The map burned in Elric's mind all night. He sat hunched over the scroll by candlelight, tracing the faded lines again and again, looking for something he had missed.
Lira leaned against the doorframe. "You're planning to go, aren't you?"
"I have to," he said, not looking up. "The sigil wasn't just a warning. It was a message... and an invitation."
---
By morning, they were already deep within the forest. The air was damp, thick with moss and memories. Birds didn't sing there. Even the wind held its breath.
The marked spot on the map led to a sunken patch of earth. Trees curved unnaturally away from it, as if unwilling to grow near.
Elric stepped forward and knelt, brushing away the leaves.
Beneath them was stone—not natural. A slab, marked with faded carvings in a language he barely recognized.
The language from his dreams had started whispering.
Suddenly, his hand twitched. A flicker of something surged from the stone—like static, but deeper. It resonated in his bones.
Lira gasped. "Elric… your eyes—"
"What about them?"
"They just glowed."
---
Far away, in a place no map marked, Selene sat in a chamber lit by blue crystal. She was no longer in rags.
Her silver cloak flowed around her like liquid, and in her palm hovered a small orb—watching Elric.
She smiled faintly. "The roots remember him. Just as they remembered the First Healer."
Behind her, a voice echoed in the dark. "Should we intervene?"
"No," she said. "Not yet. Let him dig deeper. Let him wake what sleeps below."
---
Back at the clinic, something strange had begun.
The youngest patients—children—were having nightmares. The same one. A tree on fire. A serpent in the sky. And a man standing in the flames, smiling.
Mrs. Hemmel, the baker's wife, clutched her daughter close.
"Doctor Elric must know something," she whispered. "This all began after that smoke."
---
Later that night, Elric sat alone by the stone slab, now half-excavated. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just stared at the markings.
Until the earth trembled.
A crack split the stone with a low groan. From the gap, a single word echoed—not aloud, but inside his skull.
"Return."
His nose bled. His vision blurred. But he didn't back away.
Instead, Elric smiled.
"I think I'm finally getting close."
---