The forest was unnaturally silent.
Val strode through the underbrush, his golden eyes darting to every flicker of movement. The air was thick with tension, a buzzing hum that set his scales on edge, even in his human form.
Yara walked beside him, her strides confident, eyes scanning the dense canopy above.
"I see what you're saying, it really is the mana," Yara said, her voice low and laced with confusion. She brushed her fingers against the bark of a nearby tree, her lips twisting into a frown. "It's corrupted here. You can feel it, can't you?"
Val grunted, stepping over a gnarled root that jutted out of the ground. "I feel it. It's like... smoke in the air. Wrong."
"More than wrong," Yara countered. "This is some sort of manipulation. Something—or someone—is warping the mana in this area to keep something hidden. It's no wonder we can't sense Sky properly."
