The wind turned cold.

Not a passing chill.

A breath from something beyond.

Lyla’s heart slammed against her ribs. The pit roared beneath her feet, no longer just a crack in the earth but a wound splitting the fabric of reality. The shadows were no longer shadows. They pulsed, thick and heavy, like veins filled with molten night.

And from that night, it stirred.

The thing that whispered her name.

Eli reached for her arm. "Lyla"

She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t move.

The forest ...