Chapter 117: Drift (5)
The forest widened.
Not like a clearing, more like something had pushed the trees back. Flattened the snow. The air here felt stale. Not older. Just... touched.
Lucen stepped past a cracked tree trunk, eyes scanning ahead. His system pinged again, ambient pressure lowering slightly. Which wasn’t normal.
Then something moved in the drift just ahead. Not fast. Not a summon.
Just a man.
Bent forward, one arm dragging, clothes shredded and frozen stiff at the edges. Long coat, ripped. Hood missing. One side of his face was swollen and purple-blue, like he’d taken a hard punch and then slept on it for two weeks.
He saw them.
Flinched. Blinked hard.
Then stumbled forward and rasped, "You’re real?"
Lucen paused.
Varik stepped up beside him.