I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST CURIOUS DEER—UNTIL I

An Unsettling Encounter

“They weren’t afraid.” That’s what struck me first. While tossing hay, two deer emerged from the woods. One held back, cautious. But the smaller one stared at me—calm, unblinking. It approached the fence and dropped a small, fabric-wrapped bundle at my feet.

Inside: a worn wooden box and a silver locket, “carved with strange symbols I couldn’t recognize.” The air turned still. The deer waited, then led me into the woods.

---

The Clearing

I followed it through a silent forest to a hidden clearing. “In the center stood an enormous, ancient oak.” The deer vanished. At the tree’s base, I found disturbed ground and unearthed a stone tablet with the same eerie symbols.

Beneath it lay an old parchment sealed in wax. I opened it:
“For the one who is chosen: The truth is not safe. The truth is not gentle. But if you seek it, follow the signs. This is only the beginning.”

---

The Legend

The next morning, I searched local archives. What I found chilled me: an old legend of a secret order guarding something called The Veil—their mark: the symbols. Their messengers: deer. Their tools: relics like the locket, which I now held.

---

A Key, A Warning

The locket wasn’t just a keepsake—it was “a key to something I was never meant to find.” Someone—or something—had chosen me. Why? I still don’t know. But I’m part of something ancient, hidden, and alive.

“Sometimes, it’s not the answers that haunt you—it’s the fact that someone wanted you to find them.”

Not everything in the woods is random.