Everyone around the Castle froze in their tracks, their steps halting as their eyes turned toward the ominous black mist swirling violently at the castle's peak.
It wasn't just the sight—it was the suffocating pressure in the air that made their hearts race with an unexplainable dread.
Thunder!
A deafening crimson thunder cracked through the sky, its sound reverberating from the black mist like a warning bell.
"What... What is going on?" whispered one of the townsfolk, their voice trembling with unease. Murmurs spread quickly, each more panicked than the last.
"I could have sworn I heard it... the cry of a Phoenix!" another voice chimed in, filled with bewilderment and disbelief.
Yet there was no sign of a Phoenix. Only that dreadful mist, swirling like a living force.
"This isn't normal," an older man muttered, clutching his staff tightly. "This is... something else entirely."
