Kieran’s POV

I should not have come here. Every instinct in my body screams at me to turn, to retreat, to leave the clearing entirely. But something… something drew me in. Something unseen. Something alive.

The relic sits in the center, just as I left it, encased in the wards Killian and Scarlett worked so meticulously to create. The ground around it shimmers faintly with residual energy. I pause at the edge of the circle, the hairs on my arms standing on end. The air is heavier here, ...