The sun had barely begun to rise when the survivors packed their things. Nobody wanted to stay in the forest any longer, but each step toward the city felt heavier than the last. Daniel walked at the rear of the group, eyes drifting back toward the shadowed trees that still hid the scent of death and loss. The forest was calm now, almost too calm, as if mocking them for the chaos of the night before.
He felt it again. The faint tremor beneath his skin. A pulse of something ancient and electric stirring deep inside him, restless and dissatisfied. It crawled through his veins like a silent warning. The closer he got to the forest boundary, the stronger the feeling became, until it rose like a tide he could no longer ignore.
Daniel stopped walking for a moment. Aria noticed but did not spea
