Chapter 16 The Silence After the Storm

The rain had stopped, but the world hadn't remembered how to breathe.

Kael knelt beside the Mirror Pool long after dawn should have broken, staring at the ripples that refused to fade. The forest crouched around him in an unfamiliar hush-no birds, no rustle, no pulse but his own. Even the wind seemed to watch.

The amulet lay heavy in his palm. It