Veer didn't respond. His eyes were still scanning the trees, fists clenched, body on alert.
Hidden behind a thick wall of brush, Kaya paused in her movement too, eyes narrowing as she felt the air shift.
From deep within the forest, the trees began to sway—not with the wind, but with force. Heavy. Rhythmic. Deliberate.
Thump. Thump. Crack.
Branches snapped like dry bones underfoot. The sound was getting closer.
A deep thunder rolled across the ground—not from the sky, but from the earth itself.
Kaya froze mid-step, eyes widening as the trembling grew stronger, louder, closer.
Then she saw it.
Charging through the distant treeline, like the forest itself had cracked open, came a massive herd. Not just elephants—beasts. Towering, prehistoric-looking creatures that made even the trees quake in their wake.
Mammathos.
The name slammed into her mind as instinct kicked in.
