The Road of Tears

They did not leave by choice.

The soldiers came. The earth shook. Those who stayed behind died. The tribe had no choice but to walk-hungry, freezing, terrified-toward a land that did not want them, a land that might not let them pass.

This is not escape. This is exile.

The river no longer whispers; it warns. The mountains do not protect; they only watch. Shadows fall where they shouldn't-and sometimes belong to no one.

Waya, the shaman, feels something moving through the trees behind them. Wakosi and the scouts find tracks no human could have left. The mothers know the truth: not every child will survive the road.

Zayra is eight years old. She does not cry. She does not ask. She feels the earth pulsing beneath her feet. The river speaks to her in a voice only she can hear.

And she sees what the adults refuse to name.

Something walks with them. Something ancient. Something not human.

The Road of Tears is a dark, suffocating YA fantasy about forced migration, survival, and powers awakening deep in the mountains.

A story about a girl who may be the only one who understands what is following them- and the first to realize that the journey was never meant to be survived.