VANESSA'S POV
Darkness. Not the gentle dark of night, but an absolute, oppressive void as the moon was utterly consumed. The world didn't just go dark; it was unmade. The familiar silver light was ripped away, leaving a blackness so complete it felt like a physical weight on my eyes. The vibrant, living hum of the territory, the comforting pulse of the pack bond-it all muted, dampened under the shadow's suffocating blanket.
For a heart-stopping second, there was only the sound of our own ragged breathing and the thunder of my own pulse.
Then, the enemy arrived.
They didn't charge. They manifested. From the deepest shadows between the ancient oaks, the void-walkers glided into the clearing. Dozens of them. Featureless, silent, moving stains of absolute nothingness against the lesser dar
