[Fiction] Dear Posse No. 14: Light at the Edges

I’m working on a serial fiction project. Each segment will be published here and on Patreon. It is available in full to Patreon supporters:

Dear Posse,

The community around the black tree is growing. More people are coming, drawn by the hum and the promise of understanding this new world.

Today, we decided to try something: a group touch of the tree. We all placed our hands on its warm bark, closed our eyes, and listened to the hum.

The world fell away, and for a moment, there was only warmth and the pulsing light of the tree. Then visions—shared visions—began to dance behind my closed eyelids.

I saw the eclipse as it truly was: a tear in the fabric of reality, a wound in the sky that was bleeding darkness into our world. But around the edges of the tear, there was light, struggling to get in.

“We’re seeing the heart of it,” Eliza breathed next to me, her voice full of wonder. “We’re seeing what’s trying to break through.”

When we finally tore ourselves away, we were all shaking, but there was a new sense of purpose in everyone’s eyes.

“We can mend it,” Mr. Hawthorne said. “Together, we can bring the light back.”