After putting a fair distance between himself and the group, Liam found himself crouched atop a thick branch high up in one of the towering trees surrounding the clearing. His body was perfectly balanced, weight distributed with practiced ease as his sharp eyes swept across the forest below, never lingering too long in one place.
From that elevated perch, he expanded his awareness outward, pushing his senses as far as they would allow. Nearly everything within a four-hundred-meter radius fell into his perception—subtle shifts in air, distant movements, faint disturbances in Myst. At the same time, he remained connected to Smoke, who prowled two hundred meters beyond the edge of that radius, acting as an extended warning net.
Everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
'Everything here seems fine,' Liam thought, his eyes narrowing slightly as he remained crouched. 'But I don't like it. Especially not with how I'm barely able to share Smoke's senses.'
