The forest seemed calmer now, but Lyla couldn’t ignore the lingering unease that settled deep in her chest. She lay awake beneath the stars, listening to the faint rustle of leaves in the night breeze. The forest’s whispers had softened after the destruction of the fragment, but they weren’t gone. They murmured like a distant storm, warning of something still unresolved.

She turned her gaze to the campfire, where Dani and Jonas sat talking quietly. The flickering flames cast long ...