C213 THE STEP THAT CHANGED THE GAME

The people in the village didn't know what had come.

It only felt the change.

Birds flew away from the trees like they were being chased by something they couldn't see. Dogs whimpered and hid under the wooden steps. The earth itself seemed to harden as if it remembered footsteps that were older than human ones.

Aria didn't move at all.

Elara held the sealed decree in her fingers