The night was silent, but the forest seemed alive with unseen eyes. Leo floated downstream, half-conscious, teeth chattering as cold water numbed his limbs. Every muscle screamed, every breath burned.
Then, a voice—soft, ancient, and echoing as if from everywhere at once—whispered in his mind: "How could this be… this was never meant to happen."
Leo froze, splashing water as his heart hammered. "Who's there?!" he cried, voice cracking, but only silence answered.
"It was not in my calculations… I must prepare them…"
The words came again, urgent and deliberate, carrying a weight that pressed on his chest. Leo shivered, a chill crawling up his spine. Something watched, waiting, analyzing. The forest around him seemed to close in, shadows stretching longer, twisting unnaturally.
His blood still burned from the bites. Pain and fear mixed with an unfamiliar warmth, pulsing from within. He didn't understand it, but instinct whispered that his veins carried something extraordinary—something that had been touched by both Asura and Azure forces.
The whispers faded, leaving a tense, suffocating silence. Leo's eyes scanned the river, the trees, the shadows between shadows. Nothing moved—yet he knew he was being observed.
And somewhere, deep in the darkness, a presence prepared, calculating every move. The impossible had begun, and the world Leo knew was quietly, irrevocably shifting.