Marked From Birth
The "Sleeper’s Root" was not a natural plant. It was a botanical nightmare, a parasitic vine that grew only in the places where the veil between worlds was thin—specifically, the Silken Glade within the Whispering Woods.
Audrey stood at the edge of the forest, the cool morning mist clinging to her hair. In her days as the White Wolf, she would have bounded through these trees in minutes, her senses tuned to the heartbeat of every creature. Now, the forest felt vast, ancient, and indifferent. The towering pines looked like jagged teeth against the grey sky, and the silence of the woods was no longer a comfort; it was a warning.