The forest felt alive under the blood-red light. The moon’s shadow stretched across the trees, and every sound — the wind, the leaves, the beating of my own heart — felt sharper, louder, almost painful.
I didn’t know how long I’d been walking. Time didn’t make sense anymore. The pull inside me was stronger than anything I’d ever felt, guiding me forward like invisible hands. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t think. I just moved.
Branches scraped my skin as I stumbled through the dark woods. My vision blurred, and everything around me seemed to glow faintly red. The deeper I went, the stronger the hum became — a low, pulsing sound that came from the ground, like the earth itself was breathing.
Then I saw it.
The clearing. The ruins.
The same place where I had found the contract before. Only
