The morning broke with an amber haze. Ash from the corrupted forest drifted on the breeze like slow-falling snow. It clung to armor and skin, leaving the faint scent of scorched earth in the air.
The group moved in silence at first, the forest pressing in with an oppressive weight. Trees stood like blackened skeletons, their branches brittle and whispering in the wind. Every few steps, Lior's Celestial Code flickered—warning pulses that something unseen stalked nearby.
"This place feels wrong," Mira murmured, her bow ready but her voice low.
"It is wrong," Elyra replied, scanning the undergrowth. "And we're walking straight into its heart."
Kaelen led at a steady pace, but his knuckles whitened around the bowstring. Even he couldn't mask the tension. Sylvi kept close to Lior, her eyes darting between the shadows.
Halfway through a ravaged clearing, the ground trembled. A low, guttural hiss echoed—too deep to be human, too deliberate to be wind. From the treeline, the ash swirled unnaturally, twisting into a vaguely humanoid shape before shattering apart again.
"Code's reacting!" Lior said, his skin glowing brighter. Symbols spread across his arm like liquid light, and for a moment he felt a tug—not of danger, but of recognition.
"What the hell is that?" Mira demanded.
Before anyone could answer, three more shapes emerged, forming a slow, encircling ring around the group.
"They're not attacking," Kaelen muttered, narrowing his eyes. "They're herding us."
A distant scream—high and terrified—cut through the silence. It came from deeper within the forest.
Lior took a sharp breath. "Someone's still alive in here."
The group exchanged glances. They could retreat… or plunge further into the corruption to save whoever it was.
And in that hesitation, the ash creatures stepped closer.