Forbidden Syllable

They said no child should speak the forbidden words.

Lyra cried them before she even opened her eyes.

Born on a night when the stars refused to shine, Lyra Vaen's first breath shook the quiet village of Thistledown. The midwives whispered of omens, of ancient rules, of things that once tore the world in two. And then they buried the truth.

But silence has a memory. And Lyra is growing.

Shadows follow her now. Mirrors don’t reflect quite right. And there’s something in the woods—watching, waiting, wearing her face.

She doesn’t know what she is.

Only that she was never meant to exist.