Chapter 78 - Chapter 78 – The Second Half of the Prophecy

As they moved farther away from the ruin, the forest deepened again, but that depth no longer came only from darkness. The chamber that had opened below a moment ago, the prophecy rising from within the stone table, and the moment Elara's blood touched that ancient hollow had changed the rest of the night as well. The wind had softened, but softness did not always mean relief. Sometimes, it only made it easier to hear what was approaching. Elara was the first to feel it. When the wound on her wrist began throbbing again, she understood that it was not caused by exhaustion alone. The blood she had left on the stone table had opened something. And what had opened was not only an old prophecy.