POV: Kaelion DuskbaneKaelion stood at the Grove’s northern border, his blade drawn, his mark flaring in rhythm with the ley lines beneath his boots. The lullaby had settled into the sanctuary like breath—soft, steady, sacred. But tonight, something was wrong. The rhythm had shifted. Not fractured. Not broken. Mimicked. He felt it in the soil, in the way the ward stones pulsed out of sync, in the way the flame flickered even when Luna’s breath remained steady. Someone was echoing the Grove. And Kaelion knew that kind of imitation wasn’t innocent.He knelt beside the nearest ley line, pressing his palm to the moss. The pulse was familiar—but not true. It carried Luna’s cadence, the lullaby’s tone, but it lacked the Grove’s memory. Kaelion whispered, “Show me.” The ley line flared once, casting silver light across the border. And beneath it, something stirred. Not a spiral. A shadow. One that didn’t belong.Lucien arrived moments later, scrolls tucked under his arm, his breath shallow.
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