The forest edge lay wrapped in a silence far deeper than that of the city, for here the wind did not merely pass but whispered, brushing against leaves and branches with a quiet awareness, and within that darkness two figures stood unmoving, their presence blending with the night yet not belonging to it, their attention fixed upon something distant, something unseen to ordinary sight yet vividly clear to them.
Alessandro stood at the forefront, his posture still as stone, his gaze locked toward the direction of the ruined church, though miles of distance lay between them, and yet for him there was no distance, only connection, only the echo of power that pulsed faintly through the air like a heartbeat not his own.
