Nova kept on following the tune to her music. Despite not seeing her clearly, he moved cautiously through the dense, moss-covered trees, the soft tones of the flute-like instrument still drifting through the air like a siren's song.
However, he began noticing certain things. The deeper he went, the more the surroundings shifted—trees taller and older than anything found near the city, leaves glowing faintly with blue and sometimes even purple bioluminescence, and the earth beneath his boots soft and untouched. This was no ordinary forest, and it certainly wasn't part of the training grounds; he could feel the energy pulsing from within the earth, like it was breathing.
The melody changed briefly higher, faster, then settled again. It felt… guided, like it was shaping the path itself.
Nova exhaled slowly, his senses sharpened, and just as he rounded a twisted root, he saw her—perched atop a stone ruin that jutted from the ground like the last breath of an ancient grave.
