The path did not lead where Aurelia expected.
Instead of descending deeper into the forest, it climbed slowly through a stretch of older trees whose trunks twisted upward like pillars holding up the sky. Moss covered the ground in thick patches, muffling the sound of every step.
The silence here was not the silence of emptiness.
It was the silence of attention.
Aurelia felt it with every breath.
The watcher moved ahead of them with easy familiarity, stepping around roots and stones without ever looking down.
Behind Aurelia, Mira and the others followed closely.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Finally, Mira broke the quiet.
"So," she said softly, "is anyone else noticing that the forest stopped pretending we weren't here?"
The scarred wolf nodded.
"Every animal we passed earlier vanished."
Aurelia had noticed too.
The deeper they went, the more the natural sounds of the forest faded.
No birds.
No small animals rustling in the brush.
