Chapter 10: Into the Silent Vale
The forest thinned until the trees stood like skeletal sentinels, their branches stripped bare, clawing at the air. Ahead lay a wall of mist so dense it seemed to pulse, breathing in and out like some great sleeping beast.
The Silent Vale.
No birds. No wind. No sound at all.
Kairo and Kaelen stood at its edge, the faint crimson light of the bleeding moon struggling to pierce the haze. The air was thick, damp, and cold enough to bite bone. Every instinct screamed at Kairo to turn back — his wolf pacing restlessly inside him, hackles raised.
“This is it,” Kaelen murmured, adjusting the straps on his twin blades. “Once we’re in, there’s no trail to follow, no stars to guide us. It’s all instinct.”
“And the Vale knows how to twist instincts,” Lysandra add
