The morning broke with an uneasy stillness, the forest blanketed in a heavy mist that muffled every sound. Adira woke to find Kane sitting beside her, his expression unusually guarded as he sharpened his blade. The faint scrape of metal against stone was a comforting rhythm in the silence, though it did little to soothe the tension in the air.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Adira asked, her voice hushed.
Kane glanced at her, his lips quirking into a faint smile. "Not with everything that's out there."
Adira nodded, her mind drifting to Ezra's warning. His words had lingered with her through the night, feeding the sense of foreboding that had taken root in her chest. The Rift wasn't just a force of destruction—it was intelligent, aware of their movements.
Kael appeared from the shadows, his presence as commanding as ever. "We move in five minutes. The next ward is closer than we thought, but it won't be easy to reach."
