The hill rose out of the landscape like a quiet exhale.
No trees. No brush. No cover for anything that didn't want to be seen.
Just wide, open grass that caught the fading light of the Secret Realm's sky and held it in long amber streaks across the slope. From the crest, the land spread in every direction without obstruction — distant forest canopies, the shimmer of water bodies, and the faint glow of mana concentrations dotting the horizon.
"This one," Rudrean said.
Nobody argued. This open place was the best so that they would be ready for anything that came after while they slept.
They landed at the crest, and the first thing Lyra did was hold up the cube.
It unfolded.
