Run: 2026-02-19-01KHTRBKVNJ9XGT5JW30W0EE5H

Aurora stepped between the ancient oaks. Moonlight slipped through gnarled branches, painting slender shafts of silver on the mossy floor. The standing stones ringed her in a perfect circle, each one carved with knotwork older than any record. She paused, heart thudding as the air turned cool, though no breeze stirred the wildflowers crowding the clearing’s edge. She’d come looking for the portal Eva whispered of, something older than faerie tales, something that would explain the tremors beneath London. But from the moment she crossed the boundary, wrongness coiled around her boots. She lifted her chin. “Hello?” Her whisper cracked. The grove swallowed sound. No rustle replied. No distant laugh. Only the persistent throb in her palm, where the Heartstone Pendant lay against her jacket. It pulsed, its deep crimson core warming under her fingers. She swallowed. “Okay, that’s you telling me you’re here.” She pressed the stone, tried to steady her pulse. A twig snapped just beyond the nearest oak. She froze. The glow from the pendant flared, then dimmed to a faint ember. She glared at the stone. Nothing moved. She took a step forward, branches scraping bare skin. The birdcalls she’d tracked here fell silent. The hush felt deliberate. Stepping into the center, she set her backpack on a tangle of ferns. She hefted the weight off her shoulders, then tugged out her flashlight. Its beam carved a circular swath of yellow in the dark. She swept the light across the stones. Symbols woven into the wood’s surface blurred at the edges, as if half-erased by time. She circled one, reading its runes aloud: “Veritas…” The words felt wrong in her mouth. The echo that followed sounded too low, like an animal’s growl buried beneath earth. “Who’s here?” she said, voice stronger now. She tapped her thigh. The pendant pulsed again, gently, as though acknowledging. She traced the silver chain. Its links felt cold, but the gem throbbed warmth. She tucked it beneath her shirt. She raised the flashlight, scanning shadows beyond the ring of stones. Shapes flickered. A dark blotch shifted behind a tree. When she blinked, it vanished. A whisper brushed her ear. She jerked around, but found empty air. The wildflowers bowed as if touched by an unseen hand. She inhaled. Her shoulders stiffened. The expectation of motion grew heavy. She strained to hear. Somewhere down a broken path, tiny feet padded over leaf litter. She crouched, shining the light along the trail. No footprints. No fresh leaves disturbed. Just the stillness stretching away into hollows. Her phone buzzed inside her pack. She ignored it. She couldn’t risk listening to Eva’s voice right now. She had to figure this out alone. She knelt, rifling for the packet of matches she’d pocketed earlier—standard gear for dusk hunts. She struck one, cupping the flame. The small circle of light wavered like a heartbeat. She held it to the carved line on the stone. No reaction. She willed the runes to glow. Nothing. The match guttered. She flicked it out with her thumb. Darkness swallowed her hand. She forced herself to stand. Each breath sounded too loud. She switched on the flashlight. Its beam landed on a single blossom under the central stone. Petals curled inward, black at the tips. A trail of petals led away, crushed under invisible weight. She followed it, crunching fern fronds, until the flowers ended at another tree. She reached out to brush against the bark. It felt slick, alive. The wood pulsed under her palm, slow as a heartbeat. She peeled her fingers back, heart pounding. A gasp escaped her. The pulse in the pendant echoed the tree’s rhythm. She shivered. She stepped back, stumbled on a root, nearly fell. The beam slipped off the wood, igniting a shadow beyond. Something crouched, low and still. “Show yourself,” she demanded, raising the flashlight. The figure froze, then sprang away. Light danced across twisted limbs. She chased the outline through the woods, weaving between trunks. The ground pitched. She tripped over a hidden stump, the beam jolting skyward, illuminating swaying branches. She tumbled into a shallow ditch, landing on a heap of dead leaves. The flashlight arced from her grasp, clattering under brambles. Darkness. She pressed her back against the damp earth, chest heaving. She swallowed grit and forced air into her lungs. The pendant slumped heavy in her hand, its glow a soft promise. She hugged it to her chest. “I’m not leaving,” she muttered, voice rough. “Not until I know what—” A distant snap cracked the night. She jerked upright, mud plastered to her jeans. A figure stood on the ridge above. Tall, lean, features blurred by moonlight. Hornlike branches curled from its skull. Its eyes shone white, too bright in the dark. It didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Just watched. Aurora’s hand tightened around the stone. She raised her free arm, torch in hand. The beam cut a line straight at the thing. When the light touched its face, the figure dissolved—an afterimage of bone and skin, then gone. Only the ridge remained, empty. Her breath shook. The world swayed. She pressed the pendant to her forehead. Warmth spread, as if the stone tried to pull her inward, carry her beyond this place. She blew a strand of hair from her face. “You’ll have to try harder.” She blinked against tears of adrenaline. Footsteps behind her, soft but certain. She whirled. Branches brushed her cheek. A shape slipped between two trees. She slammed her flashlight forward. Light glinted off polished horns. The creature stepped out. Its body stretched too long, arms dragging, fingers too thin. The skin wore patterns like bark. Eyes fixed on her chest, where the pendant pulsed. Aurora swallowed. She stood. The stone felt alive. She held it out. Its glow brightened. The creature’s head tilted. It clicked its tongue—sharp and hollow. She backed off the brambles, stumbled onto the path. The creature mirrored her step, sliding forward but silent. Ferns cracked under its feet. Aurora stumbled across the clearing toward the nearest standing stone. The alien thing followed, as though the runes drew it. She reached the tree and slammed her shoulder into it. Bark splintered under her weight. She gripped the carving etched deep there—runes she still didn’t understand. Something thrummed beneath her fingertips. The Heartstone glowed hotter, a pulse that matched her heartbeat. The creature halted at the clearing’s edge. Head bobbing, it watched. Aurora rattled the runes, then pressed her palm down. The oak bark warmed under her. The runes rasped, a low mechanical hum. Light seeped from the cracks, faint and red. Aurora gasped, yanking her hand free. The ground trembled. The creature advanced. Branches cracked. Roots writhed. The stones around them pulsed, glowing with the same inner light. Aurora swallowed. She tucked the pendant at her throat and let her free hand trace the runes. Heat slid around her palm, seeping into bone. She whispered the word she’d read earlier: “Veritas.” The wind stopped. Night held its breath. The creature raised its arms, as if caught in surprise. The oak marked by her touch glowed bright, searing the gloom. Aurora felt power blooming in her veins. She didn’t know if it would help or kill her. But she had no choice. A voice cracked the silence. Slow and dry. “Why do you burn my bones?” Aurora’s spine froze. She stared at the creature, at the glowing runes, at the stones murmuring in the dark. The pendant throbbed. The grove exhaled around her. She opened her mouth, but before words came, the earth shuddered beneath her boots, and the world collapsed into utter blackness.