LUCIAN POINT OF VIEW

The journey to Riven’s territory was quiet.

Too quiet.

Not the peaceful kind of silence that follows a resolved battle, but the tense, restless kind that lingers before something unseen reveals itself. The forest stretched endlessly around us, tall black pines swaying gently beneath a pale sky. Wind slipped through their branches with a whispering sound that seemed almost deliberate, as if the land itself knew what we were searching for.

Riven walked several steps ...