The ruin behind them was quiet now, burned out and still. Darius stood in the jungle clearing, holding the fragment of the Guardian's core in one hand. Its weight felt unnatural—like it still pulsed, faintly alive.
> [Next Detected Core Marker – Approx. Location: 12 km Southeast]
Signal Interference: Medium | Terrain: Volcanic Growth Zone]
"No rest," Darius muttered. "We move."
Rowan adjusted the wrap around his wounded shoulder, already limping but determined. "You sure that… thing isn't gonna wake back up?"
"It won't," Darius said. "But something else might."
Aric loaded his gear, expression tight. "This island changes every day. We've seen more monsters in two weeks than most warzones."
Darius led the way down a slope thick with black vines and twitching underbrush. The map on his interface blinked slowly, the pulse of the next Core Marker leading them forward.
Half a klick in, the air shifted. The trees were twisted now, their leaves dry as ash, and the animals they passed weren't just hiding—they were gone.
Rowan muttered, "Feels wrong here."
"I know," Darius replied. "That's why we keep moving."
Behind them, the faintest tremor ran through the ground.
They didn't notice it.
But Kaelira did.
Miles behind and moving faster.
---
A/n : sorry that the chapter is short but I am trying to integrate a character , that's all.