Scene 1 – The Wraith's Awakening
The world went silent.
Even the forest's dying crackles held their breath.
Jemil's boots sank into the powdery ash, each step muffled, as if the world didn't want sound to escape. A shadow swelled beneath the fissured ground, and then the earth split — not with an explosion, but with a slow, deliberate tearing, like a predator unzipping its own cage.
The First Wraith emerged.
It didn't roar. It didn't screech.
It looked at them.
Golden embers swirled in the hollow void where a face should be, each spark burning with a different scene — a memory, a death, a promise broken. The ash clung to it like armor, cracked and leaking molten light at every seam. Every movement it made was unnervingly precise, like an apex hunter that didn't waste motion.
Alvara's blade was already in her hand, its edge whispering against the scabbard. "This… isn't just a beast," she said, her voice barely above the hush.
The Wraith tilted its head.
