The days following the battle felt like a calm before a storm. Though the immediate threat had been quelled, the land still hummed with an uneasy energy, as if the earth itself was breathing in the wake of the rift's closure. The air was clearer, yet Kael couldn't shake the feeling that something deeper, more insidious, was stirring beneath the surface.
He stood atop a ridge, staring out at the vast expanse of the Sanctuary's border. The land before him was peaceful now, the forest bathed in the soft glow of twilight, but his mind was far from tranquil. The victory they had secured felt temporary—an ebb in a tide of darkness that was far from over. His thoughts drifted back to the shadowy titan, the storm that had nearly torn the fabric of their world apart. He had seen the twisted figure of the forsaken one, and the lingering threat of the Forsaken realm still gnawed at him, like a phantom waiting to strike again.
