The air shifted as the sun slipped beneath the horizon. Orange and crimson bled across the sky like open wounds. Clouds drifted slow and thick above the trees, swallowing the last of the light. The warmth of day faded from the ground beneath my boots. I stood near the boundary of the Vale, my fingers wrapped tightly around the wolfstone pendant I had just barely managed to enchant.
It pulsed faintly against my palm, the moonlight beginning to catch on its rough surface. I could still feel the remnants of its wild energy—untamed, unpredictable, and deeply tied to my own heart. That was the problem. It didn't obey unless I was still inside.
And lately, I hadn't been still at all.
My thoughts never stopped moving. My heart never stopped racing. Even now, as silence settled over the land, something in me kept shifting, like I was waiting for something to happen. Or maybe dreading it.
