The Rotten Pine Forest was different. Unnatural in ways that transcended mere danger. No amount of personal strength had saved the previous expeditions that had entered those cursed boundaries.
'Please... stay safe. You two,' she thought, her hands pausing in their work.
Then her eyes caught something in the distance. A trail of smoke, thin at first, rising above the tree line far to the north.
Yara's attention fixed on it immediately, watching as the trail thickened, grew, expanded into a massive column of smoke that climbed toward the sky. Within mere minutes, it had transformed from a thin wisp into a dark, ominous cloud, visible from kilometers away.
Gratis noticed it too. He stood from his position beside her, his expression shifting from calm to concerned as he tracked the smoke's origin.
