Dawn came gray and cold through the canopy, the light filtering down in thin, pale shafts that barely reached the forest floor. There was no warmth in it.
Lin Tian woke to the sound of dripping water somewhere above him and the distant, rhythmic creak of ancient wood settling against itself.
He lay still for a moment, listening, letting the sounds of the forest tell him what they could.
When he finally rose, he found Linle already standing at the edge of their camp, bow in hand, one arrow loosely nocked as though she had been keeping watch through the night.
Her eyes were fixed on something in the middle distance, unblinking.
"The path to the Apex runs through the Hollow," she said, without turning around. "You'll want to know that the Blight has thickened there considerably. Denser than when I last scouted it." A pause.
"We'll need to burn through it to make any progress at all."
