In the year 1348, as the Black Plague sweeps mercilessly through Europe, death is no longer a stranger—it walks openly among the living. Entire villages vanish overnight, left with only silence and the stench of decay. But there is one village in the English marshlands that remains untouched by the sickness. No deaths. No infection. No explanation.
When rumors reach the ears of Ulric, a hardened knight of the church and veteran of countless bloody crusades, he is tasked by the Bishop to investigate the village. Alongside him is Osmund, a young monk wrestling with his faith and guilt after secretly abandoning his lover in the forest to obey his holy calling. Their journey is plagued with darkness—ambushes, cursed woods, and whispers of necromancy. As they draw closer to the village of Ravenglen, their company begins to fracture, and strange occurrences—ravens watching from above, unnatural mists, the reanimation of corpses—unsettle even Ulric’s iron resolve.
When they finally arrive, they find Ravenglen seemingly untouched by death, its people vibrant, its crops thriving. The village is ruled by Langiva, a mysterious woman who offers no worship to God but instead speaks of balance with nature, protection through knowledge, and freedom from divine judgment. Osmund is drawn to her serenity, while Ulric suspects witchcraft. Soon, Ulric’s fears are confirmed. Beneath the village lies a pagan sanctuary where rituals are held to “cleanse” the soul—not with prayer, but with blood. When Ulric confronts Langiva, the villagers turn on the intruders, imprisoning and torturing them one by one. They offer Osmund a choice: denounce his God and embrace their truth—or suffer the same fate.
Torn between loyalty to his faith and the gnawing guilt over his lover’s fate, Osmund finally submits—but it’s too late. The villagers sacrifice Ulric in a brutal ceremony, and Osmund, broken in body and mind, escapes only after witnessing Langiva’s true nature: not a witch, but a manipulative zealot cloaked in reason. He returns to the world changed. The plague continues. Faith is hollow. God is silent. Osmund becomes a plague-hunter himself, zealously rooting out “heretics” and “witches,” repeating the same cycle of violence he once feared.
