Kael’s POV

The night hadn’t settled. It carried a pulse that didn’t belong to the wind.

I followed the pull south, past the border watch and down toward the ridge no one patrolled anymore. The earth there felt alive, like it waited for someone to listen. I knew before I saw it that the energy wasn’t natural. It was the same pattern that had burned through the forest days ago.

The third mark waited on the trunk of an old oak. The lines were darker this time, burned with precision, still ...