Banished (L Higginson)

In Awakening, a quiet town hides a tremor beneath its ordinary days as Mara, a restless young healer-in-training, begins to sense a language in the world that others have forgotten. She discovers a lineage of power tied to the land itself, drawing strength from old sigils etched into the stones and trees around her. As strange whispers thread through the market stalls and a chilling wind sweeps through the alleys, Mara learns that her once-private talents may carry a burden, one that asks for courage, restraint, and trust in the unseen currents of fate. Her days at the clinic pulse with the rhythm of patient needs, but her nights fill with visions: maps that glow faintly when she is near someone in danger, and a hidden circle that awakens when cruelty or fear threatens the vulnerable. With a mentor who sees more in her than she sees in herself, Mara begins to pull threads of memory from a history she never knew she belonged to, and the town’s quiet veneer starts to crack around the edges. As the first dawn of her awakening breaks, Mara stands on a threshold—between what is safe and what must be faced. The path ahead promises trials that will test loyalty, love, and the limits of trust, while the very ground under her feet demands a choice: speak the truth that trembles in her chest, or let the shadows rise unchecked.