Unsent Letter in Ragne 32

This letter was found in a cottage in a state of disarray on the edge of Ragne. The writer was vacant from the property when searched.

"Mother,

You told me the old stories were meant to keep little children from wandering too far into Blackwood Grove in winter.

I believed you back then.

But I saw it last night, by the graves beyond the silver birches.

The frost had already taken the stones, turning the names dull and unreadable. I tried to brush it away, but my fingers burned as if I’d touched iron left too long in snow. It stained my fingers copper and burnt my skin with its frigid touch.

That’s when the ground shifted.

The ground beneath my feet broke, causing me to stumble onto my back.

Something moved beneath the frost, rising just enough to shape it. A long slope where no body should be. A suggestion of shoulders where the earth should lie flat, warped into an irregular shape.

I didn’t run. I couldn’t. No matter how I bid my body to move.

It felt… patient. Unnervingly so.

When it eventually withdrew, the frost stayed.

Gresh say it leaves when acknowledged.

I think that’s wrong.

I think it left because it left its mark on my skin.

It won't be long now.

-Elsiza"