The Silent Forest was anything but silent today.
Or rather, the name Silent Forest had always represented the wizards' deepest hopes for these woods. It was never all that quiet; today, it was simply making an unusually great racket.
Somewhere deep in the woods, dark clouds suddenly filled the gray sky. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, yet not a trace of moisture drifted through the air.
The tree spirits at the edge of the Silent Forest mistakenly thought the season of awakening insects had arrived early. They poked their heads out of their tree hollows, discovered that the weather was still bitterly cold, and withdrew again, grumbling and cursing.
A few curious tree spirits living in the treetops craned their necks to watch thousands of lightning bolts pour like torrential rain from the roiling black clouds, engulfing a small patch of distant forest. The bursting sparks reflected in their wide eyes, and a tremulous fear hung in the air.
The earth was shaking.
There was no earthquake, nor was it the season of the silent tideback, yet countless magical beasts fled the woods, running away from that thunderstorm. Huge waves rose in the Silent River, flocks of birds swept above the canopy, and shadow after shadow appeared in the gray-white world before receding into the distance. Hoarse, strange singing drifted faintly through the silent woods.
"Hurry!"
"Faster!"
"We're almost there!"
Dozens of wizards in black cloaks swept forward like great birds, their ranks uneven but orderly, charging against the tide pouring out of the forest toward the place engulfed by the "thunderstorm."
Brief exchanges occasionally sounded within their ranks.
"Can't we get that damned singing under control?"
"Suspected manifestation of advancement to Grand Wizard. No side effects detected so far... no suitable method of dispelling it, either."
"We still can't