Kai POV
The journey to Shadow Ridge’s ruins feels like a gauntlet forged from the land’s own malice, the pre-dawn fog clinging to us like a living shroud, thick and cold. Turning the ancient forest into a labyrinth of whispers and half-seen threats. We left the SUVs at the edge of rogue territory hours ago. Our small team—Me, Liora, Dax, Kael, Mara, Torin, Reed, and Keira—moving on foot as Liora cannot take Aria’s form. Thorny vines snag at our clothes and skin, drawing thin lines of blood that burn with faint silver sting, as if the earth itself remembers the mines that birthed Liora’s blessing and curse. The air is heavy with damp chill rolling off the ridges, carrying the earthy rot of moss and decaying leaves, undercut by the sharp, metallic bite of silver veins hidden in the soil. M
