The world was still shifting when they stumbled out of the cursed forest.
Sienna barely registered the change at first. The air was still thick with tension, her skin still crawling from the whispers. But then she realized that there were no more voices.
No more clawing shadows.
They had crossed some kind of threshold.
The forest was behind them now, an unnatural wall of darkness at their backs. Ahead, bathed in eerie moonlight, stood the ruined fortress.
It was massive, a skeletal relic of the past. Crumbling towers jutted into the sky, their peaks shattered. The entrance, once grand, now stood gaping, its heavy iron gates rusted and twisted. Moss and ivy climbed its stone walls, weaving through the cracks like veins.
But the most unsettling part?
It felt too quiet.
Not peaceful. Not abandoned.
Waiting.
Kael exhaled sharply beside her, bending over with his hands on his knees. "We stop here," he muttered, his voice rough.
Sienna barely heard him. Her heart was still hammering, her mind still trapped in what had just happened.
Aldric.
That thing wearing his face.
That voice.
"Help me."
She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms.
Kael glanced at her, his sharp gaze assessing. "I know what you're thinking."
She didn't look at him. "No, you don't."
"You're thinking about going back for him."
Her throat tightened.
He was right.
Kael sighed and straightened. "Sienna, you saw what I saw. That wasn't Aldric anymore."
"But it was," she snapped, turning on him. "For a second. I saw him, Kael. He was there."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Even if he was, it doesn't mean we can save him."
Sienna shook her head. "We don't know that."
Kael didn't argue. He just ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the ruined fortress.
"Right now, we have bigger problems," he muttered.
Sienna followed his gaze, stomach twisting.
The fortress loomed over them, dark and silent.
They had nowhere else to go.
Kael took a deep breath. "We find shelter. We regroup. Then we figure out our next move."
Sienna swallowed the protest rising in her throat. She wanted to scream that Aldric was their next move. That they couldn't just leave him.
But Kael was right.
They had to survive first.
She gave a tight nod.
Kael led the way forward, stepping carefully over the uneven ground. Sienna followed, her eyes scanning every shadow, every crack in the stone.
The entrance stretched before them, yawning like the mouth of a beast.
As they stepped inside, the silence deepened.
It was like stepping into another world.
The air was cold, thick with dust and the scent of ancient stone. The walls bore old carvings, barely visible beneath layers of grime and ivy. Wolves etched into the stone in flowing, intricate patterns.
Sienna traced a finger over one of them, a shiver crawling up her spine.
Kael kept moving. "Stay close."
The corridor ahead was long and dimly lit by shafts of moonlight filtering through broken walls. Their footsteps echoed.
Somewhere, water dripped.
Sienna's muscles stayed tight, her body primed for an attack. But nothing came.
No voices. No figures lurking in the dark.
Just the waiting silence.
They reached a grand hall.
A massive stone hearth stood at the center, long extinguished. Broken furniture lay scattered, remnants of a time when this place had been full of life.
Now, it was just a graveyard.
Kael exhaled. "This will do."
Sienna lowered herself onto an old bench, her limbs aching. The weight of exhaustion was finally sinking in, now that the adrenaline was fading.
Kael sat across from her, rubbing his temples. "We'll rest for a bit. Then.."
A low creak. They heard a sound.
Sienna's body locked up.
Kael was already moving, dagger in hand, eyes sharp.
Another sound. Soft. Careful.
Someone else was here.
Sienna's pulse spiked. She gripped the edge of the bench, scanning the shadows.
Then movement from the far end of the hall.
A figure.
A man.
Tall, lean, watching them.
Kael tensed. "Who's there?"
No answer.
The man stepped forward, just enough for the moonlight to catch his features.
Sienna inhaled sharply.
He wasn't just any stranger.
He had amber eyes.
Wolf eyes.
Kael's grip on his dagger tightened.
The man studied them for a moment before speaking.
"You shouldn't be here."
His voice was calm. Steady. Dangerous.
Sienna's breath caught.
He wasn't a threat.
Not yet.
But he was one of them.
A werewolf.
Kael took a slow step forward. "Neither should you."
The man smiled, but there was no warmth in it.
"I live here."
Sienna's stomach twisted.
That meant one thing.
This fortress wasn't abandoned.
And they had just walked into someone else's territory.