The air didn't just grow cold. It turned stagnant, heavy, like the inside of a tomb that had been sealed for centuries.
The power I had just bled to reach—my new rank, my fresh breakthrough—felt like a flickering match compared to the icy pressure suddenly descending upon the ravine. It pressed down on my shoulders, my chest, my lungs. It was hard to breathe and think.
From the darkness of the treeline, two eyes opened.
They were a deep, baleful purple, swirling with a mist that looked like bruised starlight. They sat far too high off the ground for any normal predator. Whatever was attached to those eyes was massive.
I tried to push myself up, but the mere presence of the thing felt like lead weights were tied to my soul. My newly formed core shivered, sensing a predator that was leagues above anything I had ever faced.
"R-Roran..." I wheezed, my voice cracking. "What... what is that thing?"
