The peace lasted exactly one hour.
Liri had finished healing all of their worst bruises, and Rylen had managed to clean most of the mud off his clothes.
They sat in a loose circle, the tension of the Kitsune encounter slowly fading into simple exhaustion.
Then, the sky flickered.
Above them, the massive glowing numbers clicked over.
[05:00:00]
The ground didn't just shake; it groaned.
A deep, tectonic rumble vibrated through the soles of Kael's boots, rattling his teeth.
"The map is shrinking," Seraphina announced, standing up immediately.
She sheathed her rapier, bracing her legs. "Hold on to something."
"Hold on to what?" Kael asked, looking at the trees. "The ground is moving!"
Before he could grab a root, gravity seemed to tilt sideways.
It was a nauseating sensation.
It felt as though a giant invisible hand had hooked into their navels and was dragging them violently toward a center point.
