The sun barely touched the horizon when Liora opened her eyes, feeling the weight of the morning mist against her skin. The forest, once calm and familiar, now hummed with a strange rhythm—almost like the trees themselves were trying to warn her.
"Something is coming," she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. The words lingered in the air, caught between the branches and the dew.
Her companions, though weary from the last battle, sensed it too. Kael, ever vigilant, tightened the strap of his satchel, his eyes scanning the shadows. "The wards are weakening," he murmured, a hint of unease in his voice.
Liora rose, brushing off the remnants of sleep, and touched the pendant at her neck. A soft glow pulsed beneath her fingers—a signal, faint but urgent. She didn't need to ask what it meant; the whispers had returned.
And this time, they were not alone.
From the depths of the forest, a figure emerged, cloaked in darkness yet radiating an aura that neither threatened nor welcomed. Liora's heart tightened. She had faced enemies before, but something about this presence felt… different.
"You've heard them too," the figure said, their voice a melody of both warning and invitation. "The whispers. They call for more than courage this time. They call for choices that will shape worlds."
Kael's hand instinctively rested on his sword, but Liora held up a hand, calm but resolute. "Then we will listen," she said.
And with that, the path forward unfolded, shrouded in shadow yet illuminated by the faintest glimmers of hope. The whisper of Liora was no longer just a voice—it was a summons.