Kaelen pov
The journey north took two days of hard riding. They pushed through the first night, stopping only to water the horses and grab brief moments of rest. Kaelen's body protested every jarring step, his ribs still tender from the construct's attack. But the suppression poison was finally clearing from his system, and with each passing hour, he could feel his Aether sense growing sharper.
By the second day, he could perceive the corruption ahead of them.
It started as a wrongness on the edge of his awareness…a dark stain against the natural flow of life energy that surrounded them. The closer they rode, the more pronounced it became, until Kaelen could taste it in the air like ash on his tongue, for a moment he felt like he was still on the mashes.
"You feel it too," Joanna said, riding beside him. She looked pale, her water magic reacting badly to the corruption's presence.
"It's like a wound in the world," Kaelen replied. "Festering and spreading."
