The descent into Hollowcrag Ravine began with silence.
Not a peaceful silence, but a heavy one. Oppressive. The kind that pressed against your skin and made the hairs on your arms rise for no reason you could name. Even the wind seemed afraid to whistle through the narrow cliffs.
Kai and Kleo moved cautiously, their boots crunching over gravel and moss-slick stone. Kai's senses burned with input, threads of mana coiled beneath the ground like veins, denser than anything he'd ever felt. It clung to him, whispering in arcane pulses.
As they moved deeper into the gorge, the walls narrowed. Rock formations took on strange shapes, almost like ribs or teeth. Kleo glanced at one jagged outcrop and muttered, "That looks like a jawbone."
Kai didn't respond. His focus was entirely on the ground beneath his feet.
It throbbed.
---
