CHAPTER 119:

Leon moved swiftly through the dense forest, his thoughts solely on the mission at hand. The towering trees closed in around him, their dark shadows only adding to the sense of urgency that drove him forward.

He wasn’t here to enjoy the scenery or to contemplate the eerie stillness that hung in the air like a shroud. He had a purpose—a dangerous one—and his destination was near.

As the trees thinned, Leon’s eyes locked onto the stronghold built into the side of a rocky hill. The structure was as unwelcoming as the man who inhabited it, with jagged stone walls that seemed to rise straight out of the earth itself.

The place radiated a sense of dread, as if the very ground beneath it was holding its breath. Leon felt it too, that almost imperceptible wrongness, but he pushed it aside. He was here for one reason only: to meet Lord Rosenberg’s first trusted aide, Titus Bane.

The moment he set foot near the entrance, a figure stepped out of the shadows, blocking his path. Titus Bane, know