The Watcher Beneath the Roots

Seven tombstones rise among the ferns and black roots surrounding the ruined chapel, each leaning at a different angle beneath a canopy of dripping branches. Their carvings show an owl, stag, fox, wolf, crow, hare, and serpent. Rainwater gathers in the grooves of their epitaphs, but the owl's carved eye remains dry. From the broken bell arch comes the faint smell of cold ash, and whenever someone steps near the owl stone, pale blue light briefly glimmers beneath its mossy base. The forest is quiet enough to hear distant dripping and the soft scrape of roots against stone.