C190 WHEN THE FIRST BREATH OF WAR HAPPENS

The forest did not signal his coming.

It felt it.

The moment the ground beneath their feet shifted—not from quake, but from knowledge—it was as though the world exhaled into realization.

Aria glanced at the horizon where the pressure gathered.

Not like before.

Not like the tremors that shook stone.

This was present — old, unreadable, and immense.

Not a roar.

Not a howl.

Just… arriving