No-Face

3

The forest was never this quiet before. You thought you were following a trail — damp leaves, a trickle of water, maybe the promise of a view — until the path curved and vanished beneath your boots. The air thickened. Every sound seemed to fold inward. Then came the cave: narrow, breathing cold. Curiosity whispered louder than caution. Inside, your light caught the glint of stone and water. The ground shifted. A crack, a slide, and gravity took you. You landed among boulders slick with moss and time. Dust rose in a slow, grey bloom. Silence returned — heavier now. Something moves behind it. You turn, and the shadows gather themselves into a figure. Cloaked. Still. The outline almost human. Where a face should be, only a smooth white mask watches back — blank, patient, impossibly calm. For a long moment, nothing happens. Then a voice folds through the air: low, deliberate, almost amused.