A cool night breeze greeted Leonard as he emerged from the shadows at the edge of an abandoned town.
Moonlight spilled over rows of crumbling cottages, their roofs partially collapsed and their windows long since swallowed by darkness. Weeds forced their way through cracked stone paths, while rusted signposts swayed gently with every passing gust.
Silence.
Not the peaceful silence of a sleeping village, but the unsettling stillness of a place that had been forgotten.
Before the first hint of dawn touched the horizon, the crown prince had searched every corner of the abandoned town. He wandered through its silent streets, pushing open the doors of one deserted cottage after another. Each home was cloaked in dust and neglect, its empty rooms offering nothing but the echoes of lives long gone. No signs of struggle. No hidden passage. No trace of Princess Lannae.
