Nymera’s POV
We left the ruins in silence
.
No one spoke.
Not about the figure in the pit. Not about what it meant. Not even Dain, who usually barked commands like thunder.
Because what could he say?
We’d seen something ancient. Something divine.
And I had spoken to it.
Or worse—it had spoken through me.
The march back to Hollowfang felt like walking out of a grave. The land around us still reeked of burnt air and sulfur, and the further we moved from the ruins, the more normal the world seemed to become. Trees began to grow again. Birds returned.
But the rot inside me stayed.
That night, I couldn't sleep. My skin itched. My blood was loud in my ears. Every breath felt like too much—and not enough.
I sat by the dying campfire, staring into the coals. Trying not to remember the
