Eldergrove had always been a village nestled away from the chaos of the outside world. The people here lived a quiet life, surrounded by the towering trees of the Blackwood Forest. They grew their herbs, brewed potions, and pᴀssed down ancient healing traditions. The villagers knew every leaf and root that the forest provided, and the forest, in return, kept them safe from outsiders. Or so they believed.

The First Whisper of the Plague

The year was 1920. It started with a faint rumor, carried by a pᴀssing traveler. A sickness, they said, had been spreading across the land, reaching even the most distant cities. The people of Eldergrove paid no heed to it. Their isolation had always been their protection. But within weeks, strange signs appeared. The air grew colder, even as spring bloomed elsewhere. A fog settled over the village, so thick that even the midday sun struggled to pierce through.

The Abandonment

In a matter of months, the village was all but empty. Entire families were lost to the plague, their homes abandoned and left to decay. Those who survived packed what little they had and fled, leaving Eldergrove behind, hoping to escape the curse that seemed to have gripped the land.

Before she fled, she placed a candle in the window of her small cottage at the edge of the village—a beacon of hope for anyone who might return, a symbol of the lives lost to the plague. But no one would ever return to Eldergrove. The forest grew thick around it, swallowing the roads that led in and out of the village. The few travelers who dared pᴀss near the forest spoke of a cursed place, where the air felt too thick to breathe and the silence was so profound it weighed on the soul.

A Village Forgotten

Over the years, Eldergrove became a story told by the fireside. The village that had vanished, consumed by the plague and the woods. Few dared to speak of it, and those who ventured into the Blackwood Forest claimed they could still hear faint whispers on the wind, the voices of those long gone. Some say that, on certain nights, if the fog lifts just right, you can see the lights of Eldergrove flickering in the distance, as if the village is still waiting for its people to return.