"When the forest's shadow moves, even the brave must bend, or break." , Fragment inscription, Codex of the Hidden Hunt
The ruins held their breath.
Not even the wind stirred through the shattered archways or broken columns. The mist coiled thick and heavy, winding itself around the stones like a shroud. Every surface gleamed with damp, every root quivered with anticipation. The silence was not absence of sound, it was presence. A silence so sharp it pressed against the skin, as if the entire forest listened.
Leo's pulse hammered against his ribs, echoing the fragment's fevered rhythm. The whisper had lost all subtlety now; it pressed into every thought, every instinct: They come. Strike. Control. Take. Power. Apex.
His teeth clenched, jaw tight against the tide.
Sofia lifted one hand, her blade angled low but ready, her posture rigid with awareness. She didn't need to raise her voice; her whisper cut through the mist. "Something's here."
