The ruins of the old city were a labyrinth of ghosts. We moved through its skeletal remains, our footsteps echoing in the profound, deathly silence. Above us, the city of Pyronis lived on, oblivious to the history and the hunt unfolding in its forgotten heart.
Christina was a shadow at my side, her movements as silent and as fluid as my own. The fear that had once clung to her like a shroud had been replaced by a cold, hard resolve, a warrior's focus that was both beautiful and terrifying to behold.
We were no longer just allies of convenience; we were partners, two halves of a single, deadly weapon.
The hunt was closing in. I could feel it in the subtle shifts of the air, in the faint, distant vibrations that traveled through the stone beneath our feet. Valerius's forces were spreading through the ruins, a net of shadows and steel that was slowly, inexorably, tightening around us.
