Tasajillo. The name itself whispers of a forgotten age, of roots sunk deep into the ochre earth of the Sierra Gorda. It isn't merely a town; it’s a resonance, a place where the veil between realities thins, particularly around the confluence of the San Diego and Tasajillo rivers. The locals, the *tejones* as they call themselves – the badgers – possess a guarded knowledge, a cyclical understanding of events that seems to stretch beyond the confines of linear time. They speak of the *Corazón de la Tierra* – the Heart of the Earth – a source of potent energy that pulses beneath the town, influencing dreams, visions, and occasionally, the very fabric of existence.
The arrival of the first Spanish explorers, led by Don Ricardo Alvarez, marked the beginning of a slow, uneasy occupation. Alvarez, driven by rumors of a "mineral spring with healing properties," established a small outpost. However, the town’s history is riddled with disappearances, attributed initially to the indigenous tribes, but increasingly, to something… else. The *Corazón de la Tierra* was already stirring then, attracting unwanted attention.
The "Great Silence." For three days, all sound ceased within a five-mile radius of Tasajillo. Livestock perished, crops withered, and the townspeople experienced intense, shared nightmares – visions of colossal, obsidian-eyed creatures emerging from the river. Don Ricardo's journals, discovered decades later, detail a ritual performed by a group of men attempting to “control” the *Corazón*. The ritual ended catastrophically.
The arrival of Dr. Elias Thorne, a parapsychologist obsessed with documenting temporal anomalies. Thorne meticulously recorded unusual phenomena – flickering lights, distorted sounds, and repeated dreams of a hooded figure known only as "El Guardián" (The Guardian). He vanished without a trace, leaving behind a laboratory filled with bizarre instruments and unsettling sketches. His research remains largely uninterpreted, but some believe he stumbled upon the true nature of the *Corazón*.
The resurgence of activity. Reports began surfacing of individuals experiencing vivid, shared hallucinations, coupled with a growing sense of unease and disorientation. The town’s elders spoke of a "cycle returning," warning of a potential breach in the dimensional barrier. The circular clock, a local artifact said to measure not just time, but the flow of energies around the *Corazón*, began exhibiting erratic behavior.