Helena's POV
The woods surrounding Shadowcrest feel like a tomb. I scan the twisted landscape, noting how drastically everything has changed. The towering pines reach toward a starless void like monstrous monuments. Their bark has turned pitch black, matching the dark veins that snake across the infected wolves. The corruption has consumed everything here, its putrid smell saturating the air and seeping into the very earth.
The instant my foot crosses their territorial boundary, shadows shift in my peripheral vision. More movement follows. Wolves lurking in the darkness. Watching. Waiting. I sense their presence pressing against my consciousness, their ravenous hunger vibrating beneath my skin like a bass note.
Logic tells me I should be terrified. Every instinct screams at me to flee. But the fear has burned away completely, leaving behind something deeper and more resolute. Determination, perhaps. Or acceptance of fate.
"You have no business being here."
