The silence after Amazal touched the ring did not ease the city’s weight—it made it heavier. They did not stray far from the Giant. His presence imposed itself upon them, as if standing near him was no longer a choice, but a state of being.

  ?The group sat in a tight circle, their eyes wary and fixed on Amazal. As his breathing finally steadied, Jadig was the first to break the tension.

  ?“Tell us, Amazal… what did you hear?” His voice was low, strained with a mixture of dread and morbid curiosity.

  ?Amazal swallowed hard, his voice barely a whisper. “I heard only one word. Fleeting, severed… Save us. That was all.”

  ?A heavy silence descended, as if the city itself were listening.

  ?“One word?” Cillian exhaled, disbelief coloring her tone. “And did you feel anything else? A vision?”

  ?Amazal nodded slowly, his gaze drifting toward the horizon. “Not yet. But something… something is waiting.”

  ?His hand still trembled from the memory of that dim pulse—the flicker that had linked him to the very roots of the Odyr Tree. Suddenly, a strange internal tug pulled at his chest, a physical force urging him forward. His heart hammered against his ribs as he turned toward a specific column that stood apart from the rest. The air grew thicker, and the shadows danced upon the pale stone in a way that heightened his sense of being watched.

  ?He pointed toward it. “There… that column. It’s different.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  ?It wasn’t just a location; it was an anomaly. The pillar was unnaturally polished, its surface smooth and untouched by the erosion of time. Around it, the roots of the Odyr Tree did not pierce or shatter the stone as they did elsewhere.

  ?They cradled it.

  ?The roots intertwined in a rhythmic, unnatural pattern, as if recognizing the stone. Beneath the column lay a void—not a pit, but a deliberate absence, as if the earth itself had left its sentence unfinished.

  ?“Something is under that pillar,” Amazal muttered, the vision flickering in his mind. “Something hidden. An emergency plan… buried in the heart of the city.”

  ?As they began to move toward it, Ikida’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “Stay sharp. Every movement in this place hides a threat.”

  ?They stepped cautiously between the stone titans. Suddenly, Jadig turned to Vaelor. “Tell us… why did you laugh back there? How do you know the name of that massive tree?”

  ?Vaelor offered a twisted smile, a lingering trace of madness in his eyes. But before he could utter a word, a sharp, piercing scream tore through the silence from a distance.

  ?“Come here! Quickly!” Cillian’s voice was frantic.

  ?They ran toward her, their weapons drawn. When they reached her, she stood frozen, pointing at a dark, glistening stain on the pale stone. Blood. It was drying, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours old.

  ?Ikida knelt, touching the crimson smudge with his fingertips. “It’s fresh,” he whispered. “And it’s not from a beast.”

  ?Following the trail of droplets, they moved deeper into a natural hollow formed by the bodies of the petrified giants. There, they found him.

  ?It was not a corpse, nor a fleeting shadow. It was a man.

  ?He was wounded, huddled between the stone giants as if they had chosen to hide him. His clothing was familiar to the island—roughly treated leather, a light chest plate split down the middle, and bindings familiar to anyone who had survived Tizra long enough. His skin bore the pallor of one who only saw the sun through the thick mist.

  ?The wound in his side was jagged and cruel. A deliberate strike. A spear or a sword.

  ?Someone had tried to kill him.