flames. Its bark has a tribute, resists any sparks, its leaves repel torches. Men who tried to burn it found their fires snuffed by unseen winds.

  A noble had an idea ,maybe the inner was softer and easier to burn ,only to barely escape alive. The Noble still remains as a reminder. The mothers read nightly, to remind childrens not to follow the fools steps.

  In the streets of Tartiib

  Elara had finally managed to cornered a silk merchant, his stall now overflowing with Teran-bought luxuries. “The shadow’s a mirage,” he hissed, fingers brushing a gold chain,a bribe to forget the night he had recording of "Shadow" (Moon).

  Looking at the merchant, she knew it was impossible to continue from this angle.

  She hoped her next target would be her breakthrough. The target she finally managed to have appointment with,was none other than the commander. Even Elara knew if she had not used her connections ,this meeting wouldn't be possible with the commanders personality.

  As she stepped in Commander Cristiina’s office, it reeked of ink and dread. She looked at the commander ,whos first words were“Leave Tartiib,” she warned Elara. Elara who was appalled by this, was about to ask her question.When suddenly, Cristiina got up and said" You can leave now, I agreed to this only to warn"

  The reporter was walking half dazed back home. Were Terans so powerfull that even commander was scared or was there something else in the mix? In the street Elara spotted a young girl" she might as well think later but now work waited"The answers she was looking was right infront of her as form of this girl.

  The girl named Lira pressed a charcoal to draw onto Elara’s hand—a jagged shadow over Tartiib.

  “Papa’s in the Debtor’s Hold,” she whispered. “They say he owes coin for spreading lies.”

  Elara’s satchel burned with the sketch. The Debtor’s Hold broke souls with their ledgers, not blades. The Terans’ cruelty was calculated to a tea.

  Elara’s mind groaned to life, her next was already decided. The article branding the shadow to the light.Headline shining “The silenced truth.”

  By dawn, Teran paid newsboys, drowned her words in cries of “Mass Hysteria!”

  A baker’s reputation crumbled over “rat-tainted flour.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  A dockmaster’s ledgers vanished in fire.

  While Tartiib’s streets gleamed with Teran gold, in the taverns, coins bought new rumors of a forest that remembered of a shadow biding its time.

  This rumor came as fast as it disappeared but not one person had forgotten of its contents.The locals still vividly remembered the memory of the night ,when flying city hovered above their heads.

  ...................

  In the forest’s Outer Ring, moonlight glinted off Lady Veyra’s airship. Mercenaries unloaded casks of alchemical fire. Thick, iridescent sludge brewed by Mira, the engineer. “Normal flame won’t touch these trees,” Mira muttered, adjusting her goggles. “But this… this will smoke the truth out.”

  Kear, a Teran spy, lingered at the treeline.He was specially given instruction to stay as far as he could. He looked down as he heard “Burn it” Lady Veyra ordered. “Let the smoke lure out whatever hides here.”

  The sludge ignited with loud

  Hiss!

  Flames licking emerald and crimson. The Outer Ring’s thorns blackened, the first layer surrendering to unnatural heat.

  The fire spread, defying the forest’s ancient defenses. This was only from one direction . What they wanted ,was to smoke out whatever was inside not burn the whole forest, thought one mercenary amongs the many.

  From the Inner Maw, a roar shook the earth .Mercenaries faltered as the trees themselves seemed to twist, roots snapping like whips. The confident mercenaries and the noble Lady were now terrified.

  In the forest

  Moon floated above Claustar, his humanoid form dissolving at the edges like mist caught in sunlight. The sentient orb beneath the city hummed a low, urgent note—la sound he’d only heard once before, when the Terans had tried to shackle him.

  “Trouble?” Raiz landed beside him, boots sparking faintly as he tossed a honeycake between his hands. Brav who was already next to Moon said “Did you finally challenge Aurora to another eating contest? That last one cost us a week’s nectar.”

