Estio hesitated, his voice barely above a whisper. “Did you… call for me?”
Before him stood a dark-furred creature, its golden eyes piercing through the shadows.
“Don’t be afraid,” it murmured, its voice strangely soothing. “The pain is over now. You’re safe.”
From the moment he was born, Estio had been an outcast—the unwanted youngest son of a simple farmer. People shunned him, whispered behind his back.
Because he was different.
He could hear the unspoken thoughts of those around him—human and animal alike. And for that, they called him…
“A cursed child.”
But today, on his nineteenth birthday, everything would change. The coming-of-age ceremony loomed ahead, marking the start of something new.
This was the beginning of Estio’s search—for a place where he truly belonged. For happiness.
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