Faye I knew something was wrong long before anyone said it out loud, because the land itself felt different beneath my feet, like a heartbeat that had lost its rhythm and was struggling to remember how to continue. The central clearing, which had always been a place of quiet strength and balance, now carried a faint, unsettling heaviness that clung to the air and refused to lift. I crouched near the edge of the grass, brushing my fingers lightly over the blades, and my chest tightened as I watched the green fade into something darker, something wrong. The tips of the grass had begun to turn black, not burned, not frozen, but corrupted in a way that felt alive and creeping. It spread slowly, almost patiently, as though it knew it had time. “This is spreading faster than we thought,” Elara said from behind me, her voice steady but strained in a way she could not quite hide. I rose to my feet and turned toward her, watching as she moved between the healers gathered in the clearin
Read more