The shadow smiled.

Not a grin of victory, nor the cruel satisfaction of a predator—but something quieter, older, and almost tender. It smiled as if it had been waiting for this exact moment to arrive, and now that it had, there was nothing left to chase.

The Vale shuddered.

Light bent inward, folding upon itself until the world seemed to breathe out one last trembling sigh. The air no longer felt like air; it was the thin, fragile skin between two dying dreams.

Kael did not see the shadow ...