  Raiz looked at the shameless bee" You ate double of what me and Aurora had"

  Brav who didn't avert his gaze, sttated" You know what they say , food comes and goes,dont fret the little things in life"

  Alia who had silently snuck behind Bravs back,slapped lightly his head. Raiz chuckled at the sight" Even the nicest Alia couldn't handle your daring self"

  Brav who felt wronged ,looked sadly at Alia. Alia who is such gentle soul, felt apologic and checked wheter he was hurt. Seeing the caring eyes of Alia, Brav immediately beamed with joy. Another chuckle was heard but Brav was too happy to care.

  Normally Moon would join in their jokes but Moon was still looking somewhere. Raiz realised the situation might not be ideal.

  Moon’s glowing violet eyes narrowed toward the horizon, where the forest’s Outer Ring shimmered faintly… not with moonlight, but with embers. “The forest is being burned ”

  Val had told Raiz .The outrageous legends the forest had.Raiz really wanted to see the one who had such brilliant idea of burning forest where all kinds of legends was born“Some fools never learn untill the pain hits them”

  “The animals are terrified ” Moon said softly.

  Moon descended first, his form scattering into mist that doused the creeping flames. Raiz followed, tossing gravity-defying boots to a pack of panicked firefoxes.

  “Up the trees, fluffballs!"

  "They don't care what happens as long as they achieve whatever their objective is huh"

  Reiz and Aurora buzzed overhead, their wings shedding pollen that smothered embers mid-fall. “No midnight snacks for you, fire!” Reiz chirped, dodging a spark.

  A frostwolf pup, its fur dusted with ash, limped toward Moon. He knelt, letting the creature nuzzle his palm. “Rest,” he whispered, and the earth beneath it bloomed with clover.

  Elara Voss crouched in the shadow of Tartiib’s clocktower, her ink-stained fingers flipping through stolen ledgers. Lady Veyra’s seal glared from every page -payment orders for alchemical sludge, mercenary contracts, and a name Mira.

  “She’s burning the forest,” whispered Elara, “This noble seems to not care about her life. Why is she so intent of provoking the forest, as if she is just puppet ment for this. Terans puppet?No! Terans seemed truly frightened to plan this"

  Elara’s pen hovered over a sketch of Claustar’s silhouette. “Why?”

  Another plausible was that "Because she’s bored” “ Some lower nobles love to burn things to feel alive, crazy cuckoo's at best.

  In the airship

  Lady Veyra’s airship loomed above the treeline, its hull glinting with alchemical vats. “Again!” she ordered, her silk gloves smudged with soot. “Burn it to the root!”

  Silias, her captain, eyed the retreating frostwolves. “The creatures flee too cleanly. Its like they are being helped by something .”

  “Something?” Veyra laughed, sharp as broken glass. “You mean someone. Crush them, and hang their wings from my mast.”

  Mira’s workshop stank of regret. Elara found her hunched over a vial of sludge that glowed like a dying star. “I didn’t know she’d target the animals even the pups” Mira muttered. “The fire was meant for ore, not life.”

  Elara slammed the ledger onto the table. The sounds made Mira look at the experienced reporter,before another sound made both of their heads turn.

  Raiz soared past Veyra’s airship, a honeycake in hand. “Hey, Sparkles! Catch!” He lobbed it at an alchemical vat.

  The cake splattered harmlessly, but the distraction was enough. Moon’s mist seeped into the sludge, twisting its purpose. Flames that should’ve devoured the forest instead licked at the airship’s engines.

  Boom!

  “Retreat!” Veyra screamed, her silks singed.

  Silias glared at Raiz. “This isn’t over.”

  “For your sake, you should hope it is!” Raiz shrugged. Next time, its not this fire we put out.Make the right decision. Then again. rarely side villain like you ever survive ” Raiz looked at Silias like a doomed man.

  At dawn, the frostwolves howled a new song. Moon knelt in the healed grove, firefoxes darting around his ankles. Raiz napped in a clover patch, a pup curled on his chest.

  " Am glad you are alright little one"