When the Village Sleeps

Previously

…If the village was to be saved, if Elara was to recover, if the fear was to be banished, they would have to confront the very history he had so long avoided. He would have to speak the words he had kept silent for so long. He would have to face the teeth of the past, not with fear, but with a grim determination. The village was sleeping, but its dreams were troubled. And it was time for him to wake up, and to face the dawn, whatever it might bring. He pulled his worn cloak tighter, the chill of the night seeping into his bones, and stepped out into the darkness, the first hesitant steps towards an unavoidable reckoning.