Even before the sun had risen over the eastern hills, I left the comfort of the hotel room.
Kaelira was still asleep, curled beneath the sheets with one arm draped across her stomach, breathing evenly. I didn't bother waking her. She needed the rest. What I needed was answers.
But the truth was—I already knew I wasn't going into that forest for peace.
My boots crunched softly over the morning dew as I crossed the overgrown path, until I once again reached the cursed portal. It floated in the air like a jagged wound in the world—black and purple, pulsing like a living organ. A rift that defied explanation, the same one I had visited before.
The wind carried an unnatural chill near it. And yet… I wasn't alone.
This time, it wasn't one of the [Spawns of Vorr'Kael] waiting for me. No twisted abomination. No bestial monstrosity.
Instead, a man crouched on the forest floor in front of the rift.
