The morning began with thunder.
Not the normal kind. This was the kind that rolled through the mountains like the growl of something ancient and hungry.
I shot upright, heart pounding, half-expecting another assassin to leap through the window. Instead, the sky outside the infirmary was crimson. Clouds swirled like veins bleeding into each other, and the air shimmered with heat.
"...That's not normal," I muttered, blinking against the eerie glow.
The door slid open. Yan stepped in, already dressed in his battle robes, expression carved from stone. Even half-shadowed, he radiated that untouchable calm that made lesser disciples trip over their own feet.
"The wards are breaking," he said.
That snapped me fully awake. "Breaking? As in, leaking monsters into the courtyard kind of breaking?"
"Exactly that." His tone was grim. "Three disciples went missing during dawn patrol. The Sect Master has called an emergency meeting."
