Chapter 50 The First Tear

The wind howled like a thousand wolves crying out in pain. As Aria, Dominic, Lucien, and Aelira approached the old mountain—the land where her childhood had ended—nothing looked familiar anymore. What once was a dense forest brimming with life was now a field of ash and twisting fog. Trees had withered into skeletal forms, and the air shimmered unnaturally, laced with silver motes that crackled against skin.