The forest stayed quiet.Too quiet.
Vael stood slowly, brushing dirt from his cloak.The air still vibrated faintly from the rift's collapse, like the world hadn't fully settled.
Lira scanned the treeline, bow half-raised."Something closed it… but I don't hear anything now."
Talon forced himself up with a grunt."Whoever did it isn't sticking around to say hello."
Mira didn't look convinced.Her fingers glowed faint blue as she tested the leftover mana."It wasn't natural. It felt like… a hand pulling a thread tight."
Vael didn't say anything.The crown's whisper lingered in the back of his skull—quiet, watchful, uneasy.
Then a soft sound broke the silence.A crunch of leaves.
They turned.
Someone stepped out from behind a twisted pillar of roots.
A girl.
She looked around Vael's age, maybe slightly younger.Short black hair.Dark cloak.Eyes too calm for a place like this.She carried no weapon—just a slender wooden charm hanging from her wrist.
She raised a hand gently."I'm not your enemy."
Talon scoffed."That's what enemies always say."
She didn't react, only looked at Vael.
"You touched the tear," she said softly."And you carry a voice inside you. That's why it almost broke open."
Vael's jaw tightened.He didn't answer.
She continued anyway.
"The one trying to cross was not meant to see this world yet. I closed it before it noticed you."
Mira stepped forward, tense."You closed it? How?"
The girl lifted the charm.It flickered pale white, threads of light twisting like tiny strings.
"I'm a Weaver. I bind unstable rifts before they spread."
Lira frowned."Why help us?"
The girl hesitated—only a heartbeat—before answering.
"Because if that thing had come through… all of you would be dead."
She looked toward Vael again.
"And because he's the one the tear reacted to. The shadows around him are too loud."
Vael finally met her eyes."What do you want?"
The girl held his gaze without fear.
"My name is Selene," she said quietly."And I came to warn you."She paused, voice steady but heavy."More tears are forming. The next one won't close in time."
The wind shifted.The forest felt colder.Vael felt the crown stir—unease flickering like a pulse.
Lira stepped closer to him.Talon stood ready.Mira watched Selene with narrowed eyes.
Vael didn't look away.
"Then tell us where," he said.
Selene pointed deeper into the forest—toward a place even the mist seemed afraid to cover.
"There," she whispered."The next tear will open at the Hollow Spine."
Vael tightened his grip on his sword.
"Then that's where we go."