Blaze POV:
I knew it.
I knew something was wrong the moment we approached the airport. The way the air had thickened around us, like a warning. The uneasy silence that settled over everything.
When you've been around this long—longer than any of these creatures—your instincts are sharper than your eyes. And something wasn't right.
I felt the change before I saw it. The trees had stopped moving. The night seemed to hold its breath. Everything was too still, too quiet. There was no rustle in the leaves, no hum of the wind, no sound of creatures in the distance. Nothing.
It was almost as if the world had gone silent, as if every living thing had just realized they were standing at the edge of an abyss and dared not move.
And then, I saw it.
The shadows.
It wasn't the sharp tang of danger that I was used to, nor the acrid stench of blood or sweat that clung to the air during fights. No, this was different. This was more… subtle. A creeping chill, cold as death itself.
