The wind didn’t blow anymore.It screamed.Ash spiraled across the broken terrain. Skies split open with fractures of violet light. The land trembled beneath Kael’s boots, every vibration humming with the arrival of something older than war.And then… the silence shattered.The Eradicators came.Not by foot. Not by ship. They tore through the sky—like thoughts breaking through memory. Their bodies were shadows sewn from screams. Long limbs. Hollow faces. No eyes. No sound.Just presence.Kael stepped forward, feeling the pull in his chest. His power—a strange, burning ache just behind his ribcage—stirred like it was alive.“They’re faster than before,” Marcus muttered, gripping his reinforced axe.“They’re smarter too,” Pamela said, eyes locked ahead. Her skin shimmered faintly now, laced with streaks of light pulsing beneath it. The change hadn’t stopped. It was still evolving her. Breaking her. Making her something else.Kael didn’t speak.He didn’t need to.Because he felt the shif