Prologue
Katheryn slumped down into the chair in the cafe and leaned back, avoiding her friends' eyes, she kept quiet for a while, but then she blurted "I just feel like I need to go, you know? My dad's family is from the Šumava region. His roots are there. And I've never even seen it."
Across the table, her friends Marcel and Tereza exchanged glances, both curious but cautious.
"I get it, Katka," Marcel said, leaning forward. "But Šumava's...wild. It's beautiful, yeah, but it's not exactly a friendly stroll in the park. Especially alone."
Katheryn smiled. "That's kind of the point. I've read all this history, but none of it feels real. I want to understand where my family came from. And it's not like I'm going in blind—I'm already getting everything I need for the hike."
Tereza shook her head, giving a playful sigh. "Just promise you'll bring back some decent photos, okay? I want to see what my city girl friend looks like in the wilderness."
Katheryn laughed. "Deal. I'll bring back proof that I survived Šumava."
Over the next few days, Katheryn threw herself into preparations. She borrowed a tent, checked her maps, and tested her hiking boots on long walks through the city. Her excitement grew as her supplies piled up: camping stove, first aid kit, compass. With each item packed, she felt closer to a part of herself she'd never really known.
On the evening before her departure, Katheryn visited her grandmother in her modest flat. The air inside smelled faintly of herbs and old wood, as it always had, and Katheryn was welcomed by a warm hug and her grandmother's familiar scolding.
"You're too adventurous," her grandmother said with a sigh, though her eyes softened. "Šumava is not all gentle trees and singing birds. There are places you're not meant to go. Promise me, Katheryn—don't stray from the path."
Katheryn smiled, touched by the concern. "I won't, babička. I'll be careful, I promise. Just a few days and I'll be back."
The morning sun had barely risen when Katheryn set out on her hike. The forest seemed to breathe around her, the canopy rustling with a language all its own. For hours, she moved through sunlight and shadows, pausing to catch her breath and marvel at the old oaks towering above her.
Then something went wrong. A shift, barely noticeable, but somehow she ended up where she hadn't meant to go. In a daze, she found herself near a lake she hadn't seen on her map, its surface a shimmering mirror in the late afternoon light.
And then, her foot slipped.
The water swallowed her before she even had time to gasp. Ice-cold, inescapable, it closed over her head, and her arms flailed helplessly as she struggled to surface. Her lungs screamed, her vision blurred, and yet some detached part of her almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. *At least I don't have to finish my dissertation,* she thought as her body grew heavy and still.
Everything went black.
But then—she felt movement. Warmth. She forced her eyes open, the edges of her vision swimming as she realized she was being carried, her body draped over someone's back. The stranger trudged forward, his breath steady and strong. Katheryn tried to speak, but only a soft gasp escaped her lips.
The forest blurred around her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
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