Her cold breath gently stirred the forest.
The leaves of the trees whispered, as though passing someone's secret from one to another.
They trembled.
The scent of blood still hung above the ground — fresh, warm, and sharp.
Aurora kept walking.
She made no sound with her steps.
The soil offered her no resistance.
It was as though the earth itself parted to let her pass.
Behind her, two sentences had been carried out.
Garrik.
Kael.
Their names were now nothing more than dust particles scattering in the wind.
Aurora did not stop.
Yet something inside her was not silent.
Deep in her chest, in a place invisible even to herself, a very faint void had appeared.
She felt it.
It was not pain.
It was not exactly loss.
It was… fracture.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Her senses swept the surroundings like invisible fingers.
Normally her inner domain was ice-cold and flawless. Every thread of power perfectly in place, every layer of energy aligned in perfect order.
But now—
