Chapter 33: MEMORIES OF THE PAST
The forest thickened as they went deeper, silence blooming like a wound around them.
Even the wind dared not speak here.
Catleya followed Caelum’s lead, her breath shallow, her steps uneven. Her hand hovered protectively over her swollen belly—still small, still fragile—but growing with a force that pulsed like a second heartbeat inside her. Each step forward sent a jolt of pressure through her spine, not of pain, but power—as if the very earth beneath her feet recognized her.
“This place…” she murmured. “It feels like it’s watching me.”
Caelum glanced back. His face was solemn, but his voice carried something else—reverence.
“It is.”
They stepped past the last line of gnarled trees into a wide clearing cloaked in silver fog. At the center stood a cr
