Shepherd's Claim

The mountain remembers. And this time, it answers.Before the Lodge burned, before the last family fled The Ledges, the mountain had already begun to stir. Hollow Hill remembers what was built atop its bones, and what now looms above it. A new threat, greater than the last, one that could bring the end of the mountain itself.Nathaniel Shepherd arrives with new plans and old arrogance, determined to stake his claim and carve out a legacy. But the land is no longer quiet. The Thin Places have grown thinner. The forest listens. The wind carries whispers. And Megan Rutherford, keeper of the mountain's memory, knows the hour is near.As the ridge tightens its grip and the past claws its way into the present, the mountain begins to choose its guardians. And its sacrifices. Machinery fails. Shadows lengthen. And those who trespass begin to vanish.Some debts are paid in coin. Others in silence. And some, the mountain collects itself.