The road out of the city was silent in a way that felt unnatural.
Elara noticed it first. No distant engines. No stray voices. Not even the usual hum of life clinging to the outskirts. Just wind brushing against dead grass and the rhythmic crunch of gravel beneath their boots.
Kael slowed his pace.
“This place has been cleared,” he murmured.
Elara glanced around, tension crawling up her spine. “Cleared how?”
“Deliberately.”
They stood at the edge of what had once been a border checkpoint. The structure was still there, half collapsed, metal twisted and scorched as if something powerful had passed through and erased everything else with intent.
Her chest tightened.
The bond threads stirred. Not violently. Not urgently. Just… aware.
She didn’t like that.
Kael lifted a hand, signali
