Kaelen turned his back on the clearing, ignoring the crescendo of hateful epithets hurled at his retreating form. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and rotting pine as he pushed past the boundary of the familiar valley into the Forbidden Wilds. This was a sector of the land that the villagers had shunned for generations, a place where the mountain's shadow seemed to stretch indefinitely, stifling even the weeds.
"Let them talk," Kaelen muttered, his voice swallowed by the oppressive silence of the dense thicket. "Their fear is a cage they built for themselves. I have no time to rattle the bars."
He moved with a hunter’s precision, his boots barely disturbing the carpet of damp, decaying leaves. His objective was clear: the trail of his family. He had tracked the distinct, heavy s
