Chapter 3: Who-Dun-it part 5 - END

I could feel it in the air, in the way the words and symbols came together like an ancient puzzle. Rumac, representing the earth, the ancient roots of Manipura. Hesperian, singing of an end wrapped in blood and power. And Maurian, always reminding me that time and eternity were intertwined in something far larger than ourselves.

But the real question echoing in my mind, the one I didn’t quite dare to fully ask, was another.

Does this have something to do with me?

I stood still for a moment, letting the wind carry my thoughts away for a bit. Because, as improbable as it seemed, something was telling me that my presence here wasn’t a mere coincidence. We didn’t come to Hemlock Ridge by chance.

Something—or someone—had called me here. And now, with the bear’s body at my feet and the bloodied symbols surrounding me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was part of this ritual… even if I didn’t yet know how.