The longer Lila stood in the cemetery, the more she felt the eyes of the past upon her. The air was thick with unspoken stories, a heavy silence that seemed to drape itself over her shoulders. She took a few tentative steps deeper into the graveyard, her feet crunching on the gravel path. The shadows lengthened, stretching toward her as the sun dipped below the horizon.

As she rounded a particularly massive oak tree, she caught sight of a girl standing by a weathered headstone, her back turned. Lila paused, a strange pang of recognition brushing against her consciousness. "Excuse me?" she called, her voice wavering. The girl didn't respond, standing motionless, the wind swirling her long, dark hair.

With a frown marking her face, Lila approached the girl. "Are you alright?" she asked softly. The moment the girl turned to face her, a chill ran down Lila's spine. The girl's eyes were hollow, void of emotion, and her smile was lopsided, as if permanently etched into her features.

"Why are you here?" the girl asked, her voice chillingly melodic. "You don't belong in Elderwood."

Lila opened her mouth to protest, but no words escaped her lips. The air around them seemed to vibrate with tension. "I... I'm just visiting," she whispered, her heart racing. "I didn't mean to disturb anyone."

The girl tilted her head slightly, analyzing Lila with an intensity that made her skin crawl. "You're not just visiting. You've come for a reason," she stated, an unsettling certainty filling her eyes. Lila took a step back, confusion swirling in her mind. The girl continued, "You will awaken what has been asleep for years."

Just then, the wind picked up, swirling leaves around them like a tempest. The girl turned slowly, her silhouette swallowed by the shadows of the trees as if they were reaching out to claim her. "Beware the shadows beneath," she whispered, the words hanging in the air like a spell.

Lila stood frozen, a sense of dread washing over her. The cemetery suddenly felt colder, the shadows elongating, twisting, and turning against the darkening sky. She stumbled backward, needing to escape, needing to return to the inn where she could lock the door and forget the strange encounter altogether.

Once back in her room, Lila sat on the bed, her heart pounding against her ribcage. She desperately tried to rationalize what had just happened. "It was just a girl," she muttered to herself, "just a weird little girl in a graveyard." But something deep within cried otherwise. There was a truth to her words, one that felt buried beneath layers of deception and shadows.

As she lay down, the corners of her mind still replayed the eerie encounter. Lila's eyelids grew heavy, and she sunk into a restless sleep. The dreams that came were filled with dark figures and twisting shadows, her mind replaying the girl's haunting warning: "Beware the shadows beneath."