The forest canopy shimmered under the moonlight, casting restless shadows across the pine-needled ground. Aria moved with predatory grace, senses taut as a bowstring. Each step took her deeper into the untamed wilds beyond Stormborn territory, where twisted undergrowth and looming trees hemmed her in like silent sentinels.
She paused, inhaling the crisp night air. Beneath the familiar scent of pine and damp moss, a faint trace of something sharper lingered, like old blood carried on the wind. She crouched to study the faint tracks pressed into the soft earth. One set of footprints seemed to vanish abruptly, as though the walker had taken flight.
“The phantom wolf,” she whispered to herself, heart pounding. The patrol’s reports had described an uncanny ability to appear and disappear at w
