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The trees in the Shadowgrove looked like they'd been scorched centuries ago. The soil was brittle beneath their boots, a strange mix of ash and cracked earth.
Xander squinted up at the canopy...or what was left of it and then swept his gaze around the dead landscape for the third time that morning. "You know," he started, his voice echoing slightly in the silence, "we've been in here two days, and I haven't seen so much as a squirrel."
Iris, a few paces ahead, kicked a rock out of the way and glanced over her shoulder. "Squirrels can't survive in forests like this."
"No monsters either," Xander continued, more to himself. "No ambushes, nothing trying to kill us."
"That does sound like a good thing," Alyhana said from beside him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at a burnt tree trunk that looked suspiciously clawed. "That's what's bothering me."
