Elian's POV
*****
The Arcadian soldiers fanned out with sharp hand signals, their boots crunching through the Silverpine needles as they swept deeper into the shadows. The forest seemed to breathe around them.
Despite the sunlight above, it was barely lit and cold.
Elian didn't like the way it felt.
Neither did the system.
[Umm. Sweetie?]
'What.'
[I'm picking up weird mana signatures. Like… "don't go in there, dumbass" weird.]
Elian swallowed, his gaze following the soldiers. The trees here were tall enough to swallow the sky, their shadows unnaturally thick. Like ink.
Lucian gave him a tiny nod, silently telling him to keep it together.
Right. Cool. He could do that…
He could totally keep it together when one of his mates was kidnapped by a mysterious spacetime-warping boogeyman.
No biggie.
A soldier called out from ahead, her voice brittle. "Commander! There's something—"
She never finished.
