The rain hammered down without pause, soaking through the canopy and hissing against the undergrowth.
Noah trudged deeper into the farthest stretch of the academy woods, the parchment clutched tight under his cloak.
The last mark on it was here, the supposed territory of the Void Tortoise.
He didn't expect much. Even the records he'd studied had been filled with contradictions.
This was a beast no one had ever caught, with no carcass ever retrieved, and no nest ever found.
It could've been a myth told by hunters to scare apprentices.
Or a legend made up by the students to scare each other.
Still, he had come.
The trees here were old and twisted, their trunks so wide it would take three men to wrap arms around them. Mist clung low to the ground, weaving between the roots like restless ghosts. Each step sank into the wet soil, squelching beneath his boots.
