Chapter 105

• As the firelight flickered across the room, casting shadows on the walls, Leo and I sat together, poring over the reports from the scouts. Our conversation from earlier still weighed heavily on my mind. The air was thick with tension, and though we’d been through so much already, there was an unmistakable sense of foreboding that lingered in the silence between us.
• “I can’t believe it,” Leo muttered, breaking the quiet. “After everything we’ve been through, after the bloodshed and the sacrifices, and now we’re facing another threat.”
• I looked up at him, my fingers tracing the edge of the report in front of me. “It was naive to think peace would last forever, Leo. Power always attracts those who want to take it for themselves.”