Dawn came quietly to Ravenspire.
Too quietly.
The forest should have been restless after what had happened — birds scattering, deer fleeing, the usual ripple of instinct that followed power.
Instead—
Everything was listening.
Rovan stood at the ridge where the being had descended. The earth still shimmered faintly, not scarred, not burned — altered.
Aric approached, hands tucked behind his back, starfire dim but present beneath his skin.
“They pulled back,” Aric said.
“Yes.”
“They won’t understand what they saw.”
“No,” Rovan replied. “But they’ll try.”
Kaerin joined them, eyes sharp as ever. “Scouts report human drones circling the outer perimeter. Farther than before. Watching, not advancing.”
Rovan nodded slowly.
The first descent had ended in restraint.
But restraint was n
