David walked through the darkening clearing, feeling his excitement grow within him. He was followed by Veronica, with her hair plaited in a braid interspersed with field flowers, and Nicolas, who did not part with his notebook - constantly sketching everything around him. Around the clearing the old borch wound its way, full of creaking trees and rustling sounds hidden in the ferns. It was Cupid's Night - the shortest night of the year, when bonfires burned in the hills and youngsters searched for fern flowers that supposedly only bloomed once a year. But David and his friends were not going to look for the usual flower. They wanted to experience something more than the legend they had repeated to themselves as children. Darkness fell quickly, like a heavy curtain. All around them the last rays of the day were dying out, and the air was saturated with the smell of smoke and dew. David stopped by a huge oak whose thick roots wriggled like snakes on the ground. On its bark someone had carved ancient signs - spirals, suns, and among them something that resembled a wing. - Can you see it? - He asked in a half-hearted voice, touching the convex line. Nikolai was already pulling out his notepad and sketching the symbol, and Veronica was looking at the oak with seriousness. - 'This could be the sign of Weles,' she said, recalling the legends told by her grandmother. - He often appears during this night. The boy looked at her questioningly. - Weles?... Is he the one from the underworld and animals? Veronica nodded. - And from transitions between worlds. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet trembled, so slightly that they might have considered it an illusion. But something else caught their attention - a disturbing sound, as if rustling wings had shifted somewhere in the depths of the forest. A faint golden glow emerged from the silence, spilling between the ferns. - There! - whispered Nikolai with his eyes wide open, pointing to the light beneath the defoliated oak. They took a cautious step forward, feeling that the ground beneath their feet was no longer the same. The air became thick, suffused with something ancient and strangely familiar. A golden wing, glittering between the moss and the bark, slowly began to move, as if someone had just awakened it from a deep sleep....