TREVOR’S POV I haven’t stopped thinking about that damn village. Even now, sitting in my study, it’s all I can see. The abandoned houses. The silence. The scent of as I press my fingers to my temple, trying to fight off the ache behind my eyes. The little girl we found is still in the infirmary like a ghost of herself. She’s unconscious. The healers ran every test, every chant, every herb and spell we have. Nothing. It’s as if her body is trapped in a moment she can’t escape. And then there’s the records. They are gone. Every last one. No patrol logs. No census updates. No mention of the village at all. Everything was wiped clean. Like it never existed. But I saw it. I was there. Now, it was like everyone had been there one moment and vanished the next. A village frozen in place.

