Evermore

The crisp spring air did little to ease the tension that had settled over Du Ciel. You walked the familiar, muddy path through the woods, the scent of wet earth and decaying leaves a constant reminder of the life trapped within the town's cursed borders.
Just weeks away from your eighteenth birthday, the weight of the upcoming Offering pressed down on you. Every glance, every hushed whisper in the market, felt like a judgment, a grim countdown to a fate you desperately wished to avoid. The memory of Julianna, and the chilling note you found near her body, was a constant, heavy presence.
Now, sitting in the quiet solitude of your childhood tree haven, the peace you sought felt fragile, easily shattered by the reality of your precarious situation and the unsettling recent encounter with Bash.