POV: Nixie
The first thing I noticed was the air changing.
Not the scent, though that shifted too, turning sharp and metallic. I felt its weight, as if the world had drawn in a breath and decided not to let it out.
I stopped walking.
Lyall did too.
The clearing ahead looked the same at first glance. The same ancient stones half-buried in moss. The same silver-veined roots breaking through the soil like exposed bones. But the silence felt wrong. It was too complete. No insects. No wind. Even the trees seemed unnaturally still.
“This is council ground,” Lyall said quietly.
My spine stiffened. “You didn’t say we were coming here.”
“I didn’t plan to.”
Before I could ask what that meant, the air split.
Power rolled outward in a wave—cold, precise, deliberate. It hit my chest like an i
