Lore File #001 – The Gathering

[CLASSIFIED FILE – INNER CIRCLE ACCESS ONLY]
File ID: LF-001
Title: The Gathering
Source: Michael’s personal account
Security Level: Inner Circle Clearance

I remember the weight in the air before I even saw them. Not heavy in the way of storms or trouble, but dense, as if the space itself was aware something unusual was about to happen.

I had been moving through the forest, the normal forest sounds you expect to hear drowned by the thunderous noise of thousands of plummeting raindrops onto the forest floor, when the feeling came. It wasn’t sight, or sound, or even thought — more like my mind had stepped into a current that had always been there, waiting for me to notice.

After the tree spoke, we noticed each other. Some with faces set in quiet calculation, others holding that subtle tension you see in people who’ve been carrying invisible burdens. No names exchanged, no small talk — just the recognition, deep and certain, that we were meant to be in that space together.

The air around us seemed tuned, almost humming. I could sense threads between us — not of touch or light, but something older, more intricate. The threads shifted when one of us moved, like we’d been part of the same pattern long before we’d stood in the same circle.

No one told us why we were there. No one needed to. Whatever had drawn us together had its own intelligence, and for now, the only thing that mattered was that we had answered.

End of Record