Location: Dark Forest - Outer Ring | Doha (Lower Realm)
Time: Day 367, Dawn
Dawn light filtered through the canopy like liquid gold, painting the forest floor in shifting patterns of amber and shadow. Jayde stood at the tree line, one hand resting on rough bark that still held the night's chill, the other checking the twin blades at her hips for the third time in as many minutes.
Combat loadout confirmed. All systems nominal. Deployment conditions are optimal.
(This is really happening. We're really doing this.)
The contrast hit like a physical thing. Last time she'd entered this forest, she'd been barefoot and bleeding, half-dead from exhaustion and terror. Desperate. Broken. Running for her life with nothing but survival instinct keeping her moving.
Now she wore proper boots. Combat leathers that fit like a second skin. Blades that sang when drawn. A year of training compressed into muscle memory and tactical awareness.
The forest hadn't changed.
She had.
