"What the fuck is that…" Oliver whispered, his voice completely hollow.
He didn't move. He didn't breathe. His blank expression told me his mind was collapsing under the sheer scale of the horror before him. The Druid's deep connection to nature was backfiring—he could feel the agony of the dead forest amplifying the monster's presence.
In a rush, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.
"Oliver!"
His pupils were unfocused.
"Oliver! Snap out of it!"
"C-Cadet… Lucien?" he mumbled weakly, teetering on the edge of a panic-induced coma.
I pulled him up by his lapels, forcing him to look away from the monster and directly into my cold, glowing blue eyes. I had to pull him out before he drowned in his own terror.
"Listen to me," I commanded, my voice cutting through the toxic wind. "You are the Heir of Verdant. You are a cadet trained to fight monsters. Act like it."
