A restless murmur ran through the ranks. The air was already hot from the black flames licking the hills, but the unease spreading among the knights burned hotter still. From behind raised shields and the rumbling breaths of tigers, voices whispered in fragments—frayed and fearful.
"Are those things even killable…?"
"They walk through fire—how do you stop something like that?"
"God preserve us…"
The words hung like ghosts among them. For every knight who gripped their weapon tighter, another shifted uneasily in his armour, watching the misshapen silhouettes dragging themselves closer through the rippling heat. The ground itself seemed to groan beneath their march, the ash rising in little breaths of black dust.
Commander Valerie's patience snapped. Her voice tore through the whispers like a blade.
"Silence!"
