Sleep took me faster than I expected. One moment, I was listening to the steady breathing of my warriors, the next, I was somewhere else entirely.
The air was thick with fog, curling around my legs like living shadows, dense and cloying, carrying a weight that pressed against my skin. It wasn’t the damp, heavy fog of the mountains or the cool mist before dawn—this was different. It had purpose, coiling with intention, shifting as if something unseen was breathing beneath it.
The cave was gone. No rough stone at my back, no flickering firelight to chase away the dark. The sounds of my pack, my men, even the distant howls of the rogues—all of it had vanished.
I turned, scanning my surroundings. But there was nothing—no trees, no sky, no ground that I could truly name. Just an endless abys
