POV: Rissa

The forest changed the moment we stepped into the Hollowed Thicket. The air thickened like syrup, heavy with rot and mourning. The trees leaned too close, their bark laced with faintly pulsing veins just beneath the surface, like blood vessels beneath the skin. I couldn't tell anymore whether it was day or night. The light had no source; it simply. Existed. Dim, cold, constant.

Eamon walked ahead of me, one hand extended, as if he could feel the air shifting before his fingers ...