Chapter 16: Village Below the Mist IV
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"Get some rest. I will ring the bell at dawn."
John hesitated for a breath, then turned and walked back toward the main hall.
Sera remained behind. Alone in the quiet glow of candles, she pressed a hand to her chest. "I vow to serve the god," she whispered. "I don’t want to fall in love. No... I can’t fall in love."
She slapped her cheeks to snap out of it. But her heart was already beginning to disobey.
Soon the morning, the sun rose behind a thick curtain of valley mist.
A single bell rang from the roof of the temple. Its echo carried across the village, soft and steady, a call not of warning, but of gathering.
By the time John stepped out into the square, the villagers were already assembled. Dozens of them stood together. There were farmers with calloused hands, weavers with threads clinging to their sleeves, and old soldiers with faded scars who had long since traded their swords for shovels. Some fishermen and some young children.
No one spoke as he arrived.
All of them looked up as he stepped forward, his figure outlined against the temple’s stone. The mist curled around his boots. Behind him, the temple door remained half open, glowing with a quiet firelight.