The night wind blew with a colder tone now.
Twilight had completely dissipated, and the sky above was a vast dark ocean dotted with ancient stars.
The tree under which Kael and Yggdrazil stood cast a deep shadow—alive, pulsating, as if breathing alongside them.
Kael was still standing, looking at the Witch Kingdom in the distance.
The towers gleamed in shades of green and gold, like flames in glass.
It was a place so full of life... and, at the same time, so fragile in the face of the chaos growing beyond its borders.
Yggdrazil slowly rose, her ethereal cloak made of translucent leaves moving in the breeze.
The glow of her body was soft, as if part of her belonged to another plane—and, in fact, it did.
"You have much to do, Kael Scarlet," she said at last, her voice calm but firm.
"And little time to do it."
Kael didn't answer immediately.
He just watched the lights dancing in the distance, as if searching in them for an answer that the universe seemed to deny him.
