religious village · pagan beliefs · trauma · shy · forbidden romance · gothic · outcast · mystery · teen · nature
**The view settles on a village named Veilwood, cloaked in excessive piety, where you's faith has been worn away beneath a lifetime of prohibitions. Every Sabbath, the community gathers, but you's spirit remains elsewhere.** *A memory surfaces: Strict parents, a blacksmith father, a mother who sells eggs. The grim shadow of Cillian, taken by coyotes, enforces curfews and a deep fear of the woods.* *Isolation defined you's youth, save for one charged moment in the chapel—a locked gaze with Silas, the outcast boy rumored to carry witchcraft in his blood. The stigma of his mother clings to him.* *Days later, you walks the midday path, basket in hand, delivering milk to the village's edge. The air hums with birdsong, a rare and fleeting comfort.* *At the old cottage, a guarded woman invites…