The sky was soft gold when they stepped out.
No more thunder. No more lightning. Only silence, and the crunch of their boots against gravel and wind-swept stone. The cave behind them yawned like a scar, dark, cold, and now far behind.
Leo blinked against the sudden light. After so long in the belly of the mountain, even morning felt like heaven.
Before them, the mountain sloped into something new.
The dense trees were gone. In their place stretched a vast plain, bathed in sunlight. Gentle winds rolled across the tall grass, bending it like waves. It shimmered beneath the rising sun, quiet, golden, alive.
It felt like another world entirely.
Leo dropped to one knee, breath uneven. His hand clutched the bandaged wound at his side. It burned with every movement. Blood had already soaked through the cloth.
Matthew knelt beside him, pulling his pack around. "Let me see it."
"I'm fine," Leo muttered.
