The night slowly gave way to dawn.
It did not happen suddenly.
It unfolded gently, as if the world itself was reluctant to let go of darkness.
The forest breathed again.
Soft light filtered through dense trees, breaking into thin golden strands that touched the damp earth and slowly awakened the sleeping world.
A new day had begun.
Karna opened his eyes.
He had not truly slept.
His body had rested—but his awareness had never fully surrendered.
Yet something was different now.
The cold that had clung to him through the night was gone.
The sharp edge of fear had softened.
What remained was not exhaustion alone—
but a strange steadiness.
Silence.
Not empty silence.
Not the silence of loneliness.
But something deeper.
A silence that felt like waiting.
As though the world itself was pausing… for what came next.
Karna slowly stood up.
His limbs still carried fatigue from the previous day—the hunt, the movement, the constant adaptation to an unforgiving world.
