Tessa POV
The path swallowed sound.
No birdsong. No breath of wind. Only the low pulse of my own heartbeat and the rhythmic crunch of our boots on blackened roots.
The further we walked, the more the forest forgot how to be a forest.
Leaves above us shimmered with silver veining, glowing faintly as though lit from within. The trees themselves had no bark - just twisted trunks that seemed carved from bone and obsidian. Lanterns hung between them without ropes, suspended midair by some quiet, unnatural force. Their green flames burned without heat.
It felt like walking into the heart of a memory that didn’t belong to me.
"Sable?"
She didn’t answer. Not in words. But I felt her. Alert. Coiled. Guarded.
Rylan had drawn closer, as if keeping his body between mine and whatever might slither from the dark. Galen’s expression never changed, but his blade remained loose in his grip.
We passed statues - if you could call them that. Shapes hunched and bent, twisted into prayer or pain. Some loo
