The deeper Sienna walked into the Shadow Woods, the more the darkness seemed to breathe around her. It wasn't just the absence of light—it was something alive, something watching. The air itself carried a weight, thick with an unseen presence that coiled around her like an invisible tether.
She wasn't just entering a forest.
She was stepping into something waiting for her.
Kael and Darius followed, their footsteps barely more than whispers against the damp earth. They didn't speak, didn't question her choice. Even Darius, who always had something to say, remained silent. That, more than anything, unsettled her.
Behind them, the ruins faded, the last traces of the glowing glyphs sputtering out as if they had never existed. The second she crossed the jagged stone archway, the atmosphere shifted.
It wasn't just heavier.
It noticed her.
A sudden whisper sliced through the silence.
Not her mother's voice.
Not the Shadeborn.
Something else.
"She walks the path… at last."
