Chapter 111 - The Dead Rise

The air thickened—not with smoke, but with memory. It clung to Selena's skin like dew, invisible yet saturating, heavy with a weight far older than stone. Every breath she took tasted of ancient things—of blood spilled and vows whispered in the dark, of names long forgotten but not gone. Around her, the Circle pulsed softly beneath her boots, its flames no longer fierce or wild. The Rite had changed it. The once-searing blaze had dimmed into emberlight, soft and steady, as if mourning something sacred. But the Circle was no longer the only thing alive. Something else stirred. Something vast.