Chapter 8 – Cursed Guardians
They came to break the shrine.
I broke them instead—with her watching.
The shrine felt different the moment I stepped into the clearing.
The wind had died. The flowers no longer pulsed with heat. The garden was silent—unnaturally so.
Even the glow of the floating lanterns that usually warmed the stone archway had dulled to a sickly amber.
[Warning: Shrine Shield Breached]
[Hostile Presence Detected – Aura Interference Ongoing]
The Lunaflare Bloom I held in my hand, still glowing faintly from moonlight, trembled like it could sense what waited ahead.
I tightened my grip and stepped through the archway.
The interior of the shrine was choked with static. The golden aura from before was warped, tainted with strands of pulsing black mist that curled around the columns like spiderwebs spun from curses.
And there—before the Matron's statue—stood three figures.